Pro-Israel lobby opens US meeting

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Pro-Israel lobby opens US meeting
By  Rob Reynolds in Washington


The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) - one of the most powerful pressure groups in Washington and one of the main reasons for America's support of Israel - is holding its annual policy conference in Washington DC.

The pro-Israel lobby group works to strengthen relations between the United States and Israel.

The New York Times describes it as "the most important organisation affecting America's relationship with Israel" and it is regularly ranked as one of the top three most powerful pressure groups in Washington DC.

Among the speakers at the conference which opens on Sunday will be Dick Cheney, the US vice-president, Nancy Pelosi, the house speaker and Tzipi Livni, Israel's foreign minister.


Overseas trips

The organisation was set up shortly after Israel's foundation in 1948 and now has 100,000 members.

It's credited with winning billions of dollars in US aid for Israel, including for buying the latest military weaponry.

Nathan Guttman, Washington bureau chief for the US-Jewish newspaper, The Forward, says: "Aipac is very influential because they have the grass roots organisation, when a congressman first comes to Washington he already knows Aipac, he has met their activists in his district, he knows what it means to be pro-Israel."

Although Aipac does not make direct campaign contributions, it has spent millions of dollars on professional lobbyists and paying for politicians to visit Israel.

In the past two election cycles, pro-Israel groups have given over $9m to congressional candidates, with slightly more than half going to Democrats.


'Most powerful lobby'

Certainly, if you are ranking Americans involved in pursuing a foreign government or country抯 interests, Israel outranks them all.

Massie Ritsch is an analyst for the Centre for Responsive Government, a lobbying watchdog group.

Ritsch said: "The pro-Israel lobby is the most powerful among foreign interests that want contact with the federal government.

"Members of congress have travelled to Israel more often in the past two years, more often than they抳e been to Chicago, in our own country [the US].

"It is the most travelled foreign destination for members of congress."


Sensitive topic

Delegates say Iran will be the number one issue at this year's Aipac conference.

Guttman said: "We will hear a lot about the danger of a nuclear Iran

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Inside Story: Aipac power in the US


The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac), the pro-Israel lobby group, is holding its annual policy conference in Washington DC.

It has more than 100,000 members, Jewish and non-Jewish, and has been very successful in gaining support for Israel from congress and White House administrations for more than 50 years.

Its annual donations to congress are estimated to be around $2m.

Ehud Olmert, Israel's prime minister, has called Aipac the Jewish state's "best friend in the entire world".

Al Jazeera's Inside Story asked three guests for their opinions on how Aipac helps to influence US policy on Israel.


Too successful

Gavri Bargil, one of the leaders of Peace Now, an Israeli peace organisation, said: "I think the work Aipac does is crucial and I support them. Our fear is sometimes they are too successful.
"They do not always represent the line of the Israeli public, nor the Jewish community in the US, who believe in two peoples, two states.

"Many times what Aipac reports to the [Capitol} Hill or to the US administration is much out of line."


Narrowed debate

Steve Clemons, of the New American Foundation, a Washington think-tank, said: "I am impressed with the organisation and there's a lot of jealousy of its success.

"It has successfully managed to narrow debate in Washington on the Palestinian issue.

"We have a cartel of institutes and political think-tanks that dominate this area and I think it would be healthier if there were more players.

"... it would be a nice idea to invite Keith Ellison, the first Muslim member of congress into a conversation at the conference.

"That kind of activity would go a long way to demystifying Aipac and what it's about, because there is a bit of mystery about what it is, and isn't, about."


Relentless pressure

Morton Klein, a member of the executive committee of Aipac, said: "George Bush has refused to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, George Bush has relentlessly pressured Israel to accept the road map and make concessions to Palestinians.

"The only reason Aipac has success in Capitol Hill is not because of its lobbying efforts per se.

"It's because the vast majority of American citizens, who are primarily Christians, support Israel over the Palestinian Authority by between three-to-one and five-to-one, depending on which poll you use."


http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/2FB559C7-E28B-4EB3-9630-95D702E0D1BD.htm

alphawolf

Technically, ni bukan MPSA..so aku ubah ke World Events la ye...

ef/x

  o.k laa..

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Pelosi stand on war in Iraq bothers Israel lobby But House speaker insists U.S. commitment to security of Jewish state is unshakable
(03-14) 04:00 PDT Washington

Speaker Nancy Pelosi is widely recognized as a strong, second-generation supporter of Israel, but the scattered boos she heard during an appearance before the Israel lobby's most committed activists highlighted their conflicting emotions over the war in Iraq. The cool response Tuesday from about 6,000 members of the non-partisan American Israel Public Affairs Committee gathered in Washington for their annual policy conference came after she characterized the war that many of them support as a failure.

Just minutes before, the House Republican leader, Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, had received a standing ovation from the same crowd when he defended the war as a key part of the global war on terrorism vital to the survival of the United States and Israel. American Jews traditionally vote Democratic in overwhelming numbers, but on Iraq, some think withdrawal, championed by the Democratic Congress, would spread chaos in the Middle East and empower Israel's mortal enemies. Pelosi, who aides said she was prepared for the mixed reception to her war comments, confined Iraq to a few paragraphs at the end of her 25-minute speech.

The House speaker, just like the other politicians who annually address the group's conference, lauded Israel, called the U.S.-Israel partnership unshakable, attacked the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group in Lebanon and blasted the radical Hamas organization's role in the Palestinian government. And all the politicians pledged support for continued aid to Israel. President Bush has proposed $2.4 billion in aid to Israel in his budget for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1. Pelosi first stressed the U.S.-Israel partnership.

"When Israel is threatened, America's interests in the region are threatened. America's commitment to Israel's security is unshakable,'' she said to an ovation. But when she talked about Iraq, the reaction was different. "Any U.S. military engagement must be judged on three counts -- whether it makes our country safer, our military stronger, or the region more stable. The war in Iraq fails on all three scores,'' she said to some boos amid some applause.

Boehner, on the other hand, was cheered when he said, "Who does not believe that failure in Iraq is not a direct threat to the state of Israel? The consequences of failure in Iraq are so ominous for the United States and Israel you can't even begin to think about it.'' Among the speakers at the three-day event was Vice President Dick Cheney, who on Monday used his appearance to attack Pelosi's proposed Iraq spending legislation, which seeks a U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq by late 2008. Others who appeared at the group's meeting were the Senate's two top leaders, Democrat Harry Reid of Nevada and Republican Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

In all, more than half of both the House and Senate membership made it to the conference this year, a sign of the Israel lobby's clout and the power of its message. The Jewish community's party preference is largely reflected in the party membership of Jewish members of Congress. The House has 29 Jewish Democrats and one Republican.

In the Senate, two of 13 Jews are Republicans. The 100,000-member organization, which bills itself as "consistently ranked as the most influential foreign policy lobbying organization on Capitol Hill,'' held its Washington conference as House Democrats finished writing their bill providing almost $100 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan -- with significant strings attached. Aides to top House Democrats said the lobbying group helped force the elimination of a provision that would have required President Bush to return to Congress for a separate vote of authorization before launching any military operation against Iran.

Committee officials downplayed the group's role in eliminating the provision. They preferred to highlight their support for legislation offered by Rep. Tom Lantos, D-San Mateo, which seeks to tighten international sanctions against Iran as long as that country tries to develop nuclear weapons. Opposition to the Iran provision also came from members of the Blue Dog Caucus, moderate to conservative Democrats whose votes will be needed to pass the spending bill when it reaches the House floor next week.

House Republican leaders said they were glad the requirement that Bush get another congressional vote before acting against Iran was eliminated from the bill. "A substantial number of Democratic members pushed back and caused their leaders to retreat, reflecting their own unease about tying the commander-in-chief's hands to protect our troops or our allies in the region,'' said Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Fla., who chairs the House Republican Conference.

The White House has denied it has any plan to attack Iran. And in his speech to the conference, AIPAC Executive Director Howard Kohr endorsed Lantos' legislation and said preventing Iran from getting nuclear weapons "will require a much more robust diplomatic, political and economic sanctions regime.'' Pelosi also told the audience about how as a child she had first heard of Israel shortly after it was created, when Jewish friends of her father, Thomas D'Alesandro, Jr., the Baltimore mayor and a Democratic House member, came home after visiting the new Jewish state and told stories of how orange groves were blossoming in the desert. Her father, a strong backer of President Franklin Roosevelt, was a supporter of the Bergson Group during World War II. The group lobbied Roosevelt and Congress to rescue Jews from the Nazis and pressed for the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. In recognition of D'Alesandro's efforts, a soccer stadium in Haifa, Israel, is named for him. He died not long after Pelosi took her House seat in 1987.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/03/14/PELOSI.TMP

[ Last edited by  ef/x at 15-3-2007 05:22 PM ]

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AIPAC's Gabfest: Israel Lobby Shows Off Its Power
by William Hughes
(Tuesday, March 13, 2007)

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The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) was in Washington, DC, for a three-day gabfest. Leaders of both the Democratic and Republican Parties were slated to make appearances at the event held at the Washington Convention Center. The Israel First Lobbying group is known for its dominating influence over the U.S. Congress and the presidency. Outside the Center, on March 12, 2007, activists made their voices of protest heard.
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揫Israel抯 Ariel] Sharon has him [President George W. Bush Jr.] wrapped around his little finger.

geForceFX

Pegi jahanam la Israel ngan sekutu sekutu kuatnya