Academic freedom and freedom of expression in the US !

I don't know why we cry for freedom of expression when it comes to some mollahs and Imams and not when it comes to the pro-Israeli lobby.

Only recently, after putting pressure to suspend the Rachel Corrie's play, they have succeeded in pressuring Harvard to withdraw its academic support for the Israeli lobby paper by Walt and Mearsheimer. This post could have as title: 'Such is the power of the pro-Israeli lobby in the US' but I prefer to focus on academic freedom and freedom of expression much lauded and much vilipended these days.

The anti-AIPAC, anti-Israeli lobby study have been already criticized by pro-Israeli groups and notorious zionists like Martin kramer. It has been criticized also by some arab academics, Angry Arab and Joseph Massad for shifting the blame on the disastrous US middle east policy from the US to Israel and the Israeli lobby.

However, one must recognize that the pro-Israeli lobby is in full gear confirming some of the paper's assumptions about its influence on US policy.

''Harvard University has decided to remove its logo from a study that denounces the pro-Israel lobby's impact on American foreign policy, in order to distance itself from the study's conclusions. ''
...''The study also accused the pro-Israel lobby of monitoring academics to ensure that they do not diverge from the pro-Israel line. They will undoubtedly see proof of this contention in Harvard's decision to distance itself from the study due to pressure applied by pro-Israel donors. According to the New York Sun, Robert Belfer - who gave the Kennedy School $7.5 million in 1997 in order, among other things, to endow the chair that Walt now occupies - called the university and asked that Walt be forbidden to use his title in publicity for the study. ''