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AIPAC Tag

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 20, 2016 17 Comments
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is holding its annual policy conference in Washington, D.C. There are 18,000 attendees. Today was a rally for Palestine, and the marchers (200-300 based on the videos posted online) marched to the AIPAC conference location where protesters heckled people trying to enter. There also were the usual Code Pink antics, such as trying hard to get arrested by blocking doors (so far this year, no arrests). The main Code Pink protest is Monday, and I'm sure they will try hard to get arrested for publicity, as they did last year. But there were far more aggressive and dangerous people in the crowd, as this video shows.

Language Warning on all videos

(Video Via The Right Scoop via Townhall)

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 16, 2016 125 Comments
There was supposed to be a Fox News Republican Debate Monday night. That was until Donald Trump did well last night, and decided he didn't need another debate. Trump says he didn't even know about the debate, even though everyone else did, and won't participate because he is speaking before AIPAC: Except that as of yesterday his speech was not scheduled for a specific time slot:

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on March 03, 2016 2 Comments
Amid renewed tensions between Iran and the Sunni Arab States, the six member Gulf Cooperation Council has declared Iranian-backed Hezbollah a terrorist organisation. Since 1980s, Iran has been exercising control over Lebanon through its proxy Hezbollah, a Shia Islamist military outfit. Tehran-funded Hezbollah does not only controls Lebanon but also carries out terrorist operations on behalf of its Iranian masters across the globe. Thousands of Hezbollah fighters are currently fighting alongside the Iranian Revolutionary Guard on behalf of Assad Regime in the Syrian civil war. The power vacuum created by President Obama’s hasty retreat from the Middle East has been rapidly filled by Iran and its proxies. Iranian expansion has now created an unbroken corridor of control extending from the Gulf of Persia to the Mediterranean coast of Lebanon. Flushed with fresh cash, thanks to Obama-Kerry Nuclear Deal that unlocked $100 billion in frozen funds, Iranian Regime is now capable of bankrolling its proxies throughout the Arab World.

Posted by Jonathan Levin on February 12, 2016 2 Comments
There has been quite a bit of BDS-related legislative activity in the several weeks, with two anti-BDS measures moving through Congress, and activity in several state legislatures.  While the legislatures universally oppose BDS, President Obama has weighed in in opposition to Congress's pro-Israel legislation.

Federal Anti-BDS Legislation

First, Wednesday afternoon Senators Mark Kirk (R. - IL) and Joe Manchin (D. - WV) and Representatives Bob Dold (R. - IL) and Juan Vargas (D. - CA) filed a bill to help states divest from BDS-supporting companies.  According to Adam Kredo of the Washington Free Beacon:
The new bill, which was filed Wednesday afternoon, marks an aggressive push by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to combat the growing Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, otherwise known as BDS, which advocates in favor of economic war against the Jewish state. The bill would provide legal shelter to states seeking to divest taxpayer funds from any company that has backed the BDS movement. It also would set a legal precedent granting safe harbor for private investment companies to do the same.

Posted by Miriam Elman on December 08, 2015 8 Comments
A controversy brewing in St. Louis progressive activist circles sheds light on how the anti-Israel movement’s effort to demonize Israel by hijacking the Black Lives Matter agenda is intensifying. At issue is an offensive poster and cartoon featuring the image of a prominent St. Louis Rabbi Susan Talve. Both were circulated last week on social media by HandsUp United, a “social justice organization” based in Ferguson, Missouri. The anti-Israel group Jewish Voice for Peace is supporting the effort to demonize Rabbi Talve, and the vile anti-Israel cartoonist Carlos Latuff has created a cartoon meme that is spreading. This is all part of an effort to turn Black Lives Matters into an anti-Israel movement, an increasing focus of anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) activists.

Targeting St. Louis Rabbi Susan Talve

Rabbi Susan Talve, who leads St. Louis’ Central Reform Congregation, is a well-known and nationally respected figure in St. Louis’ interfaith community and in the Ferguson protest movement. Last year, she was named one of America’s most inspiring rabbis by the Forward. For years she’s taken a leading progressive position on racial issues in the United States. Since the Michael Brown fatal shooting in Ferguson, just outside St. Louis, in August 2014, she’s also voiced opposition to racial profiling and policing policies at numerous public events.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 01, 2015 5 Comments
I reported on November 22, 2015, that local Ithaca, NY, anti-Israel activists were objecting to the appearance of American Jewish reggae musician Matisyahu, Anti-Israel boycott movement targets Matisyahu again. The appearance is scheduled for this Friday night, December 4, 2015. That post had the history of how Matisyahu has been singled out for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement scorn because he is an American Jew who refuses to renounce and denounce Israel. In fact, Matisyahu has expressed support for Israel's right to exist and has come out against media demonization of Israel. That makes Matisyahu a marked man by BDS, and led to cancellation of his appearance last August at the Spanish Rototom Reggae Festival. The ban was reversed after a public outcry and Spanish government and media denunciations of religious discrimination. I also detailed how the local protest was organized by the same core group of people who organize just about every anti-Israel event in the Ithaca area, particularly Ariel Gold. Matisyahu - Ithaca State Street Theater At the end of my prior post, I noted:

Posted by Miriam Elman on December 01, 2015 13 Comments
Last week on November 22, Al-Awda—the Palestine Right to Return Coalition—proudly announced on Twitter the co-hosting, with Jewish Voice for Peace and others, of Alison Weir at an event in Cleveland: https://twitter.com/AlAwdaPRRC/status/668583974948741120 It isn’t surprising that Al-Awda would take the lead in promoting Weir and her group and website If Americans Knew (IAK). The two organizations are basically cut from the same cloth. According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Al-Awda is a notorious anti-Israel campaigner that views Zionism as “inherently racist” and is unwilling to accept Israel’s existence.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 22, 2015 8 Comments
Important Update: Artistic freedom showdown as BDS protests Matisyahu appearance in Ithaca, NY ---------------------- Matisyahu, whose real name is Matthew Paul Miller, is the American Jewish reggae musician who rocketed to fame with his combination Hasidic Jewish and Reggae anthems such as One Day, a call for peace: Matisyahu has been targeted by the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. In the summer of 2015 an international firestorm of controversy erupted after BDS succeeded in getting Matisyahu banned at the Spanish Rototom Reggae festival after Matisyahu refused to denounce Israel. That political litmus test was applied to no other musician and to no other nation. The ban was reversed only after an international outcry, including denunciations by the Spanish government and a leading Spanish newspaper that the action amounted to religious discrimination. Matisyahu appeared at the festival where "pro-Palestinian" protesters tried to disrupt his performance. Now Matisyahu is under attack again, this time by an anti-Israel BDS group in Ithaca, NY. The group, calling itself The Ithaca Committee for Justice in Palestine, has a controversial history of inflammatory statements and actions.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 25, 2015 35 Comments
In a stunning development, Luvelle Brown, Superintendent of Schools, Ithaca (NY) City School District, has acknowledged that serious anti-Israel agitation took place when controversial Palestinian activist Bassem Tamimi appeared with local anti-Israel activists before third graders, ending in a call to activism:
"In a closing statement of how students could help, a speaker spoke of solidarity and being freedom fighters for Palestine; to bring peace and protect the future of their children."
Brown stated, among other thing, that such statements and others were inappropriate:
"The Ithaca City School District’s position is that such statements are not developmentally appropriate for third graders, nor aligned with the New York State standards. The statements were politically skewed, inflammatory, and not endorsed by the Ithaca City School District."
The full letter is later in this post. But first, the background of how we reached this point.

Bassem Tamimi and Ariel Gold

On Sunday night, September 20, 2015, Legal Insurrection broke the story how Anti-Israel activism hits elementary school in Ithaca, NY:
An uproar is brewing in Ithaca, New York, after anti-Israel activists bragged on Facebook how they managed to bring Palestinian activist Bassem Tamimi to a third-grade class as part of a presentation on the suffering of Palestinian children at the hands of Israel.
That third grade event took place on Friday, September 18.

Posted by David Gerstman on September 04, 2015 11 Comments
Sen. Ben Cardin (D - Md.) today announced his opposition to the nuclear deal with Iran (AKA Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA) in an op-ed published in The Washington Post. With Sen. Chuck Schumer (D - N.Y.) and Sen. Robert Menendez (D - N.J.) Cardin becomes the third Democrat to break ranks with President Barack Obama and oppose the deal. But Democrats already have enough votes to override a veto. Cardin's main points of disagreement with the deal is that it would legitimize Iran's nuclear program and boost its economy making the imposition of sanctions difficult if not impossible.
The JCPOA would provide this legal path to a country that remains a rogue state and has violated its international nonproliferation obligations for years. It would provide Iran with international endorsement of an industrial-scale nuclear program. Worse, Iran would be economically strengthened by frighteningly quick relief from sanctions and international economic engagement. If Iran violates the agreement, building international support for new sanctions would take too long to be effective. A military response in this scenario would be more likely, although disastrous.

Posted by Mirabelle Ward on August 11, 2015 19 Comments
If the overheated rhetoric and denunciations of the opponents of the disastrous Iranian nuclear deal weren’t over the top before Chuck Schumer announced his position, they certainly have reached that point now. William Jacobson and Kemberlee Kaye have catalogued some of the more appalling responses here and here. Two of the worst accusations that are being made against Senator Schumer, as well as other members of Congress that have openly opposed the deal, are first, that they are acting against American interests, and second, that they do so at the behest of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and AIPAC. Those who call Schumer “Netanyahu’s marionette” appear oblivious to the Senator’s deliberative, thoughtful, and well-reasoned statement, which rebuts the President’s arguments point by point. They similarly ignore the fact that, as the New York Times reports, Schumer met with the President, with Wendy Sherman and John Kerry, and in addition to those meetings, had “three hourlong meetings with members of the negotiating team during which he received answers to 14 pages’ worth of questions on the agreement.” The charge that Senator Schumer did anything other than exercise his own independent judgment is scurrilous. Clearly, what is really unacceptable to his attackers is the fact that Schumer failed to blindly follow the party line. All of which has left me wondering, when did it become anti-American to exercise independent judgment?

Posted by Miriam Elman on July 12, 2015 9 Comments
In recent posts we have discussed Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), a U.S. based organization that has established itself as the “Jewish wing” of the Palestinian solidarity movement. JVP plays a critical role in numerous aspects of the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement in the United States by giving Jewish cover. In so presenting itself as the Jewish justification for BDS, JVP serves the role of washing away the stains of anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism which are central to the BDS movement's founding and conduct.

1. JVP - Not a Major Player in Jewish Life

Founded in 1996 by a small group of left-wing San Francisco Bay Area Jews, JVP worked in relative obscurity for years. Today it looks poised to break into the big leagues of American Jewish organizational life. According to its website and recent press releases, JVP currently has a youth wing and a Rabbinic Council, over 65 member-led chapters across the country, and 200,000+ online supporters. But looks can be deceiving. It’s difficult to pin these numbers down. According to Yitzhak Santis, Chief Programs Officer for the Jerusalem-based watchdog group NGO Monitor, “JVP provides no evidence” for its claim of tens of thousands of Jewish American followers. It doesn’t actually require that its members be Jewish or American.

Posted by David Gerstman on July 06, 2015 8 Comments
Adam Kredo of the Free Beacon obtained an e-mail threatening Democratic legislators who have doubts about the nuclear deal with Iran that the administration is negotiating.
“Democrats in Congress are the only remaining obstacle to finalizing today’s historic deal,” Zack Malitz, campaign manager for CREDO, said in a statement emailed to reporters on July 2, along with a note that details of the email were not to be published until a deal was actually announced. “Every Democrat should go on the record right now in support of the deal, and pledge to defend it from attacks in Congress.” “Republicans will try to sabotage the deal and take us to war, but they can’t do it without Democratic votes,” Malitz wrote. “Progressives will hold accountable those Democrats who vote to help Republicans sabotage the deal and start a war.”
The Free Beacon cited a source who observed that this kind of political threat was consistent with the administration's mindset.
“This is exactly what you’d expect from the deal-at-any-cost lobby,” the source said. “The White House lied to Congress about what it would deliver and doesn’t have anything left than its raw political power.”
The Free Beacon report comes just after Bloomberg reported that an effort to promote a nuclear deal with Iran has been funded with millions since 2003.

Posted by Miriam Elman on June 28, 2015 19 Comments
Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center, a Palestinian Christian organization headquartered in Jerusalem, is a group you probably never heard of. But Sabeel plays a critical role in seeking to reverse Christian support for Israel around the world. In the U.S., Friends of Sabeel - North America (FOSNA) is behind or involved in virtually every divestment resolution pending before various Christian denominations, often teaming up with Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP). You need to know about Sabeel, and how Sabeel and JVP team up against Israel. Sabeel provides the Christian liberation theology, JVP provides the Jewish cover.

1. United Church of Christ

For the past few days, the General Synod of the United Church of Christ (UCC) has been deliberating in Cleveland, Ohio on several resolutions related to Israel. Back in 2005, the UCC passed a resolution condemning Israel’s security barrier and calling on Israel to “tear down the wall” (Israel’s construction of the security barrier began in 2002 as a counterterrorism measure). This week its General Synod is considering a divestment resolution modelled after the one that narrowly passed last year by a 310-303 vote in the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), the largest of several Presbyterian denominations in America.

Posted by Miriam Elman on June 11, 2015 11 Comments
In the saturated market of pro-Palestinian activism, Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) has emerged as a major player. On its website, JVP now boasts over 60 member-led chapters across the country and more than 200,000 online Facebook and Twitter supporters. These days it’s also flush with new funding sources. According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which describes JVP as the “largest and most influential Jewish anti-Zionist group in the United States”, until very recently the organization reported an approximate average of $300,000 in annual contributions. By 2013 that figure had jumped to over $1 million. NGO Monitor notes that according to JVP’s 990 tax forms, from 2005-2011 the organization more than tripled its total revenues. It’s unclear where all the money is coming from. As NGO Monitor observes, JVP isn’t very transparent about its donor base. But the group has received some modest funding from the Violet Jabara Charitable Trust, an Arab-American foundation that also financially supports the virulently anti-Zionist Electronic Intifada; The Wallace Global Fund, which also supports the Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive think tank that’s long been a clearinghouse for anti-Israel positions; and The Firedoll Foundation, which also funds other pro-BDS groups.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 16, 2015 12 Comments
This would be funny were it not for the fact that the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement is such a sad sack of haters. Activists from Ithaca Jewish Voice for Peace were behind the recent failed effort to get GreenStar Food Coop in Ithaca, NY (home of Cornell University) to boycott Israel. Those activists formed a group called Central NY Committee for Justice in Palestine, later reconfigured as Ithaca Food Justice for Palestine. But two JVP activists, Ariel Gold and Beth Harris -- who (in)famously got themselves arrested at the AIPAC annual conference -- were behind it all. Details on that GreenStar boycott effort, including the hateful messages used as part of the campaign (See Featured Image for one example), are in my post, Huge BDS loss – GreenStar Food Coop rejects Israel boycott. Attempts were made to take the GreenStar boycott movement national, involving such "stars" as Angela Davis and Medea Benjamin, but that didn't help them much: Greenstar Boycott Angela Davis Medea Benjamin One aspect of the failed boycott effort involved China. China?

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 12, 2015 8 Comments
Activists from Ithaca Jewish Voice for Peace brought a referendum to the GreenStar Food Coop in Ithaca calling for a boycott of Israeli products.  The effort was national, with big names such as Angela Davis (radical anti-Israel prof.) and Medea Benjamin (Code Pink) lending their support (see Featured Image). The effort was rejected tonight unanimously by the GreenStar Council based on the NY State Human Rights law prohibition of boycotts based on national origin. (Full decision at bottom of post.) Similar to the Park Slope Food Coop in Brooklyn, NY, the referenda caused enormous tension among the GreenStar membership and within the community. See our prior posts: The proposed referenda read:
1. Shall Greenstar be required to halt the sale of all Israeli products and produce grown or produced in the Occupied West Bank in Israeli settlements, settlements which are recognized as illegal under international law?

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 24, 2015 15 Comments
We have been here before. The vicious anti-Israel boycotters of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement don't like it when the tables are turned on them.  That's why, when faculty pass their anti-Israel boycott resolutions, they include in the resolutions the demand that their right to boycott be protected. In other words, boycotters claim the right to boycott others, but deny others the right to boycott them. It's an "academic freedom for me, but not for thee" attitude. In Europe, in particular, the BDS rhetoric and tactics are so toxic that BDS has become the mother's milk of anti-Semitic violence and threats.  In many cities, Walking While Jewish is hazardous to one's health. But boycotting the boycotters was bound to happen. Israel supporters were not going to be punching bags forever. And forever has arrived. We have highlighted before proposed federal legislation updating boycott protection for Israel in new trade legislation, including the massive European Union free trade agreement under negotiation. BDS supporters howled that the trade legislation could mean the death of BDS in Europe. That effort just got a huge boost, as this AIPAC press release reflects:
AIPAC praises the Senate Finance Committee for unanimously including an amendment targeting harmful anti-Israel trade and commercial practices in the “Fast Track” Trade Promotion Authority bill yesterday. AIPAC applauds the amendment's authors, Sens. Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Rob Portman (R-OH), and expresses appreciation to Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Ranking Democrat Ron Wyden (D-OR), who backed this key initiative.
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