Protesters Call On US To End Israel Aid As AIPAC Conference Set To Kick Off

[Purveyor]

Source: i24 News

nti-Israel protesters descended on Washington on Sunday, as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) policy conference was set to kick off.

A group of around 300 pro-Palestinian activists gathered brandishing flags and placards, protesting the conference and calling on the US to end aid to Israel.

The AIPAC policy conference, the largest pro-Israel talk shop in America, is set to open later on Sunday, and will address a range of issues including US-Israel relations, the Iranian nuclear deal, the Syrian civil war and peace talks, the threat of the Islamic State, and the latest developments athroughout the Middle East.

Israeli Ambassador in the United States Ron Derner will open the event, which runs from March 20-22, later on Sunday.

Other speakers slated to address the AIPAC conference include senior House leaders from both parties, among them House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, and major party presidential candidates.

Read more: http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/americas/106866-160320-anti-defamation-league-to-redirect-trump-donations-to-anti-bias-education

[zentrum]

1. Kudos to Bernie

….for not going.

[riversedge]

3. Bernie's letter said not going because he is campaigning-it has nothing to with his ideology

[TowneshipRebellion]

4. This is doubtful.

nt.

[Duval]

14. Yep! nt

[onenote]

22. Do you think he agrees with the protesters?

Because you'd be very wrong about that.

[zentrum]

23. Not sure what you're driving at.

I've little doubt that Bernie wants a solution that doesn't favor one side over the other and that he is does not support the way AIPAC operates.

Whether he supports these particular protesters is not the point and of course I'm implying nothing along those lines.

[madokie]

35. Oh but

someone was wanting that you were though
Bernie has the answers to most all of our and the worlds questions and my hope is he'll be able to implement them in due time.

[RufusTFirefly]

2. Interesting excerpt from the political thriller "Inside Out" by Barry Eisler

Hort nodded. “This is all new to you,” he said. “I get that. I want to explain a few things about how America really works. I think then you’ll understand where I’m coming from.”

(snip)

“Okay, pop quiz. Why do we give nearly three billion dollars a year to Israel?”

“So she can defend herself.”

“Wrong. It’s just a way of funneling a subsidy to U.S. arms manufacturers, which is where Israel, by quiet understanding, turns around and spends the money. But no one would support it if we called it ‘Raytheon aid.’ ‘Foreign aid’ just sounds so much more aboveboard.”

It's fiction, of course, but there are a lot of topical, current events references. Given his résumé, Eisler may know what he's talking about. According to Wikipedia:

After completing law school, Eisler joined the CIA, where he trained for three years afterward and held a covert position with the Directorate of Operations.[3] In 1992, he resigned after becoming disillusioned with the bureaucracy and joined the law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges.

[zentrum]

5. I don't think it's fiction at all.

Apart from the arm's "donations", there's Aid to Israel, which is a way to virtually launder money to fund various American candidates, so the whole round--robin system will be kept afloat.

It takes a lot of guts for an American politician to stand up to or snub AIPAC.

[DhhD]

7. Especially since Israel violated US official policy about occupation and arms since the beginning.

http://www.ihr.org/jhr/v16/v16n2p14_Neff.html
snip
The dramatic increase of US aid while Israel violated official US policy against military occupation was a declaration to the world that where the Jewish state was concerned politics outweighed principle.
much more at link

[zentrum]

17. It's really a tragedy

For both countries. Israel and Palestine. It's a terrible situation.

[RufusTFirefly]

12. Well, it definitely has elements of truth, but it's still a novel

One facet of the book that's both fun and a little annoying is that many of the characters are named after real-life journalists. For example, there's a bar owner named Taibbi, an FBI agent named Froomkin, and even a private investigator named Juan Cole. Nice little "Easter eggs" for progressive political news junkies.

[zentrum]

16. Yes, that one is a novel

…but if you read actual journalistic analyses of the whole thing—it's exactly the same story. It's a known and described phenomenon.

[aranthus]

6. It's true.

Mostly it's to subsidize aircraft manufacturers (and keep the Israelis fro developing their own planes that would then compete with ours on the world market).

[7962]

20. Which isnt really a bad idea.

People would buy their aircraft. A few billion is nothing compared to what jets sell for

[highoverheadspace]

13. Not far fetched at all. Something similar just happened with $1.8 billion in Ukraine.

https://harpers.org/blog/2015/08/undelivered-goods/ The money came from US tax payers and has disappeared into Ukrainian oligarchs offshore accounts while the mainstream US media has covered it up. You will only find this story in Harpers magazine who were altruistic enough to print it. And guess who is involved with those Ukrainian oligarchs up to her ears? Hillary. She has received huge sums of money from them through the Clinton Foundation.

[ericson00]

8. anti-Israel people are fringe lunatics

Bernie is pandering to them. Shame on him.

[DhhD]

11. Obama and Sanders holding strong on real US Policy toward occupation and arms.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4723986,00.html


Obama has made his statements. See the link above.


Lets hear from Biden and Clinton at the AIPAC.
http://www.policyconference.org/

[giftedgirl77]

26. I'm not anti-israel.

I'm anti welfare & anti-aparthied towards Israel. When they stop stealing from & killing people then maybe I'll care what Israel needs.

[think]

27. 2014 Israeli shelling of UNRWA Gaza shelters

2014 Israeli shelling of UNRWA Gaza shelters

The 2014 Israeli shelling of UNRWA Gaza shelters were seven shellings at UNRWA facilities in the Gaza Strip which took place between 21 July and 3 August 2014 during the Israeli-Gaza conflict. The incidents were the result of artillery, mortar or aerial missile fire which struck on or near the UNRWA facilities being used as shelters for Palestinians, and as a result at least 44 civilians, including 10 UN staff, died. During the 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict, many Palestinians fled their homes after warnings by Israel or due to air strikes or fighting in the area. An estimated 290,000 people (15% of Gaza's population) took shelter in UNRWA schools.

~snip~

Reactions

UN – Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary-General of United Nations, condemned the Jubalia Camp incident at the school, describing it as "unjustifiable".[73] After the 29 July incident, he pointed out that the precise location of this school had been communicated to the Israeli military authorities 17 times. He said: "Nothing is more shameful than attacking sleeping children"[74] Ban Ki-moon described the attack on Rafah school as a "moral outrage and a criminal act" and called for those responsible for the "gross violation of international humanitarian law" to be held accountable.[75]

UNRWA - Pierre Krähenbühl, Commissioner-General of the UNRWA, said: "Our shelters are overflowing. Tens of thousands may soon be stranded in the streets of Gaza, without food, water and shelter if attacks on these areas continue."[76] "We have moved beyond what humanitarian action alone can deal with. This is now the time for political action. It is the time for accountability," he said. Krähenbühl described the Jubalia Camp incident as "probably one of the most tragic protection failures that the international community has witnessed." Asked to explain the scale of the civilian suffering to an Arab news station, UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness simply burst into tears. "We have reached breaking point; our staff are being killed, our shelters overflowing", he adds.[77]

USA – A White House spokesman, said: "We are extremely concerned that thousands of internally displaced Palestinians who have been called on by the Israeli military to evacuate their homes are not safe in UN-designated shelters in Gaza." They continued by condemning "those responsible for hiding weapons in United Nations facilities in Gaza."[78] US State Department said in a statement that the US is "appalled" by the "disgraceful shelling" outside the school in Rafah and urged Israel to do more to avoid civilian casualties.[75]

France – Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned Israeli military attack that rocked a United Nations school in Jubalia in Gaza's biggest refugee camp.[79]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Israeli_shelling_of_UNRWA_Gaza_shelters

[guillaumeb]

29. An alternative is that many US citizens have bought the official US line

that Israel is always the victim of the evil Palestinians. A simplistic and false narrative constantly promoted in the media.

[ericson00]

30. there's enough information out there that people have easy access

to the Palestinian side, and they're turned off.

[PoliticalPothead]

31. How many people actually take the time out to look up that information?

How many of them get their information from the mainstream media without doing any research themselves? I'm willing to bet that most of the people who say they're pro-Israel have never even heard the Palestinian side.

[ericson00]

32. young people hear Israel-bashing on campuses all the time; Israel still wins in the younger groups

and the older people still go on Facebook and the comments sections on other pages and also see the anti-I side.

This is America where unlike Europe, we don't appease Islamist sentiments/thought. America is among the least anti-Semitic nations on the face of the planet. Hence, why no one buys the anti-Israel case.

[PoliticalPothead]

33. Young people are also more likely to view Israel's actions as unjustified.

[img][/img]

The truth about Israel's brutal occupation of Palestine is spreading on college campuses, and it has nothing to do with anti-Semitism.

[guillaumeb]

34. There is very little out thee that presents the conflict as it is:

An apartheid country that is slowly stealing another country like a snake swallowing a rat.

[sadoldgirl]

9. As far as I heard Bernie offered to speak from

the West, where he is campaigning, but AIPAC refused that offer.

Not totally sure, but he had planed the trip to the western states
way ahead of time knowing the primary schedule.

If the man is not afraid to talk to an evangelical college, I doubt
he would make an excuse to AIPAC. Besides, he is rather proud
of his jewish background, and has made no secret of his disagreements
with Bibi.

[7962]

21. Exactly. he went to Liberty U, I doubt he'd shy away from AIPAC. nt

[DhhD]

10. After the AIPAC Republican and New Democratic speakers have had their say, I look for Sanders to

issue a foreign policy statement and then a Foreign Policy Plan at an appropriate time.

http://www.policyconference.org/

[rgbecker]

15. Israel has been very busy using US planes over the years.

Pay attention to what the candidates tell the AIPAC and you will learn where your tax money goes and where your kids will be killing and dying in the years ahead.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_Air_Force

[Spitfire of ATJ]

18. They're not necessarily "anti-Israeli"....

They could be "anti-Right Wing slaughter of innocent Palestinians".

We saw this during the Iraq war. Anyone who had a problem with the invasion must have wanted to have sex with Saddam.

[zentrum]

24. Exactly right. Thanks.

[think]

28. This ...

[iandhr]

19. Did they sound something like this?

[leftynyc]

25. LOL

Yes - I'm sure Washington is going to jump through hoops to satisfy the 15% of Americans that sympathize with the Palestinians. Bernie already sent remarks saying he was campaigning and couldn't attend and offered to speak by remote (unlike what so many on DU are pretending - that he's dissing them by not attending which is laughable).