Florida Man Arrested In Alleged Plot To Attack AIPAC Office
When they say they want to “Globalize the Intifada” this is what they mean.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is an American lobbying group that supports Israel. Lobbying is protected by the First Amendment, but AIPAC is frequently demonized because it is so effective. AIPAC is only effective because the American voters are pro-Israel by a large margin – the American people are the Israeli Lobby.
That has not stopped people like Rep. Thomas Massie from spreading claims of AIPAC impropriety and suggesting disloyalty, as he did recently on Tucker Carlson’s podcast, where he painted AIPAC assigning a staffer to cover each member of Congress as nefarious. Is that really surprising that a major lobbying group makes sure its staff covers all members of congress? I’d be shocked if they didn’t.
AIPAC also donates money to pro-Israel candidates, and has been successful at backing pro-Israel Democratic primary challengers against anti-Israel ‘Squad’ members. There has been a frenzy against AIPAC for decades, but it’s picked up in intensity after the October 7 massacre with groups like “AIPAC Tracker” targeting congressional members who receive donations (like my former student Rep. Sharice Davids).
WATCH: Rep. Sharice Davids (@sharicedavids) confronted for supporting the genocide of Palestinians
She has collected >$151,000 from the Israel lobby. pic.twitter.com/YlUZ2Jpkto
— AIPAC Tracker (@TrackAIPAC) September 26, 2024
Attacks on AIPAC are not inherently antisemitic, but like ‘anti-Zionism’ frequently they are cover for it. So much easier to complain about the “Israel Lobby” and dual loyalty than to say what you really mean.
In an age when the anti-Israel movement screams to “Globalize the Intifada” – it’s no surprise that terrorism like happened in New Orleans today takes place.
Receiving less press coverage is the arrest of a Florida man who plotted to shoot up an AIPAC office in Florida. From Florida Politics:
A man was arrested after he traveled from Gainesville to South Florida with his weapons in a plot to attack a pro-Israel organization, according to newly filed court records.
Forrest Pemberton told authorities he changed his mind and decided not to carry out his plan.
“It would have been a one-way ticket in Plantation, I decided I wasn’t ready. I gave up,” Pemberton said, according to the federal complaint filed Dec. 30.
Court Watch, which was the first to report on the foiled attack, said his intended target was the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) office.
“We take these threats very seriously and we are working closely with law enforcement concerning this matter,” AIPAC said in a statement to Court Watch. “We will not be deterred by extremists in pursuing our mission to strengthen the relationship with America’s valued ally, Israel. We are deeply appreciative of the FBI’s work to stop this individual.” …
Pemberton’s father contacted law enforcement Dec. 23 after Pemberton left in the middle of the night with his guns, leaving behind a letter….
The FBI began surveilling him and watched him get into a ride share on Christmas Day with his soft rifle case. They pulled the vehicle over and confiscated his AR-15 rifle, Galil rifle and Luger pistol as well as his ammunition.
WJTV12 further reports:
His computer showed searches and Google Maps queries for AIPAC and its former Plantation office, as well as the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Taxpayer Assistance Center and the IRS Appeals and Chief Counsel Office.
Pemberton checked into a hotel just two miles away from AIPAC’s former office on Dec. 22. He checked out on Dec. 23 and was traced to a Tallahassee hotel the next day, where he was seen on Dec. 25 entering the ride-share with an “apparent soft rifle case.”
He told police he chose AIPAC as his target because of its “political influence” and location, saying he was frustrated with the “status quo” and wanted to see if he “could make a change,” according to the affidavit.
However, Pemberton said he ultimately decided against “committing criminal action.”
“It would have been a one-way ticket, in Plantation, I decided I wasn’t ready. I gave up,” he told police, per the affidavit.
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Comments
His choice of firearms is interesting.
Do you think he knew his Galil was an Israei rifle?
He may not actually be anti-zionist, let alone antisemitic. He told police he chose AIPAC as his target because of its “political influence” and location, saying he was frustrated with the “status quo” and wanted to see if he “could make a change,” according to the affidavit. Considering that his alternative targets all seem to be with the IRS, this statement may indicate that it was nothing personal, so to speak, against AIPAC, he justs wanted a target that would make an impact and AIPAC happens to be influential.
Putting his comments together, he may think that AIPAC has more power than it does. This is due to many antisemitic tropes out there.
I wonder if was college brainwashed or just watches too much YouTube?
With all the high-quality, reasonably-priced autoloading handguns available nowadays, there’s really only one reason to choose/carry/use a Luger — to make a political statement.
And the Galil?
I think some of the hostility to AIPAC can be explained by the name, with many people falsely assuming it’s a PAC (i.e. Political Action Committee) that makes political donations. It isn’t; its name predates the introduction of PACs into USA politics, and until very recently it made no political donations at all, though its endorsement was almost guaranteed to generate donations from other people.
Recently it set up a PAC of its own, so it can make its own donations as well, but that’s still only a tiny fraction of its influence. The vast majority of its influence still comes from the fact that many donors and voters look for the AIPAC endorsement when deciding where to give their money and their votes.
And some of the hostility comes from outright lies. E.g. that it is agency of or lobbyist for Israel, that it exercises veto power over foreign policy, that you can’t be elected to office without its approval, that it is the largest/most powerful lobby in Washington, etc. ad nauseum.
But, but…they are Jooz. Enough said!
Just in case: /S
So, there’s an AIPAC-PAC? Starting to sound like a bad rapper….
How many PACs could an AIPAC PAC…
/I’ll stop now.
Another common reason for hostility to AIPAC is the false perception that it is an agent of the Israeli government, and thus a foreign influence on our government. But that’s not true. It’s entirely an American organization, run by Americans for Americans; it supports Israel as a cause, just like other organizations support various causes.
Thus calls for it to be registered as a foreign agent are misplaced. Sometimes these calls originate simply in ignorance. But sometimes they are actually antisemitic, from people who know very well that everyone involved in AIPAC is American, but who perceive all Jews as inherently foreign, and as Israeli agents.
AIPAC absolutely seeks to influence US Gov’t policy to make those policies more favorable to the nation of Israel. That’s a pretty common sense level definition of a what a ‘foreign lobbyist’ is supposed to be doing. It would be the basic mission statement of a foreign lobbying group.
Nothing immoral, unethical, underhanded or really objectionable about those ends. Individuals and entities are free to advocate seeking to pressure elected officials as they wish. However, when someone wants to advocate on behalf of actions to benefit a foreign gov’t, such as Israel, they should be required to register as a lobbyist under FARA.
For that matter so.should all the folks advocating for more favorable US Policy towards Ukraine or Taiwan or any other foreign nation.
I advocate for Israel, am not a Jew, because they are mostly right. Are you suggesting that I should have to register?
If that advocacy meets the definition of lobbying effort of our elected or appointed officials to alter US policy to benefit a foreign Nation and the lobbying activity meets the threshold for such registration….then yes.
Again there’s nothing wrong with lobbying our Gov’t to do something that benefits a foreign Nation. There is a need under FARA, to register IF that activity meets the criteria.
We should treat such activity on behalf of more favorable policies towards Israel the same as we would for any other Nation. Not worse, not better but the same.
Or “Palestine.”
Or wanna be Nations who aren’t such as Palestine or separatists such as Quebec or the Basques. The key IMO is advocacy for the Gov’t of the USA to X for Y other Nation/wanna be Nation by seeking to influence elected officials or even appointed officials of the US Gov’t.
So who would advocates for Quebec or the Basques register as agents of?!
What about someone who wants to influence the US government to help rescue the poor endangered koalas? Should he register as an agent of Australia, or of the koalas themselves?
Who were those IRA goons that prosecuted under FARA supposed to register for?
FARA is supposed to be about transparency of which folks are seeking to influence US Gov’t policies via ‘lobbying’ elected or appointed officials on behalf of foreign Nations and/or entities.
I don’t see any inherent problem with the notion of ID who wants to prioritize the interests of foreign Nations/entities over the interests of US Citizens.
I am totally willing to scrap FARA entirely but until then it should be equally enforced and Israel and AIPAC shouldn’t be exempted.
Noraid was required to register as an agent of the IRA. It denied that it was working for the IRA, but the court found that it was. For whom do you allege AIPAC is working?
Note that the first time the US government tried to go after Noraid for not registering it failed, because it couldn’t prove that it was working for any foreign entity. The fact that it was advancing the IRA’s cause was irrelevant.
No, it is not. The key word in “foreign lobbyist” is foreign. AIPAC is no more Israeli than the NRA is a rifle or the Audubon Society is a bird.
More to the point, the definition of a “foreign agent” is someone who works for a foreign government; one who takes his instructions from a foreign government. AIPAC does not.
Why on earth should they? That would be a blatant violation of the first amendment. What business is it of the US government what causes a US citizen chooses to advocate? How is the zionist cause different from the abortion cause, the free speech cause, or the animal rights cause? Should the Catholic League and the Knights of Columbus register as agents of the Vatican?! It’s only when someone is acting on behalf of a foreign government that it becomes the USA’s business,
When the advocacy activity on behalf of a foreign Nation becomes ‘lobbying’ then one is supposed to register under FARA. Do you disagree?
I am all for ditching FARA as well but so long as it exists we should enforce it.
I absolutely disagree, because what you write is simply not true. First of all there is no distinction between “advocacy” and “lobbying”. Advocacy is what lobbying is.
But the key point that you keep missing and missing and missing, to the point where you seem to be deliberately ignoring it, is that AIPAC is not an agent of any foreign entity. It does not act on behalf of any foreign entity. It’s as if you didn’t know what the phrase “on behalf” means, but I know you do, so that can’t be it.
The distinction between anti-zionism and antisemitism is a lot thinner than you make it out to be. I say that attacks on AIPAC, or on Israel itself, are inherently antisemitic, because there is almost no reason to oppose zionism (i.e. Israel’s existence) except antisemitism.
I can identify three non-antisemitic reasons why someone might oppose zionism. First of all, none of these three reasons are very common. Second, all three of these reasons would make someone oppose the “Palestinian” cause even more than they oppose zionism. Therefore in practice anyone who supports the “Palestinians” is an antisemite.
Could Zionism be opposed by virtue of denying the existence of any God, and, therefore, denying that any God favored any group over any other group when it comes to the occupying of any terrestrial territory?
I don’t think it is about God, I suspect that much of it is driven by envy, resentment of Jews accomplishments.
Of course it could be opposed. But since Zionism doesn’t necessarily rest on the grounds that you are denying, and since the implication of the opposition requires denying Jews’ historic and cultural ties to the land in question, denying Jews the rights of national self determination that are routinely recognized when asserted by other peoples, and condemning Jews to live as (at best) tolerated minorities living among people who don’t want them and who have a long history of persecuting them, there is little practical difference between that stance and antisemitism.
The more so now that a Jewish state does exist and is home to more than 1/2 of the world’s Jewish population, who would be forced to flee en masse as refugees to whatever states would have them (ie none) if that state were abolished.
Tell that to your Hamas and PA boyfriends who refuse any offered statehood for peace.
In 1966 Israel didn’t occupy a single centimeter of “Palestine” and there wasn’t peace.
Maybe you should stop master baiting to Hamas kidnapping and raping Jewish girls they then take back to Gaza as sex slaves and start learning how to be a god damned human being jackass.
No, that would not be a valid ground for opposing zionism. Someone who claims to oppose zionism because he is an atheist is an antisemite. Imagine saying that France has no right to exist because there is no God.
The Zionist movement has always been secular and dominated by atheists. Israel is a secular state founded by atheists. So atheism is certainly no reason to oppose zionism or Israel.
X is infested with large numbers of “groypers”.
This will be interesting. It’s not illegal to walk around with cased firearms and ammunition and he didn’t attack anything.
The charge is stalking, which is illegal. Read the affidavit for the evidence establishing probable cause.
Planning a terrorist attack is illegal.
As far as I know planning something can’t be illegal. A conspiracy requires at least two people.
“AIPAC is only effective because the American voters are pro-Israel by a large margin – the American people are the Israeli Lobby.” This statement might ignore the causality flowing in the opposite direction: perhaps the American voters are pro-Israel by a large margin at least partly because the AIPAC is effective.
No, it’s that Jewish mind control. And the Benjamins. And the space lasers.
“Jewish space lasers” was not actually said or implied by MTG, it was invented by her enemies to ridicule her.
The tweet she retweeted was stupid, but not antisemitic. It had nothing to do with Jews. The Democrats seized on it and tried to turn it into racism because that’s what they do. And those trying to defend it were handicapped by the fact that it was so stupid.
Perhaps true. But there are definitely a lot more factors to America’s Pro-Israel sentiment than lobbying by AIPAC.
The behavior of Israel’s enemies is a big one.
No, that’s not possible, because AIPAC does not engage in public education. It is a lobbyist, so its efforts are directed only at politicians and public servants, not the voters. When it communicates with voters it is not seeking to educate them about the issue and win their support, but to draw their attention to a specific politician who is either friendly to the cause and should be supported, or hostile to it and should be opposed. this necessarily depends on the fact that most voters already support the cause.
So no, the fact that the public supports zionism is not AIPAC’s doing, but the source of its power, just as the fact that the public support gun rights is not the NRA’s doing but the source of its power.
Yikes. He looks like a Civil War reenactor…one that only larps as a Confederate.
I gave up,
the foiled attack
Sorry, but this was NOT a foiled attack if he gave up before trying.
He only CLAIMED he gave up. After L.E. observed him getting into a ride-share vehicle with a gun case containing the guns and ammo, and they stopped the vehicle. He left a goodbye letter at home, and also admitted to police he was scouting the location unarmed, with the intent to later return with his guns.
Read the sworn statement linked in the article titled “to newly filed court records”.
I would arrest him for looking as he does.
This would be terrorist brought to you by Tik Tok, New York Times, Washington Post, BBC, MSNBC and other evil people with evil intent.
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