Many people believe that U.S. foreign policy is dictated by Israel. A good counterexample to offer such people is the recent revelation by The New York Times that Israel requested U.S. support in bombing Iran's suspected nuclear sites. According to the report, President Bush vetoed this plan and offered only limited intelligence sharing:
President Bush deflected a secret request by Israel last year for specialized bunker-busting bombs it wanted for an attack on Iran's main nuclear complex and told the Israelis that he had authorized new covert action intended to sabotage Iran's suspected effort to develop nuclear weapons, according to senior American and foreign officials. […] But the Bush administration was particularly alarmed by an Israeli request to fly over Iraq to reach Iran's major nuclear complex at Natanz, where the country's only known uranium enrichment plant is located. The White House denied that request outright, American officials said, and the Israelis backed off their plans, at least temporarily. But the tense exchanges also prompted the White House to step up intelligence-sharing with Israel and brief Israeli officials on new American efforts to subtly sabotage Iran's nuclear infrastructure, a major covert program that Mr. Bush is about to hand off to President-elect Barack Obama.
It is correct to say that Israel maintains an active lobby of supporters in Washington, as does Saudi Arabia (represented by several public relations firms) and many other countries, we should therefore be skeptical about claims that any one country “controls” U.S. foreign policy.
