Writing in The New Republic, Marty Peretz blasts away at Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer. His thesis, primarily, is this: That while Walt and Mearsheimer posit that the “Israel lobby” is an undemocratic conspiracy, bending US foreign policy to the will of a clandestine minority, US support for Israel is, in fact, not only good for the United States, but an expression of the American democratic process.

Peretz’s article is strengthened, in my opinion, by the fact that he largely shies away from name-calling, and avoids the term “anti-Semitism” altogether. Instead, he criticizes the methodology and the conclusions generally of the Walt/Mearsheimer paper.

Here’s his concluding paragraph:

Professor Walt is vacating his position as academic dean of the Kennedy School in June. Even though he decided to leave the job of his own volition some time ago, Harvard should be grateful for his departure from this seat. An academic dean is supposed to be the shepherd of his faculty’s (and his students’) respect for evidence and scholarship. Having traduced the rules of evidence and the spirit of scholarly inquiry, he can no longer perform this function. Regrettably, Walt will not likely suffer any crueler fate than this. He has tenure, and tenure insulates one from all kinds of infractions against truth and honor.

I disagree with that last crack about tenure, but in general, I think Peretz makes a reasonable, if angry, case.

It’s time for Walt and Mearsheimer to respond. Having put this paper out there, and sparked this debate, it looks odd and irresponsible for them now to shun it.