My report for Inter Press Service on the J Street conference is up and running. This one reports on some highlights of the conference. I hope to write more about it in the next few days, giving more of an analysis of the conference.
Just to let my readers know, I’m covering the J Street conference, starting tonight (indeed, I’m writing this from the opening plenary). I’ll be writing it up for Inter Press Service, and hopefully blogging some things afterward as well. I’ll also be live tweeting, so you can follow me on Twitter @MitchellPlit or on Facebook.
But I think it bears noting that J Street has no more guarantee of my objectivity, or that I’ll write a positive article about the conference, than AIPAC did (other than my own integrity). They had no problem letting me in, and good for them. It just serves as a further counterpoint: J Street has a lot more to worry about with negative press than AIPAC, yet somehow big, tough AIPAC was scared of little old me. Look here and see if you think their fear was justified.
Anyway, I’ll do everything I can to keep you posted on this conference. With Jeremy Ben-Ami having just heavily criticized the rock star of the group, Peter Beinart, in an interview with Jeffrey Goldberg in the Atlantic, it’s not exactly off to a promising start. And the key Obama Administration speaker, Anthony Blinken, is a considerable step down from Dennis Ross last year, and even more so from Jim Jones, the National Security Adviser at the time, at their first conference. But we’ll see….
Posted in J Street | Tagged AIPAC, Blinken, democracy, Israel Lobby, J Street, Jeremy Ben-Ami, Obama, Peter beinart, pro-Israel | Leave a Comment »
My wrap-up of reporting on the AIPAC conference and implications for war with Iran. Again, I ask, is this really something Mighty AIPAC needed to be afraid of? Oringinally appeared at Inter Press Service News
WASHINGTON, Mar 7, 2012 (IPS) – More than 10,000 U.S. citizens descended on Capitol Hill Tuesday under the direction of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the leading voice of the powerful Israel lobby here, to urge their congressional representatives to take a more
Mitt Romney addressed AIPAC's policy conference via satellite feed
aggressive stance towards Iran.
Their swarming of Congressional offices marked the final act of their annual three-day conference, which this year featured speeches by President Barack Obama, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, three of the four leading Republican contenders for the White House this fall, and the top leaders of both parties in Congress.
The dominant theme of the conference was Iran’s presumed effort to develop nuclear weapons and what to do about it. The tone was heavily tilted toward actual or an increased threat of military action. This stands in stark contrast to Tuesday’s announcement that the U.S., United Kingdom, France, China, Russia and Germany had agreed to resume talks with Iran in hopes of reaching a diplomatic resolution on the Iranian nuclear programme.
President Obama’s speech, at the conference’s opening plenary and ahead of his meeting with Netanyahu the following day, reaffirmed his administration’s policy of applying “crippling” economic sanctions on Iran and leaving the military option as a last resort.
For his part, Netanyahu, who has recently been increasingly vocal about the need for stronger action regarding Iran, tried to strike a balance between avoiding a confrontational tone with Obama similar to the one he took during his controversial trip to Washington for last year’s AIPAC conference, and holding fast to his position that sanctions and diplomacy are not succeeding in their aim to deter Iran from its alleged pursuit of nuclear weapons.
One key area of disagreement between Netanyahu and Obama is where the critical “red line” would be drawn with Iran. Would it be at the point where Iran was about to actually acquire a nuclear weapon, or merely at it gaining the technical capability to do so, a point many analysts believe Iran has already reached. Continue Reading »
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Posted in Iran, US-Israel Lobby | Tagged AIPAC, Carl Levin, CodePink, Iran, Israel, Israel Lobby, Middle east, Mitt Romney, Netanyahu, Newt Gingrich, nuclear, Obama, Occupation, Occupy AIPAC, Palestinians, Peace Groups, Rick Santorum | 1 Comment »
Adele Stan, Washington correspondent for AlterNet, who, along with AlterNet’s Alex Kane and Philip Weiss of Mondoweiss, shared my experience of being frozen out of the AIPAC conference, has written her own piece about the incident. Please check it out. Like me, she was given no reason for the ban, so she is left to speculate as to the reasons why, and she has some very interesting speculation.
The takeaway line from Stan: “The real casualty here is to AIPAC’s reputation. The organization insists it is bipartisan, and has gone to some lengths to include liberals such as Donna Brazile and Paul Begala on the roster of speakers for its policy conference. But when its leaders choose to freeze out a highly selective and tiny group of progressive writers because they have a colleague in common whose views contradict AIPAC’s, well, big, bad AIPAC just looks petty and small.”
Posted in Free speech, US-Israel Lobby | Tagged Adele Stan, AIPAC, Alex kane, AlterNet, Israel Lobby, media, Mondoweiss | Leave a Comment »
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