NEW YORK, Sept 2: Two prominent American scholars have claimed that Israel had planned the invasion of Lebanon in advance and used the kidnapping of its soldiers as a pretext to launch the operation.

Professors Stephan Walt and John Mearsheimer, who stirred a controversy several months ago when they claimed that US foreign policy was skewed in favor of Israel due to the work of the pro-Israeli lobby, have accused the lobby of leading the administration, Congress and public opinion to support Israel’s action in Lebanon against America’s best interests.

The online edition of Jerusalem Post said on Sunday: “At an event here sponsored by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Mearsheimer, of the University of Chicago, said the ‘Bush administration’s policy in Lebanon is not in the best interest of the US’ and that Israel did not benefit from the green light it got from the US.”

Prof Mearsheimer claimed Israel had planned the Lebanon invasion in advance and that it used the Hizbollah attack as a pretext to execute the plan. He went on to say that Israel had informed the US of its plans months implementing the plan.

“It now seems clear that Israel has been planning to strike at Hizbollah for months before the July 12 kidnappings and that key Israelis had briefed the administration about their intentions,” Mr Mearsheimer said.

“The available evidence indicates that the Bush administration enthusiastically endorsed Israel’s plan for war in Lebanon.” He further claimed that by backing Israel, the US has weakened its position in dealing with other regional challenges - terror, Iraq and Iran.