AIPAC Conference Pushes Hard Line on Iran

[laststeamtrain]

Source: IPS

AIPAC Conference Pushes Hard Line on Iran

Daniel Luban

WASHINGTON, May 5 (IPS) - The annual conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the powerful and hawkish pro-Israel lobby, wrapped up on Tuesday with a speech from Vice President Joe Biden, capping three days that were primarily devoted to the threat of a nuclear Iran.
Discussion of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Middle East peace process took a back seat to the Iran issue at the conference, which ended with attendees heading to Capitol Hill to lobby for a bill that would impose sanctions targeting the Iranian energy sector.

While representatives of the Barack Obama administration, the Benjamin Netanyahu government in Israel, and AIPAC itself all sought to emphasise points of consensus and cooperation at the conference, it remains to be seen whether the various parties will be on the same page going forward.

The Obama administration has given high priority to diplomacy with Iran and a two-state solution in Israel-Palestine, but the Netanyahu government has shown distinctly less enthusiasm for these goals, and the mood at the AIPAC conference suggested that most attendees shared Netanyahu’s scepticism.

The conference drew an estimated 6,500 attendees, as well as more than half of the members of the U.S. Congress and numerous U.S. and Israeli political luminaries. It was a stark reminder that although AIPAC may have come under increasing fire in recent years, the group remains a force to be reckoned with in Washington.

Read more: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46731

[IndianaGreen]

1. AIPAC will have to settle with spewing hot air from their collectives asses

There is a new sheriff in town, and he ain't kissing AIPAC's ass.

[bstender]

4. sure he is

His "Justice" Dept. just dropped the charges against the two Israeli spies, right on the heels of Harman's expose.

He let Charles Freeman withdraw.

He allowed the boycott of the human rights conference specifically to continue to facilitate Israel's human rights atrocities.

...and these are just the most recent events. Where is he on the war crimes committed in Gaza? Where is he on silencing the talk of war against Iran?

[WestSeattle2]

5. About darn time too...I don't understand

why Israel thinks itself should be immune from living under nuclear threat. We've been doing it for three generations, Russians have lived with it, China, India, Pakistan, but Israel wants to bomb Iran, or worse, have us do it? Are they insane? Some Israelis argue that they're special because the Iranian president has stated that he wishes to blow Israel off the map. And? Khrushchev threatened us too, using almost identical language. And? So what's Israel's point?

And before I get flamed for being a "Israel-hater", nothing could be further from the truth. I just resent the hell out of Israeli right-wing nut jobs always trying to force us into taking unnecessary and provocative actions that ALWAYS come back to haunt both of us. It's absolutely foolish. Why Israel keeps re-electing the same, tired losers has always amazed me.

[Jefferson23]

2. Discussion of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Middle East peace process took

a back seat to the Iran issue at the conference,which ended with attendees heading to Capitol Hill to lobby for a bill that would impose sanctions targeting the Iranian energy sector.

What a surprise, what a shock!

[karynnj]

3. AIPAC may have wanted it to take a backseat, but the fact is that the back to back

speeches by the Vice President and the Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations committee - both saying that a 2 state solution is the only answer and that settlements have to end was really the bigger story. Now, the Bush administration had also moved to a 2 state solution - but they did not push the idea anywhere near as forcefully.

The fact is that AIPAC reluctantly moved to where Obama was on this - neither Biden or Kerry shifted any position they previously had. Both had excellent speeches that balanced praise with strong positions. This may well be part of a turning point - along with having Mitchell as the envoy.

[classysassy]

6. Turning point

AIPAC and the wall street banksters own congress.

[karynnj]

8. AIPAC moved to where Obama/Biden/Kerry were, not the reverse

That is different than the past.

[xchrom]

7. recommend

'The conference drew an estimated 6,500 attendees, as well as more than half of the members of the U.S. Congress and numerous U.S. and Israeli political luminaries. It was a stark reminder that although AIPAC may have come under increasing fire in recent years, the group remains a force to be reckoned with in Washington.'

[karynnj]

9. A more realistic and hopeful view of where we are on Iran from today's Senate hearing

My overall take away
1) Iran is making serious progress in creating a bomb
2) Regime change is NOT the current policy
3) Burns speaks of the non-engagement policy being not just Bush's, but all Presidents since Carter (clearly spreading the blame there - but it seems fair)
4)Burns has some optimism that Obama can get Iran and Russia to deal with him when they wouldn't with Bush.
5) Morgenthau and Kaufman were awesome in explaining the skirting of US law by the British bank. Kerry and Morgethau clearly have enormous respect for each other. (Here Morgethau's office did an incredible job - stopping something very dangerous and their records will inform what the government knows on Iran's effort. Kerry praised him for taking on these efforts over his career - and that is praise well deserved.)
6)There are efforts to increase transparency in international transactions

link to video of hearing - http://foreign.senate.gov/hearings/2009/hrg090506a.html