In the 2004 presidential campaign Howard Dean made a mistake. He recommended that the United States take a more "even-handed role" in the Arab-Israeli conflict.

One of Dean rivals for the nomination was Joseph Lieberman. Lieberman accused Dean of selling Israel down the river. He labeled Dean statement "irresponsible."

Even more remarkably virtually all of the top Democrats in the House of Representatives signed a hard-hitting letter to Dean criticizing his comments. The Chicago Jewish Star reported that "anonymous attackers... are clogging the e-mail inboxes of Jewish leaders around the country, warning—without much evidence—that Dean would somehow be bad for Israel."

This worry was absurd. Dean is in fact an unabashed supporter of Israel. His campaign cochair was former AIPAC president Steven Grossman. Dean said his own views on the Middle East more closely reflected those of AIPAC than the more moderate Americans for Peace Now. Dean wife is Jewish and his children were raised Jewish as well.

Dean was not questioning US support for Israel. He had merely suggested that to "bring the sides together" Washington should act as an honest broker. This is not a radical idea. But key groups in the lobby do not welcome the idea of evenhandedness when it comes to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Dean failure to win the Democratic nomination has many causes. But the incident underscored the potential cost of being anything less than ardently pro-Israel during a presidential campaign. So the lobby punishes even a mild call for America to act as honest broker. This shows US presidents and candidates cannot take an independent position on Israel.

Source: The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, 2007, a book written by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt