Academics (such as professors Mearsheimer and Walt, authors of the conspiracy-theory driven essay, The Israel Lobby) can dish out the criticism but “howl with umbrage at being judged,” says Dan Pipes. In a revealing exchange of letters, the two authors attack Pipes’ website, Campus Watch, as intended “to discourage [academics] from engaging in open discourse about the Middle East.” Pipes refutes them, pointing out that Campus Watch “critiques Middle East studies…with an aim to improving them.” Instead of answering criticism, academics such as Mearsheimer and Walt try to deflect attention from it by tarring it as an assault on academic freedom.