Tag: aipac
Donald Trump’s AIPAC Hypocrisy

Donald Trump’s AIPAC Hypocrisy

Full disclosure: true to my public promise, I did not watch Donald Trump’s AIPAC speech live in the arena, but instead from the comfort and relative quiet of the Capital Hilton bar. Even if watching Trump speak like a politician (teleprompter and all—sad!) was unusual, the underlying theme of his speech wasn’t. And to be clear, Trump’s theme had nothing to do with the U.S.-Israeli relationship.

I believe in AIPAC’s mission; the organization and its employees are doing vitally important work. The premise of their annual conference, however, is pretty simple: pack an arena full of 18,000 people who agree on some basic positions — support of Israel and the bolstering of the U.S.-Israel relationship — and they’ll react positively when speakers say those things. This is far from an unusual phenomenon: any advocacy organization aims to energize its base at its convention; just watch what happens when marriage equality is mentioned at the Democratic Convention or gun rights are mentioned the Republican one.

However, in AIPAC’s case, these conditions set a spectacularly low bar for Trump. Even more importantly, they allowed him to keep his speech true to the running theme of his campaign: Donald J. Trump will say whatever his audience wants to hear in order to be rewarded with applause.

Before Monday, Trump had been flexible on the Iran deal. He had, of course, co-starred in Sen. Ted Cruz and Sarah Palin’s anti-Iran odyssey on Capitol Hill (alongside Duck Dynasty’s Phil Roberts), but the focus of his message was always to lambast the stupidity of America’s diplomats rather than promise that he would actually abdicate the deal. Yet in his speech to AIPAC, Trump reversed course, promising to “dismantle the disastrous deal with Iran.” (Doing so would leave Iran with no constraints on its nuclear program and only isolated U.S. sanctions, but that’s apparently beside the point to any and all of the GOP’s would-be commanders-in-chief.)

Trump’s previous character, the “sort of a neutral guy,” in any Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, was also long gone. Trump’s new position is that “The Palestinians must come to the table knowing that the bond between the United States and Israel is unbreakable,” and that there is “no daylight between America and our most reliable ally.” These are full-throated (and in my mind, important) sentiments for sure, but they weren’t backed up by any semblance of policy; Trump offered no details as to how he would actually approach what he’s previously called “the toughest negotiation of all time.”

What Trump left out of his speech was noteworthy, too. His main foreign policy shtick for some time now has been that there is little advantage to U.S. bases abroad, and that the allies we help defend—particularly well-off allies—should pay tribute for protection. In fact, Trump said the same about Israel in a press conference on Monday afternoon (yes, you’re reading that timeline correctly), arguing that Israel “can pay big league” for its own defense. Yet this issue was entirely absent from his speech just hours later: Trump made no mention of demanding that Israel pay, “big league” or otherwise, for its defense.

These are all issues that can be discussed and debated. We can have conversations about how the Iran deal could be strengthened, or what diplomacy between Israelis and Palestinians should look like, or what the United States can do — in terms of military hardware and beyond — to help Israel stay safe. That’s all fine. What’s not fine is Donald Trump rattling off these stances like stock language with no forethought or credibility. All that shows is that Donald can read—and he’s the best reader, believe me!

As far as I’m concerned, Trump never should have been given a prime speaking slot at AIPAC. It is absolutely vital for AIPAC to learn about his views and policies, but they needn’t have hosted a rally for him; no other candidate who spoke mentioned their poll numbers. Moreover, his willingness to whip the alt-right into a frenzy and play footsie with anti-Semites, white supremacists, and the Klan are all disqualifying in my mind.

But, fundamentally, hearing his speech told us nothing new about Trump—we don’t know if his past positions (keep the deal, be neutral, and ask Israel to pony-up) or new ones (break the deal, be pro-Israel, and fund defense without question) will be the course he charts in office.

All we learned from Trump at AIPAC is that he’ll say whatever you want to hear in exchange for a pat on the head and some applause. But we knew that already, too.

Elie Jacobs is a NYC-based public affairs and public relations consultant as well as a Partner with the Truman National Security Project. Views expressed are his own.

Photos: Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump addresses the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) afternoon general session in Washington March 21, 2016.      REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

Sanders Gave An Even-Handed AIPAC Speech That Everyone Ignored

Sanders Gave An Even-Handed AIPAC Speech That Everyone Ignored

Yesterday, all five presidential candidates from both parties gave speeches to AIPAC, the leading Israeli lobbying group in the U.S. But only four of them gave their speeches in Washington, D.C. The fifth, Bernie Sanders, gave his speech to an audience in Utah, where it barely received any coverage at all.

In what was an even-handed criticism of both the Israeli and Palestinian governments, Sanders — who, remember, is the first Jewish presidential candidate to win a state primary — pushed a common sense resolution to the conflict that acknowledged grievances on either side, by addressing both Israeli security concerns and socioeconomic improvement for Palestinians. “Peace has to mean security for every Israeli from violence and terrorism,” he said. “But peace also means security for every Palestinian. It means achieving self-determination, civil rights, and economic well-being for the Palestinian people.”

Speaking at a high school in Salt Lake City, Sanders laid out his foreign policy vision for the region should he win the presidency. On top of addressing the ongoing conflict and breakdown in negotiations between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority, he also addressed ISIS and the need for Arab involvement in that fight.

Sanders framed his speech as needed criticism from a “long term” friend of Israel. “Our disagreements will come and go, and we must weather them constructively,” he said. “But it is important among friends to be honest and truthful about differences that we may have.”

Sanders has often occupied that role. As a young man, he lived on a kibbutz in Israel during the 1960s, which he pointed out in his speech. But he’s not given Israel the political carte blanche that most senators have.

During the 2014 war in Gaza, he was one of 21 senators who did not co-sponsor a Senate resolution expressing support for Israel during the war. Then, in February 2015, he was the first senator to publicly announce he was skipping Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to both houses of Congress.

Sanders saw it as an attempt to undermine President Barack Obama, who wasn’t notified of Netanyahu’s plan to speak in front of Congress until it appeared in the news. He was followed by 55 other Democratic congressmen, who did the same.

Sanders had offered to address AIPAC’s audience via video conference, but conference organizers said all presidential candidates had to be physically present, despite a video call from Netanyahu. The Vermont senator said he couldn’t attend because he was campaigning in the western states, where today’s primaries are due to take place.

But it’s possible that the lobbying group was unhappy with Sanders’s criticisms of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli actions during the 2014 summer war in Gaza, and his general disconnect from Israel as an American political issue. A June 2015 article by The Jewish Daily Forward interviewed an AIPAC official, who said, “Sanders does not sign any AIPAC-backed letters.”

Sanders has been critical of Israel’s use of disproportionate force during its wars in Gaza and the high civilian death tolls that usually result. “I – along with many supporters of Israel – spoke out strongly against the Israeli counter attacks that killed nearly 1,500 civilians and wounded thousands more. I condemned the bombing of hospitals, schools and refugee camps,” he said during his speech. None of the other presidential candidates who address AIPAC offered a similar criticism of Israel.

His speech was a far cry from the one given by his rival Hillary Clinton, who pointed to her decades of working with Israeli governments as proof that she was an unshakeable ally of Israel and had the years of real experience, rather than idealism, that Sanders lacked. Clinton promised to support Israel’s “qualitative military edge” over its regional neighbors, invite Israeli leaders to the White House, and oppose the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement that has promoted a South African-style boycott of Israeli goods until it stops its occupation of Palestinian land.

Photo: Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders holds a town hall event at the Navajo Nation casino in Flagstaff, Arizona March 17, 2016. REUTERS/Nancy Wiechec

Biden Says Israel Settlements Raise Questions About Commitment To Peace

Biden Says Israel Settlements Raise Questions About Commitment To Peace

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Vice President Joe Biden called on Israel’s government on Sunday to demonstrate its commitment to a two-state solution to end the conflict with the Palestinians and said settlement expansion is weakening prospects for peace.

“Israel’s government’s steady and systematic process of expanding settlements, legalizing outposts, seizing land, is eroding in my view the prospect of a two-state solution,” Biden said in a speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a leading pro-Israel lobbying group.

Biden said he did not agree with Israel President Benjamin Netanyahu’s government that expanded settlements would not interfere with any effort to settle the conflict.

“Bibi (Netanyahu) thinks it can be accommodated, and I believe he believes it. I don’t,” Biden said.

Biden said the region instead seems to be moving toward a one-state solution, which he termed dangerous.

“There is no political will at this moment among Israelis or Palestinians to move forward with serious negotiations. And that’s incredibly disappointing,” Biden said.

Israel says it intends to keep large settlement blocs in any future peace agreement with the Palestinians. Palestinians, who seek to establish a state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, say they fear Israeli settlement expansion will deny them a viable country.

Palestinians have cited Israeli settlement activity as one of the factors behind the collapse of U.S.-brokered peace talks in 2014, and a surge of violence over the past five months has dimmed hopes negotiations could be revived any time soon.

“We’ve stressed to both parties the need to take meaningful steps to demonstrate their commitment to a two-state solution that extends beyond mere words,” Biden said.

“There’s got to be a little ‘show-me.’ This cannot continue to erode,” he said.

Biden was cheered for criticizing what he called Palestinian actions at the United Nations to undermine Israel, and he said changes in the region, including the united fight against Islamic State militants, could help thaw relations between Israel and its neighbors.

Israel and the United States are also in talks on a generous military assistance agreement, he said.

“It will, without a doubt, be the most generous security assistance package in the history of the United States,” Biden said of a pact expected to be worth billions of dollars annually to the Jewish state, the largest recipient of such U.S. assistance.

 

 

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Richard Pullin)

Photo: U.S. Vice President Joe Biden speaks as he delivers a joint statement with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during their meeting in Jerusalem March 9, 2016. REUTERS/Debbie Hill/Pool 

American Jews Are Protesting Trump’s Planned AIPAC Speech

American Jews Are Protesting Trump’s Planned AIPAC Speech

It’s happening slowly, but it’s happening. The American Jewish community is beginning to call Donald Trump what he is: a dangerous person.

A few months ago, the Republican Jewish Coalition — which represents some of the deepest-pocketed donors on the conservative super PAC circuit — laughed along with Trump as he said that he was “a negotiator like you folks, we’re negotiators.” He continued: “Is there anyone in this room who doesn’t renegotiate deals? This room negotiates a lot. This room perhaps more than any room I’ve ever spoken to.”

The Anti-Defamation League defended those remarks, for some reason.

Now, it’s different. Trump has spent the past two months proving two things: that his casual racism is purposefully used to appeal to America’s white nationalist underbelly, and that he could actually be president. 

When the American-Israeli Political Action Committee announced last month that Donald Trump would speak at their annual policy summit, many took it as an affront to values in the Jewish community that call for challenging racism and demagoguery.

Three days ago, the Union for Reform Judaism, the largest Jewish group in the country, put out a statement saying they would “find an appropriate and powerful way to make our voices heard” during Trump’s appearance at AIPAC, claiming Trump’s “campaign has been replete with naked appeals to bigotry, especially against Hispanics and Muslims,” and that “in recent days, increasingly, he appears to have gone out of his way to encourage violence at his campaign events.”

URJ’s former president, Rabbi Eric Yoffe, wrote an editorial yesterday supporting the action, and another group, “Come Together Against Hate” has announced that they’re planning a mass walkout during Trump’s speech.

AIPAC is one of the largest lobbying groups in the country. Their stated mission is to “educate decision makers about the bonds that unite the United States and Israel,” and, frankly, they’re quite good at it. This year’s policy conference — as it does every year — will feature speeches from the most prominent political figures in the nation: Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Paul Ryan, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, and Donald Trump, among others. The event draws thousands of attendees every year.

Though most American Jews are Democrats, It doesn’t help Trump’s case with conservative Jews that he said he would be “neutral” in peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine.

As former Bush speechwriter Noam Neusner explained in The Forward recently, Republican Jews have plenty of reasons to vote against Trump: “[H]is appeal to nativism, or his crony capitalism, or his crassness, or his expressed desire for “neutrality” between Israel and the Palestinians, or his admiration for Vladimir Putin, or his quotation of Mussolini, or his approval of the crushing of Chinese democracy protesters, or his rejection of permitting any Muslims into the country, or his initial refusal to forswear the endorsement of white supremacists.”

According to the Washington Post‘s Rosalind S. Helderman, the Republican Jewish Coalition “is expected to debate how to deal with Trump during its annual meeting next month in Las Vegas.”

Photo: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s Presidential Forum in Washington December 3, 2015. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas