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AIPAC Tag

In the first part of my documentation of the bias of Human Rights Watch, I focused on HRW’s “Israel and Palestine Country Director” Omar Shakir. I demonstrated that, given his long record of anti-Israel activism, it is laughable for HRW to insist that Shakir would be able or even willing to impartially monitor Israel’s human rights record.

New York City Councilman Kalman Yeger (D) engaged in a series of tweets about Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and the non-existence of Palestine last week. They generated such an uproar from The Usual Suspects that he has been tossed off an immigration committee at the insistence of Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio and influential anti-Semitic figure Linda Sarsour.

There were news reports recently that during Benjamin Netanyahu's upcoming trip to D.C., during which he will meet with Trump, the United States would recognize Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights. The Heights had only been Syrian territory since 1948, after the end of the French Mandate, Syrian independence, and the Arab attempt to destroy Israel.  Syria used the Golan Heights to aim artillery and sniper fire on Israel. Israel captured the Golan Heights during the 1967 war, and almost lost it during the surprise attack in the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

The House Democratic Leadership has finally condemned the latest anti-Semitic language we have seen from Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) where she suggested that Republicans only support Israel and condemn anti-Semitism because of money. From Fox News:
“We are and will always be strong supporters of Israel in Congress because we understand that our support is based on shared values and strategic interests. Legitimate criticism of Israel’s policies is protected by the values of free speech and democratic debate that the United States and Israel share. But Congresswoman Omar’s use of anti-Semitic tropes and prejudicial accusations about Israel’s supporters is deeply offensive. We condemn these remarks and we call upon Congresswoman Omar to immediately apologize for these hurtful comments."

Anti-Israel activists thrive in darkness. On campuses and municipalities, they spend months and sometimes years planning attacks on Israel that are often unveiled only at the last second, leaving Israel advocates scrambling. That is unfolding with a vile antisemitic campaign called "Deadly Exchange," which seeks to blame Israel and American Jewish groups for domestic U.S. problems in the policing of minority communities. Run by the misleadingly named Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), Deadly Exchange seeks to exploit pre-existing domestic racial tensions to stoke antisemitism in order to turn minority communities against Israel.

Founded three years ago, Canary Mission is an anonymous organization that documents and exposes antisemitism and anti-Israel animus on America’s colleges and universities. By compiling online dossiers and a searchable database of the activities and the publicly-available statements and social media postings of anti-Israel activists, Canary Mission exposes the vitriolic rantings of people affiliated with the anti-Israel BDS movement, particularly on campuses.

Senator Cory Booker appeared at the Netroots 2018 conference. Netroots is the annual gathering of far-left ("progressive") activists. For presidential hopefuls hoping to generate buzz among the base, Netroots is a must. This year Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, and Cory Booker were among the speakers.

The 223rd General Assembly (GA) of the mainline Presbyterian Church (USA) wrapped up yesterday on June 23rd with voting commissioners approving a number of overtures (resolutions) which “featured one-sided condemnations of Israel” while “almost no effort” was made to hold Palestinian governments accountable for stymying peace or “harming Israelis and Palestinians alike.”

Last week the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism’s official summer camping arm, the National Ramah Commission (NRC), pledged not to partner with an activist group of Ramah camp alumni affiliated with the far-left “IfNotNow” (INN) group. In a letter distributed on June 11th to its institutional partners, whose programs this summer include more than 11,000 children and staff members in the U.S., Canada and Israel, the leaders of Camp Ramah explicitly noted that they will “not engage in any way” with INN as an organization.

Last week Durham, North Carolina became the first American city to align a municipal public policy with the agenda of the anti-Israel fringe organization Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), which falsely blames Israel and American Jewish groups for instances of police violence against blacks in the U.S. and domestic police militarization. In a statement endorsed unanimously, the City Council prohibited international police exchanges "in which Durham police officers receive military-style training." The statement, after an intense lobbying campaign by anti-Israel activists and over the objection of police groups, mentioned only Israel by name in the opening paragraph of the document.

In the saturated arena of anti-Israel political activism in the U.S., the once little-known Washington D.C.-based organization IfNotNow (INN) is catapulting its way to the forefront of the pack. In one of its boldest moves, IfNotNow is planning to train camp counselors to "teach" campers at Jewish summer camps about the Israeli "occupation." Given IfNotNow's politics, described below, the teaching without a doubt will be anti-Israel. Parents who are sending their children to Jewish summer camps, motivated in part by establishing their children's connection to Israel, will be undermined without knowing it and probably without the camp administration's knowledge.