Jewish leaders are trying to walk a precarious line as they react to “The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy,” the just-released book by Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer, the foreign policy scholars whose 2006 essay on the pro-Israel lobby ignited a firestorm of controversy.

Lurking in the background is what one top Jewish leader called “the Mel Gibson factor” — concern that even well-thought-out criticism will play into the hands of the authors, who have complained that Jewish groups are trying to squelch debate about their book.

“The Jewish community, to some extent, feels under siege these days,” said Brandeis historian Jonathan Sarna. “There was a feeling that with [former President Jimmy] Carter’s book, the Jewish response only magnified its success; many do not want to fall into that trap again.”

Sarna said that one strategy advocated by Jewish leaders is “simply to let the book die a natural death” — especially in view of what he characterized as mostly negative reviews.

“There is a real fear that if they are turned into martyrs, it will play into their hands,” he said.

Not surprisingly, the Anti-Defamation League is taking a more aggressive approach, reflected in the title of the book National Director Abraham Foxman wrote in anticipation of the new Walt-Mearsheimer work: “The Deadliest Lies: The Israel Lobby and the Myth of Jewish Control.”

Foxman said the Jewish community has no choice but to strike back hard.

“People say we can strategize: that’s great, if you can control all the other elements in the issue. But you can’t. [Walt and Mearsheimer] stimulated the media, the media picked it up and asked for our response. And we have to say: it’s just anti-Semitic canards.”

Foxman said the aggressive response of groups like ADL to the earlier Walt-Mearsheimer essay had a positive impact.

“They pared down some of their rhetoric for the book, but not their conclusions,” he said. “They were a little more careful in their charges of Jewish conspiracy and control.”

Still, Foxman said the changes were “subtle” and that the organized Jewish community has no choice but to respond aggressively.

“We don’t have the luxury to ignore it; it’s out there being hyped. We have learned not to permit the big lie to be out there unchallenged, even when it’s sugar-coated.”

This week the Jewish Council for Public Affairs was scheduled to hold a conference call with member agencies around the country.

“We’re getting a lot of concerns raised from communities — especially ones where Walt and Mearsheimer are scheduled to speak,” said Martin Raffel, the group’s associate director. “We’re trying to learn from best practices of the past: when to respond, when not to, how to respond, what works and what doesn’t.”

JCPA is counseling groups to avoid charges of anti-Semitism.

“Whether they are or aren’t anti-Semitic, tactically it’s probably not a good idea to use the label because they just turn it around and say, ‘We told you so, you can’t criticize Israel without being labeled anti-Semitic,’” Raffel said. “Instead, we are urging people to counter their arguments on the merits, calmly and rationally.”

Local Jewish groups are also being urged to make sure there are “knowledgeable, articulate people in the audience when they speak who can effectively counter their arguments,” Raffel said.

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