#american israel public affairs committee

[thegreatwhinger]

Presidential Debate 2024 (5)

The way Kamala sucks on the teat of AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) is embarrassing.

Clearly the Democrats don't think they need Michigan.

Not that Trump is any better but one grows accustomed to his toady nature.

[an-onyx-void]

Jamaal Bowman loses New York primary to pro-Israel George Latimer

[trendynewsnow]

Obituary of Steven J. Rosen: Advocate for Israel and AIPAC Influencer

Obituary: Steven J. Rosen Steven J. Rosen, a prominent and hawkish advocate for Israel, passed away on October 28 near his home in Silver Spring, Maryland. He was 82 years old. Rosen was instrumental in enhancing the influence of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a key lobbying organization in Washington focused on strengthening U.S.-Israel relations. His partner, Barbara…

[agreenroad]

Foreign Control Of US Politicians And Mass Media; This Is How AIPAC Really Works

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) has invested more than $100m in US political races this year, aiming to silence pro-Palestine voices in Congress and preserve the status quo. What does this mean for Americans who question prioritising military aid over issues like healthcare and education? As Israel’s war on Gaza continues unabated, we examine AIPAC’s role in shaping US…

[blackpilledkremlintsarina5294]

AIPAC should be investigated.

[saxafimedianetwork]

Democrat Hill Harper Was Offered $20 Million To Run Against Rashida Tlaib

@hillharper said he won't try to force out the only #Palestinian-#American in Congress, @RashidaTlaib, 'because some special interests don’t like her', even for $20 million. @AIPAC #gazawar2023

Continue reading Untitled

[heritageposts]

Harris has been a staunch supporter of Israel for years. In 2017 she addressed the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s (AIPAC) annual conference and reminded attendees that the first resolution she co-sponsored as a senator was aimed at combating “anti-Israel bias” at the United Nations. “Let me be clear about what I believe. I stand with Israel because of our shared values, which are so fundamental to the founding of both our nations,” she told the crowd. In 2018 she gave an off-the-record speech to the organization, but eventually released her comments. In that speech she claimed that she raised money for the Jewish National Fund as a Girl Scout. “Having grown up in the Bay area, I fondly remember those Jewish National Fund boxes that we would use to collect donations to plant trees for Israel,” she told the audience. “Years later, when I visited Israel for the first time, I saw the fruits of that effort and the Israeli ingenuity that has truly made a desert bloom.”

For those unfamiliar with the Jewish National Fund (JNF), they're a Zionist organization that has been instrumental in the ethnic cleansing of Palestine.

See Stop the JNF for more information on their history, the way they operate, and their decades-long campaign of greenwashing (i.e. destroying native plants, crops, and agriculture under the banner of 'making the desert bloom').

Continuing, the Mondoweiss article goes:

“The vast majority of people understand the importance of the State of Israel,” she added later. “Both in terms of its history and its present in terms of being a source of inspiration on so many issues, which I hope we will talk about, and also what it means in terms of the values of the United States and those values that are shared values with Israel, and the importance of fighting to make sure that we protect and respect a friend, one of the best friends we could possibly have.” While running for President in 2019, Harris was praised by the lobbying group Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI) for running to the right of Obama on the Iran deal. On the campaign trail Harris told Kat Wellman, a voter affiliated with DMFI, that she would reenter the agreement but “strengthen it” by “extending the sunset provisions, including ballistic missile testing, and also increasing oversight.” “I was very impressed with her. I thought she gave an excellent speech, she gave a very detailed, responsive answer to my question,” Wellman told a local paper after the exchange. “I’m pro-Israel, so I was I was very concerned and all about making sure we limit nuclear missiles in any country that could possibly destroy us all. I thought her answer was very good.” Harris has condemned the BDS movement and claimed that is “based on the mistaken assumption that Israel is solely to blame for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” However, she voted against an anti-BDS bill in 2019 citing First Amendment concerns.

For the full article, which includes Kamala's response to Israel post Al-Aqsa Flood, see Mondoweiss (July 22, 2024)

[odinsblog]

THIS WEEK, WASHINGTON’S top Israel lobby is rallying its supporters to go to Capitol Hill and falsely claim to lawmakers that people aren’t starving in Gaza and Israel isn’t blocking aid shipments, according to talking points obtained by the American Prospect.

Israel has led a brutal siege on Gaza since Oct. 7, when Hamas killed 1,139 Israelis and kidnapped more than 200. More than 31,000 Palestinians have been killed, 2 million have been internally displaced, and hundreds of thousands are at imminent risk of famine, according to the United Nations.

The powerful lobbying group American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, is working to maintain support for Israel’s war, amid increased protests and public outcry. This week, AIPAC convened in Maryland for its annual policy conference, which it uses to marshal its donors and supporters to serve as a grassroots lobbying army in the halls of Congress.

The Prospect obtained a copy of AIPAC’s talking points for supporters heading to the Hill — and they are extreme, to say the least. The documents instruct supporters to claim that “reports that people are starving in Gaza are false,” and say that “Israel is not blocking the delivery of aid to Gaza.”

The AIPAC talking points additionally claim that Hamas wants people to believe Gazans are starving in order to “exert pressure” on Israel, and argues the “United States must not fall into Hamas’ trap.”

These claims from AIPAC are false. Gazans are starving on a massive, unprecedented scale. According to the United Nations, 2.2 million Palestinians in Gaza — almost the entire population of the region — are facing “crisis or worse levels of food insecurity.” Half a million of those included in that figure face “catastrophic” levels of food insecurity.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) — a leading food security analysis and advocacy group — classifies the Gaza Strip as being in Phase 4 “Emergency” status food insecurity, with a high risk of imminent famine conditions.

(continue reading)

[booasaur]

Yesterday, as I was scrolling though Twitter, I saw reports starting to come in of an attack on a refugee camp in northern Gaza. After the confusion in the aftermath of the hospital attack before, news sites were a lot more leery of actually mentioning Israel or even airstrikes at all, so we got reporting like this:

But, at this point Israel actually seems to have no compunctions about admitting what they're doing and straight up taking credit because just a little while later I see people remarking on how in this interview:

even Wolf Blitzer, who used to work for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC, a powerful lobby), seems somewhat taken aback and asking for confirmation that the IDF is really saying what they're saying.

(By the way, not to leave out the continued journalistic passive voice cowardice on display only with respect to this conflict, this is what the New York Times text alert sent out:

A NEARBY HOSPITAL REPORTED MANY DEATHS???)

But anyway, okay, so Israel hit a refugee camp, terrible, cruel, the day ends.

Today, I wake up, and I see some tweets saying again they've hit Jabalia, and even my at this point cynical mind couldn't in a million years have thought they literally meant "again", I thought oh, they just mean that in an ongoing series of bombing places they shouldn't, they've hit a refugee camp, they're referring to yesterday's attack.

No.

Who would have thought they'd do it AGAIN? I don't want to post the aftermath of the videos and pics, but they were horrendous, and to do it again? So like, did not kill the alleged reported Hamas leader the first time? It was just many people's lives ruined forever for no reason?

But guys, then they attacked it a THIRD time.

I'm honestly just so sad right now. When will it end? We need a ceasefire now.

[quasi-normalcy]

How could it be that such a powerful flex by pro-Israel donors is a reflection of a weakening cause? It’s simple: it is because such power flexes were never needed before. Now, it has become routine. Recently, Aipac and company spent huge sums to defeat Jamal Bowman in a primary as well. They made similar efforts against Representative Summer Lee last time, though she was able to survive the onslaught.

In the immediate short term, it seems like a reflection of power, but anyone who has been following the politics around this issue in the United States for years knows this is anything but. Pro-Israel interest groups never had to overtly and heavily interject themselves into electoral politics in such a way previously precisely because their cause enjoy a great degree of cultural hegemony. In the US, politicians kissed babies, petted dogs, loved baseball and unequivocally supported Israel. That last part isn’t quite what it used to be. The consensus around supporting Israel, especially in the Democratic party, has collapsed.

[luthienne]

the american israel public affairs committee is one of the largest lobbying groups in the united states

As M.J. Rosenberg, a former employee of AIPAC, wrote for The Nation in 2019, at the end of the day, the goal of AIPAC is "to ensure that Congress never questions Israel about anything, that it just shuts up and keeps the billions of dollars in aid coming. And above all, without conditions, like requiring Israel to take steps to end the occupation, the blockade of Gaza, or to grant equal rights to Palestinians inside Israel and in the occupied territories."

[an-onyx-void]

Disclaimer: I am not the original owner or creator of this content. The source is listed below.

[eretzyisrael]

by Corey Walker

The Black Lives Matter organization (BLM) faced an avalanche of backlash over the weekend after calling on the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas to release the remaining hostages it kidnapped from Israel and took to Gaza on Oct. 7.

“Hamas: release the hostages,” the group posted on X/Twitter on Saturday. 

The post generated outrage from activists who accused BLM of betraying the Palestinian cause. Left-wing social media personalities lambasted the group for supposedly minimizing the plight of Palestinians by showing empathy for Israelis in Hamas’s captivity. 

“Did AIPAC write this post for you?” one X/Twitter user wrote, referring to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

“Guys please don’t associate this organization with the BLM movement. They are not synonymous. I founded a chapter of BLM in my city and I would never in a million years agree to be affiliated with this filth,” another user posted.

“This account just lost credibility,” someone else added.

“F—k you ZIONIST puppets,” posted left-wing social media personality Jackson Hinkle. 

“Seeing black people backing Israel is one of the saddest things possible, given how the founders of Zionism considered black people to be inferior to white people,” wrote pro-Palestinian social media personality Ousman Noor.

After receiving a deluge of criticism over advocating for captive Israelis, BLM issued subsequent tweets calling for the United States to “disarm [Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu and defund the illegal military occupation” and for Israel to “stop murdering Palestinians.”

[alwayswiselight]

I'm posting this again to remind my fellow Americans that both Democrats and Republicans in our government have been corrupted by wealthy corporate donors, lobbies such as AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee), and the military industrial complex. Our tax dollars have supported the genocidal state of Israel since 1967. They've also gone to support over 800 US military bases around the world and devastating wars to maintain control over Middle East oil and other natural resources. No one in the US should be homeless and without affordable healthcare. As for our infrastructure, I can tell you that the state of Louisiana where I live has the worst roads in the country. The US is the richest country in the world but our taxes only keep the mega billionaires rich by supporting empire abroad. As for you diehard Democrats, Kamala Harris won't change this in any major way. She still supports Israel in its genocide. That alone is deplorable. She was also a disgraceful California Attorney General who kept those in prison for mere drug possession. She is not the answer!

JILL STEIN FOR US PRESIDENT 2024! PEOPLE PLANET PEACE

[tieflingkisser]

Inside the “Zionists for Don Samuels” WhatsApp Group Raising Big Money to Oust Ilhan Omar

In AIPAC’s absence, a Samuels campaign staffer and pro-Israel super PAC donors strategize to oust another Squad member.

The members of the group — which included a consultant who at the time was working for the Samuels campaign as well as far-flung political donors — discussed raising six-figure sums for a political action committee, strategies for campaign phone banks, and an effort to marshal Republican voters to boost Samuels in Tuesday’s open primary. “Hi Everybody, My Name is Alexander Minn, I work for the campaign,” Alex Minn, the campaign consultant, wrote to the group on July 24. “WE ALL HAVE THE POWER TO HELP GET RID OF ~the squad~ AND PUBLIC ENEMY #1 TO JEWS, ISRAEL, AND AMERICA- ~ilhan omar~” (Samuels campaign manager Joe Radinovich said on Saturday that Minn no longer works for the campaign. An August 4 episode of a YouTube show featuring Samuels included Minn as a campaign staffer.) While national pro-Israel groups like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee have not come out swinging in the Samuels–Omar race, a far-flung, group of disparate activists are using the WhatsApp group, called “Zionists for Don Samuels Against Ilhan Omar,” to fill the gap.

[...]

Whereas pro-Israel groups in Bush and Bowman’s races ran ads about issues other than Israel itself, the Samuels campaign has focused on Omar’s calls for a ceasefire, her denouncing the war in Gaza as a genocide, and allegations of antisemitism against the incumbent for her stances on Israel.

[...]

Members of the “Zionists for Don Samuels” group hail from various locations, with some from Minneapolis and others based in New York and Puerto Rico. Some have supported former President Donald Trump and other Republicans. Others are regular Democratic donors who have expressed disillusionment with the party over Israel. One participant in the WhatsApp group, Michael Sinensky — a wealthy entrepreneur who on the chat justifies support for “alt right Christian Neo Nazis” — said he has worked with Make a Difference MN to raise over $120,000 for Samuels since July 31, according to messages he sent to the group chat. Make a Difference MN, a super PAC, was used by AIPAC in 2022 to route $350,000 into Samuels’s race.

[...]

In an example of the eclectic and vociferously pro-Israel politics of the “Zionists for Don Samuels” chat group, it was formed in October 2023, according to the chat history, by vehemently anti-Democratic public relations impresario Ronn Torossian.  The group was founded under the name “Jews for Ritchie Torres” — the Democratic representative from New York known for his over-the-top support of Israel. (In a statement, Torres said, “The Intercept, as usual, is reporting fiction.”) During the summer, however, the group name changed to “Jews Against the Squad” and then later “Zionists for Don Samuels Against Ilhan Omar.” Along with Torossian, other participants in the “Zionists for Don Samuels” chat have supported Trump in the past. In the chat group, Sinensky, who has given donations to many Democrats in the past, justified his support for the far right on the national level.  “The bottom line is and it’s a sad one, we need to be supportive ON PRESIDENTIAL LEVEL of the alt right Christian Neo Nazis at the moment (like Ukraine) to fight off the socialist, Marxist, anarchists who are supporting radical Islam,” he said. “Nazis are better than Islamic terrorists at this moment in time FOR PRESIDENT. On state and city level it’s different as proof with us supporting Ritchie and fetterman,” a reference to Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman. 

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Daniel Marans at HuffPost:

Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) lost her Democratic primary on Tuesday, shrinking the ranks of the House’s left-wing “Squad” and delivering another major victory to the pro-Israel and business-friendly groups that backed her challenger. Wesley Bell, the St. Louis County prosecutor, defeated Bush. Since Missouri’s 1st Congressional District, which includes all of St. Louis and many of its northern and western suburbs, is overwhelmingly Democratic, Bell is all but assured of a seat in Congress come November.

Bell’s victory over Bush marks the second “Squad” member in recent months to fall to a challenger heavily funded by pro-Israel groups. Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), who, like Bush, ousted an incumbent in 2020, lost his race to Westchester County Executive George Latimer this past June. Justice Democrats, the left-wing group that backed Bush’s first successful run, cast the race as yet another referendum on the power of big money to decide elections. “This race is about the future of our democracy and the soul of our Democratic Party, frankly,” Usamah Andrabi, a spokesperson for Justice Democrats, told HuffPost on Monday. “This is a question about whether we want to let a handful of Republican mega-donors dictate the outcome of Democratic primaries, or do we want to move forward to elect more nurses and everyday people to represent the community’s best interests.”

Bush, an ordained pastor and registered nurse, indeed faced a massive fundraising deficit. As Andrabi noted, Bell had the support of some local Republican donors — and many national megadonors from both parties, through the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Super PACs supporting Bell outspent those supporting Bush by a more than 3-to-1 margin. Spending by pro-Bell groups included about $8.6 million from AIPAC’s United Democracy Project, $1.5 million from LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman’s Mainstream Democrats PAC, $1.4 million from the crypto-industry-backed FairShake PAC, and nearly $500,000 from the Democratic Majority for Israel PAC. Bush made national waves with her July 2021 sit-in on the U.S. Capitol steps to draw attention to the expiration of the federal government’s COVID-19-era eviction moratorium. Her action got results; President Joe Biden responded by extending the policy, though the Supreme Court stopped it a few weeks later. Later that year, in a bid to shore up support for abortion rights, Bush spoke on national television — and in a House hearing — about her experience getting an abortion after being raped at age 17.

Bush’s allies — and she retains the support of many local elected officials — see her as an authentic tribune of the Black Lives Matter movement, which was born in Ferguson, Missouri, following the police killing of Michael Brown in 2014. Unlike many other Democrats in Washington, Bush continues to embrace calls to “defund the police.” Bell, who also got his political start during the Ferguson protests and unseated a more conservative incumbent prosecutor in 2018, has, by contrast, disappointed many of his former fellow activists. They fault him for declining to prosecute Darren Wilson, the police officer who killed Brown, and for not more rapidly reducing the county’s jail and prison populations, even as he points to the creation of a conviction review unit and the expansion of drug diversion programs.

[...] Finally, Bush has been among the most outspoken critics of Israel in Congress, particularly after Israel invaded Gaza in response to Hamas’ terror attack on Oct. 7. She was not only an early advocate for a ceasefire, but has also accused Israel of genocide ― a charge that remains highly disputed. And in an interview with The New York Times out on Monday, Bush expressed ambivalence about describing Hamas as a terrorist group, though her campaign later walked it back. “Would they qualify to me as a terrorist organization? Yes,” Bush told the Times. “But do I know that? Absolutely not.” Bush’s stances cost her the support of Susan Talve, a progressive St. Louis rabbi who leads the only synagogue in Bush’s district. But they also unsettled some other allies who see her national profile as a distraction from the needs of the high-poverty, majority Black district.

In the battle of activists rising from the Ferguson protests in #MO01, incumbent Rep. Cori Bush (D) goes down in defeat to AIPAC-backed St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell (D) in the Democratic Primary. Bell is favored to win this November.