Obama Gets AIPAC Cash, Okays attack on US Boats

It seems so sad at times, Obama sometimes is like a boy with unrequited love with the most desirable girl in high school, but with a few misinterpreted words he doesn’t get anything but scorn from her and her friends.

We know well the famous “misunderstandings” that have hurt this relationship. AIPAC pushed back hard on settlement freeze talk and won in Congress. It wasn’t like Obama was going to do anything to confront Israeli intransigence anyway. Same with the overblown flap with the ’67 borders.

Obama loves AIPAC. He had already done so much to prove his love. He made it clear that he would oppose any Palestinian effort to gain recognition as an independent state in the United Nations, and is working hard to get allies to go along (or else!), even threatening to withdraw its share of funding for the United Nations. Obama has even gone beyond what the W. Bush administration promised in aid for the next ten years, and added to that additional military aid that is sure to cost taxpayers dearly.

Still Obama gets no love? Well, that’s not true, actually.

President Obama is a stalwart friend of Israel.

That’s the message some top Democratic Jewish figures are promoting to push back against the notion that Obama is out of step with the pro-Israel and Jewish communities.

Within the next two weeks, two figures associated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee -- past AIPAC president Amy Friedkin and board member Howard Green -- will be among the hosts for a major fundraising event for the president, charging $25,000 per couple. The target of 40 couples -- bringing in $1 million -- is close to being met, insiders say. Notably, the organizers have received a nod from the AIPAC board's inner circle to solicit donations. JTA

On the night of June 20^th, AIPAC, metaphorically-speaking, (AIPAC by law as a non-profit cannot actually give donations to any political candidate but wink-wink, they do help arrange events like this) opened up its blouse and shared with President Obama the mother’s milk of US politics to the tune of $1.5 million in campaign donations. He was truly grateful. So much so that he cuddled afterwards. “After the speech, the president stayed for a closed-door session in which he answered questions about his policy on Israel for another hour.” Forward tell us. He knows he will be able to come for more, too.

Ain’t love grand?

Left gaping at this spectacle are thousands of human rights and peace activists, unable to organize $25,000 plate dinners (and with the economy in tatters from wars that AIPAC promoted, many are barely able to afford any dinner), who mistakenly thought that Obama’s flirtations and flattering comments he sent their way were to be taken seriously. There will be no pronouncement from the White House that Obama is a stalwart friend of human rights.

AIPAC still plays hard to get. Later this month several of AIPAC’s head honchos (including Jonathan Kessler) will be standing alongside Rev. Hagee and Glenn Beck at the Christians United for Israel event. It is likely to be a weekend of demonizing Obama for his imagined lack of support for Israel. But Obama still will not give up, and will try to outdo his rivals in supporting the most extreme Israeli policies to win back AIPAC’s love (even if it’s just another one night stand). This Obama will do no matter the cost to US taxpayers, to Palestinian families, to even the slightest bit of common sense.

*cross-posted at Fire Dog Lake*

Gaggle of RightWingers at AIPAC Policy Conference

While hundreds of progressives set to gather to support a new US foreign policy based on peace and justice at the historic “Move Over AIPAC” summit on May 21st, let’s take a look at who and what is being promoted at the AIPAC Policy conference itself.

Prime Minister Netanyahu. Need we say more? He’s the big speaker and his right-wing credentials are well-known. He has boasted in the past that he stopped the Oslo Accords even while pretending to support them. When he has said that “America is something that can easily be moved”; he was referring no doubt to US politicians that routinely pander to AIPAC. Despite Obama’s early insistence that Israel stop building settlements that prevent any chance for any kind of peace, the Netanyahu regime has pressed ahead with massive building of illegal settlements in the West Bank. President Obama, who wishes to raise a billion dollars for his re-election campaign, has said that Netanyahu is a “man of peace”. Netanyahu is expected to continue his deception at the AIPAC conference and a speech before the US Congress that same week.

Dan Senor, extreme neo-conservative is also a headliner. A White House advisor during the George W. Bush administration and served as Chief Spokesperson for the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Iraq under Paul Bremer. The CPA was so disastrously mismanaged and caused so much suffering for the people of Iraq the end result was a massive insurgency that resulted in thousands of US military deaths, and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi casualties. Senor’s reputation is so bad, that when AIPAC had him headlining an event in Louisville, Kentucky at Jewish Hospital in 2007, it was forced to move that event due to strong protests of the doctors.

Ralph Reed, another headliner who will speak to the full gathering, is the “Christian Coalition” founder that worked to promote extreme-right politicians. He now heads “Faith and Freedom Coalition”. FFC has a big event coming up in June, with headliner Donald Trump. Reed is known as someone who follows the money, being a former close associate of convicted felon Jack Abramoff, (Abramoff was also a paid promoter of the now-defunct South Africa apartheid regime).

“Breakout sessions” during the conference include three different leaders from an outfit called “Foundation for Defense of Democracies”, a neo-conservative “Think Tank” that has been at the forefront of efforts to pressure the United States into aggressive military intervention in the Middle East. Iran, in particular, has long been a key focus of such efforts. Another such outfit well-represented at the conference is the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, or WINEP as it is popularly known. WINEP is actually a spin-off of AIPAC itself, and was founded by AIPAC staffer Martin Indyk in 1985. It is also known for its support of military action against Iran, and in 2008 distributed a paper called “The Last Resort”, supporting “preventative war” with Iran as a feasible option. More recently, a WINEP board member, Martin Kramer, got in a little hot water when he seemed to be advocating genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza.

AIPAC’s role in promoting anti-Muslim activism is seen in its welcoming of several key figures in the movement to target Muslims, both in America and abroad, as “threats to Civilization”. One that stands out is British author Douglas Murray known for his far-right anti-Muslim views, and heads the misnamed Centre for Social Cohesion. He will be co-leading a panel “Confronting Radical Islam” at the AIPAC event. It is Murray’s support for English Defence League, (EDL), an organization that is known for violent street protests and affinity for the fascist British National Party that is most disturbing. Murray welcomes the EDL as a “grassroots response from non-Muslims to Islamism ”.

That’s a brief survey of some of the people AIPAC will be working with to promote US support for the Israeli apartheid regime. It’s not surprising that an organization that is dedicated to promoting a system of racism and oppression by military force would by necessity be a haven of reactionary individuals and groups. What else could we expect?

It is up to us then to expose AIPAC for what it is, it is not merely supporting “good relations with Israel”, but it is supporting a deeply unjust system that makes peace impossible, and the only way to preserve such a system is by military force and brutal repression. That is why the “Move Over AIPAC” Summit and protests of the AIPAC Policy Conference is such an important development. This is our opportunity to demand an end to politicians pandering to this extremist group and instead support a US foreign policy where people and human rights matter. The organizers and endorsers Move Over AIPAC dare to believe it is possible for the US to have a foreign policy that is not the end result of a cold calculus of potential political contributions from the few, but to believe that someday it will be the fruit of rooting our policies that values a peaceful and just world for all of us.

Also at Mondoweiss.

Move Over AIPAC... Coming to Washington DC in May

We at Stop AIPAC are supporting this important event. This may be one of the greatest direct challenges to AIPAC yet. You can help by planning to attend this event and by making a donation to Stop AIPAC, so that we can attend and be supportive of this important event. Timed to coincide with AIPAC's "policy conference" an event that attracts more congresspeople than any other event (except the State of the Union). I hope we can make it a new tradition, presenting an alternative vision of the future, free from militarism and occupation, and instead demanding that US foreign policy be based on human rights and support for democracy for all.

“No lobby has managed to divert U.S. foreign policy as far from the American national interest… while simultaneously convincing Americans that U.S. and Israeli interests are essentially identical.”

– John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, authors of The Israel Lobby, keynote speakers at
Move Over AIPAC gathering May 21-24

More info can be found here.

Group that advises Israeli govt requests meeting with Stop AIPAC

Imagine our surprise. A quasi-Israeli government agency makes a surprise visit to our Inbox.

From: Calev Ben-Dor [mailto:calev@reut-institute.org]
Sent: Wednesday, February 09, 2011 7:49 AM
To: 'people@stopaipac.org'
Cc: 'Daniel Scott'
Subject: Meeting in the SF Bay Area

To Whom it May Concern,

My name is Calev Ben Dor and I am a senior analyst at the Reut Institute, a strategic policy group based in Tel Aviv, Israel. I am writing to ask whether you would be willing to meet with us while we are in the San Francisco Bay Area, February 24^th - March 2^nd.

My team's focus for the past two years has been on the erosion of Israel's international status, with a focus on a growing trend to negate Israel's right to exist or the right of the Jewish people to self-determination. We very clearly separate this from criticism of Israeli policy, even when that criticism can be considered harsh or biased.

We are planning a study visit to the Bay Area to better understand Israel-related dynamics there and would appreciate the opportunity to get your perspective.

Please let me know if this would be possible and when would be convenient. Our coordinator, Daniel, is cc'd and can follow up on scheduling, and I am happy to answer any questions.

All the best,

Calev Ben Dor

Calev Ben Dor Analyst Office: +972-(0)3-6950090 Cell: +972-(0)52-551-4640 calev@reut-institute.org www.reut-institute.org www.reut-blog.org

We were by no means alone, this same outfit sent out invites to many organizations in the Bay Area that are involved in questioning US policy in regards to Israel. To our knowledge, all declined. Stop AIPAC did send a reply that we would be happy to meet with them once certain conditions were met, including Israel's full compliance with international law and human rights standards. They did not respond back, and it seems unlikely that Israel will meet those modest demands before Reut leaves town again, which is unfortunate.

What it the Reut Institute?

Background article from the Electronic Intifada:

An extraordinary series of articles, reports and presentations by Israel's influential Reut Institute has identified the global movement for justice, equality and peace as an "existential threat" to Israel and called on the Israeli government to direct substantial resources to "attack" and possibly engage in criminal "sabotage" of this movement in what Reut believes are its various international "hubs" in London, Madrid, Toronto, the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond.

The Reut Institute's analyses hold that Israel's traditional strategic doctrine -- which views threats to the state's existence in primarily military terms, to be met with a military response -- is badly out of date. Rather, what Israel faces today is a combined threat from a "Resistance Network" and a "Delegitimization Network."

The Resistance Network is comprised of political and armed groups such as Hamas and Hizballah....

The "Delegitimization Network" -- which Reut Institute president and former Israeli government advisor Gidi Grinstein provocatively claims is in an "unholy alliance" with the Resistance Network -- is made up of the broad, decentralized and informal movement of peace and justice, human rights, and BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) activists all over the world. [Read the whole thing]

Notice that Reut considers the San Francisco Bay Area a "hub of delegitimization". So it is no wonder they wanted to make a special visit here.

Stop AIPAC will continue to work to delegitimize Israel's human rights violations, its systematic oppression of Palestinians. We will continue to support the Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions against the apartheid regime. We are very happy to be able to work with so many sister organizations, especially in the Bay Area, that share the goal of a decent and just future for all in the Middle East.

AIPAC goes Far Right for Speakers in Bay Area

AIPAC held 3 events this past week in the San Francisco Bay Area, and surprisingly, it gave us two speakers whose views in regard to Israel are quite extreme, even just relative to AIPAC as a whole. The events were held in San Jose, Oakland, then San Francisco. With the exception of the San Francisco event, the speaker is Rep. Shelley Berkley of Las Vegas.

Here is aerHerHhhkjdkj brief look at Berkley’s record. Back in March of 2009, Berkley called for an end to all US aid to Gaza, as it was trying to rebuild from the brutal Israeli attack of just a few months earlier. That attack left thousands of homes and factories destroyed. Haaretz reports:

Berkley, a Jewish politician well-known in Congress for her support of Israel, backed the Israeli operation in Gaza during December and January, and even told Haaretz that maybe Israel had been too tolerant.

Too tolerant? Does that mean that Israel dropped too few Cluster Bombs, that “only” a few hundred Palestinian children were killed in the onslaught? That it is too much that still 5% of the water in Gaza is actually fit for human consumption?

Then there is Rep. Berkley’s attack on Obama’s mild and ultimately ineffective policy of pressuring Israel to stop settlement expansion. Berkley said in June of 2009:

“I think it would serve America’s interest better if we were pressuring the Iranians to eliminate the potential of a nuclear threat from Iran, and less time pressuring our allies and the only democracy in the Middle East to stop the natural growth of their settlements.”

In AIPAC’s original write-up of Berkley’s bio, (viewable here), she was described as a “strong proponent of the natural growth of settlements”. That sentence was deleted, for whatever reason, but it was an honest statement. Berkley does not believe in making way for a future Palestinian state.

Finally, there is the speaker chosen to keynote the San Francisco AIPAC event, Dr. DeeDee Coleman. An articulate and politically astute African-American Baptist preacher who also serves on the AIPAC National Council, she knows how to say the right things to the right audience. She is not always afraid to share her fundamentalist beliefs however, and she tells us that simply stated Israel, all of it, belongs to the Jews, and there is nothing anyone, including Jews, can do about that. In an interview that can be seen here, she throws out these bits:

“I do believe that you cannot give away what god has given to you. It cannot happen.” “If god has given you the land, you cannot give the land away.”

For Dr. Coleman, the deity has already apportioned the land based on ethnicity. Case closed.

Despite the extremism of AIPAC, we can expect that some “liberal” (we could not find any, however, more about that in my next post) Bay Area politicians will show up to pander to this lobby for war and occupation. They will be greeted in Oakland by a coalition braving the elements outside supporting peace and human rights, and demanding better uses of our resources, like funding for building homes in West Oakland, not demolishing homes in the West Bank. Some AIPAC attendees will also see ads calling for an end to military aid to Israel, if they use BART to get to the event. Now that’s sweet.

AIPAC's Festival of Organized Hate. Islamaphobiapalooza by the Potomac

AIPAC's Festival of Organized Hate, otherwise known as the AIPAC Policy Conference, is once again taking place in Washington DC in March, coinciding with the beginning of Spring on March 21st. In years past AIPAC has often featured the very worst of extremists of various walks of life. It has featured John Bolton who could not even get the support of a Republican Senate majority for his placement as US ambassador to the United Nations. (see his chilling statements on his hopes for war with Iran in a talk with AIPAC donors here) . Then there was the keynote address by Rev. Hagee, a fanatical exponent of war and opponent of human rights for Palestinians. This year will be no different. The policy conference will again be cheerleading for war and the repression of human rights.

The well-known will be there, including Prime Minister Netanyahu and Tony Blair. More about them later. I wish to highlight a lessor known participant, who of late has made quite a name for himself, Mr. Martin Kramer. Many of you have seen articles of Martin Kramer's call for steps be taken to limit the population of Gaza by greater restriction of aid, what amounts to calls for genocide. Electronic Intifada has covered it, Tikun Olam and MJ Rosenberg have been following the story. Juan Cole also has a excellent write up on it, as does Mondoweiss.

Make no mistake, Kramer's call for the end of aid to UNRWA to families, is not about ending "rewards" for having babies, this is about, given the context of Israel's military siege on the people of Gaza, preventing the means of physical and healthy survival of an entire population. It is a call for genocidal action against the people of Gaza. It is Kramer's contention that Gaza has a "superfluous" population, and that the world should deal with it by doing what it can to limit births.

It is our view at Stop AIPAC that no people are "superfluous".

So naturally, we are not surprised that AIPAC sees in Martin Kramer a source of wisdom. Kramer will be part of two panels at the AIPAC event. One takes place on Sunday, where he sits with noted anti-Muslim crusader Steve Emerson. (see aipac's schedule) and talks about "Terror in Our Backyard: Islamic Radicalism in the United States". On Monday Martin Kramer sits with a Democratic member of Congress and discusses "Iranian Interference: The Islamic Republic's Number One Export,: Terrorism" (schedule). That Congressman is Brad Sherman of California's San Fernando Valley. It is interesting to note that in fact this Congressman seems to be of like-mind with Kramer, as he was one of a relative few that co-sponsored a resolution H.Con.Res.29, attacking UNRWA, that provides aid for Palestinian refugees (in this fortunate and all-too rare instance, this anti-Palestinian resolution got no where, an aipac-supported initiative only garnered 31 co-sponsors since it was introduced a year ago).

Can we get Cong. Brad Sherman to make a statement affirming that the people of Gaza have a right to live, and disassociating himself from Kramer's extremist statements? It might be worth a try. Call and leave a firm but polite call to demand that Sherman disassociate himself with Martin Kramer's extremist statement, and to cancel his appearance with him at the aipac conference. Enough is enough. Starvation is not a valid foreign policy. Here is Sherman's contact numbers: In Washington DC (202) 225-5911, in San Fernando Valley it is (818) 501-9200. If you know of people in his district that would call his office, that would be most effective. Spread the word.

Protest AIPAC "National Summit" San Diego, Oct. 18

Below is the notice at the Activist San Diego Website. The National Summit is one of AIPAC's largest events, second only to the annual "Policy Conference" that takes place annually in Washington DC. If you or someone you know are in the San Diego Area, please join the protest.

PROTEST AIPAC's SUMMIT
with Al-Awda San Diego

Sunday, October 18, 2009
Time: 11:30am - 4:00pm
Location: La Costa Resort and Spa
Street: 2100 Costa Del Mar Road

Join San Diego community members,
activists, students, and social justice
movements to protest the AIPAC Summit to

TAKE BACK U.S. FOREIGN POLICY !

The U.S. is providing Israel with at least $7.0 million each day in military aid, and the US had already given Israel at least $2.55 billion ($2,500,000,000) in MILITARY aid for Fiscal Year 2009. And yet thousands or Americans are left JOBLESS and WITHOUT health care.

COME JOIN US AND PROTEST AIPAC'S SUMMIT!!!