AIPAC Goes Ballistic: Says It Is "Outraged" & Blasts Bush for Supporting Ceasefire
I never thought I'd see the day. AIPAC is furious with George Bush for not vetoing Security Council Resolution 1860 which calls for an immediate ceasefire. After almost eight years, the Bush administration has decided not to stand with Israel against an otherwise unanimous resolution.
I hope AIPAC enjoys blasting a President. On January 20, Barack Obama. having won a landslide victory -- including 80% of the Jewish vote -- and enjoying record popularity, will be immune to this sort of salvo, leaving AIPAC on the DL.
The Democratic Congres will back Obama's Middle East policies with nary a peep. (That will change if his popularity drops. But Congressional Dems will never take on a popular Democratic President on a foreign policy issue). Obama is freer than any President in decades to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict without lobby interference.
Anyway, read AIPAC's statement. It is a humdinger. And, I hate to say this: thank you President Bush and Secretary Rice. Better late than never.
"AIPAC Condemns One-Sided U.N. Security Council Action
Disappointed Administration Agreed to Vote
AIPAC is outraged by the United Nations Security Council's passage yesterday of what amounts to a one-sided resolution failing to account for the true realities of this conflict - in particular, equating the actions of a democratic state exercising its right to self-defense with the activities of a terrorist organization.
"In passing this resolution the U.N. Security Council has, once again, shamelessly proven its genuine inability to deal with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in an unbiased manner. The Council has refused to acknowledge Israel's right to self-defense against an enemy, Hamas, which openly declares its goal as the complete destruction of the State of Israel - a member state of the world body."
The U.N. resolution ignores the actual cause of the situation in Gaza - Hamas' unmitigated and unprovoked daily rocket fire on Israeli civilians. Calling for an immediate ceasefire leading to the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, the Security Council fails to acknowledge that the Iranian-backed terrorist organization unilaterally shattered a six-month period of calm last December by unleashing a renewed barrage of rockets on the people of Israel.
The resolution disregards Hamas' callous use of Palestinian civilians as human shields - carrying out terrorist activities from inside schools, hospitals and United Nations facilities. The resolution also fails to mention Hamas' utter disregard for its own population by stealing humanitarian assistance provided by Israel and the international community in order to further its own illicit activities.
AIPAC also expresses its disappointment with the U.S. administration for succumbing to pressure exerted by Arab states and agreeing to bring this vote to the U.N. Security Council - a message contrary to the steadfast and overwhelming support expressed this week by the United States Congress and dozens of elected officials from across the country.
As Franco-Egyptian diplomatic efforts are underway, it is particularly unfortunate that the administration has chosen this moment to engage the Security Council.
AIPAC supports a durable and sustainable diplomatic outcome to the current crisis - one that will ensure an end to the smuggling of arms into Gaza and an end to Hamas terror attacks on Israel, in an effort to create an environment conducive to a sustainable and lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinian people. By calling for an immediate cease-fire without expressing these conditions, the Security Council undermines the prospect for a durable and sustainable end to the conflict."
January 9, 2009 10:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Another one? What was it this time?
January 9, 2009 10:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
It happened yesterday night. He bacame deranged.
January 9, 2009 11:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
This seems to happen to American politicians from time to time. (See Fritz Hollings.) On their way out the door, and freed from the constraints of electoral necessity, they flip the bird to the Israel lobby.
However, Obama is still viable. So he and Hillary Clinton, Dennis Ross, Richard Holbrooke, Richard Haass et al can be counted on to uphold the great American tradition of sucking up.
January 9, 2009 10:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Bush administration has not only earned the enmity of AIPAC, it has thumbed its nose at the Democratic-controlled Senate (the House will follow) which voted unanimously on Thursday to support Israel’s aggression against the population of the Gaza Strip. Majority leader Reid was a co-sponsor of the bill and there were no abstentions reported. Not by Obama, and not by Biden, who de facto run the Senate.
So Bush's new-found independence from AIPAC obviously earned no support from Obama/Biden. There will be no "change" from the policy of killing Gaza kids.
January 10, 2009 1:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
Didn't the Senate vote before the UN resolution? Then, it seems Rice/Bush may have ignored the Senate when it came time to vote in the UN.
I think that was the timing?
January 10, 2009 2:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obama is not a Senator. Hasn't been for weeks. Biden is not the de facto leader of the Senate. Not even close. DiFi is . You are clueless.
January 10, 2009 6:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
Mr. M J Rosenberg,
I must register my strong objections to another column by you expressing your ideology. I am sick and tired of reading your propoganda! Why, if people listen and take to heart what you have to say there might be peace in the middle east, and where will they be then?
FOR SHAME!
January 10, 2009 8:50 AM | Reply | Permalink
Not in the middle east. if people listen and take to heart what he has to say there might be peace in Congo, Darfur, Pakistan/India and everywhere.
January 10, 2009 3:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
The MJR propaganda:
The U.N. resolution ignores the actual cause of the situation in Gaza - Hamas's unmitigated and unprovoked daily rocket fire on Israeli civilians.
The truth:
A four-month ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza was in jeopardy today [Nov 5] after Israeli troops killed six Hamas gunmen in a raid into the territory. Hamas responded by firing a wave of rockets into southern Israel, although no one was injured.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/05/israelandthepalestinians
January 10, 2009 11:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think your quote is from AIPAC's statement which Rosenberg excerpted. Those sentences are AIPAC's, not Rosenberg's. It certainly isn't "MJR propaganda." I think you and Rosenberg don't disagree on this point.
January 10, 2009 1:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
You may think so, but you're wrong. That passage is not in quotes. Also MJ doesn't refute the allegations.
So it is MJ propaganda, as first recognized by John.
January 10, 2009 11:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
. . . thank you President Bush and Secretary Rice. Better late than never.
Nice to be on the way out. You don't have to pander to Jews anymore (nobody likes them, anyway!).
January 10, 2009 12:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bad news, M.J.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1054245.html
Hamas signs of exhaustion; army steps up Gaza offensive.
The commander told reporters that Amir Mansi, the commander of Hamas's rocket-launching program in the Gaza City area who was killed by the IDF on Saturday, fired mortars himself after junior Hamas operatives refused to go outside, fearing an Israeli strike.
January 10, 2009 12:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
As this is a war that will solve nothing, it must be categorized as "pure politics". The verbage being used: BARRAGE - how many is that...supposedly 200 in 6-7 days...you do the math. No casulties...minor injuries, so because they were being harrassed (for whatever reason) the Israeli response was to go to war?
There should be a concern that the Senate just passed a quick resolution to support Israel...no study, no review of details...based on a history of support and the calls from the influential lobbying group AIPAC. Sorry, but that seems to say politics as usual. If the congress is unable or unwilling to evaluate an old situation based on new information, then they will squander any/all opportunities to make any positive impact in the world (let alone this country).
Are there any adults in Washington? If PAC's and lobbying groups can influence the entire body politic in 2 weeks, why do we bother with elections?
January 10, 2009 1:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
For years, I've taken the approach that no politicians would listen when I expressed distaste for my government's one-sided view on the Israeli-Palistinian conflict.
Now I actually feel some hope, given the lessening of American strength in the world and the increasing soverignty of middle eastern states, that my U.S. politicians will see the wisdom in being more objective when we take a look at the hot spot of the world - Gaza.
I hope and pray that AIPAC is on its way out as a lobbying force. I'm writing like crazy to my senators, representatives, and to others, to express my increasing dislike of the rabid style of Israeli aggression, which takes its toll on too many civilians.
Do you think there's a chance for balanced responses from the next administration?
January 10, 2009 2:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Now I actually feel some hope [...] that my U.S. politicians will see the wisdom in being more objective when we take a look at the hot spot of the world - Gaza.
[...] I hope and pray that AIPAC is on its way out as a lobbying force."
Curb your enthusiasm. If you get too invested in this, you are setting yourself up for a series of disappointments.
January 11, 2009 5:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
MJ, I think you are very optimistic to think that, in the middle of an economic meltdown, Obama is going to take on the Israel lobby. This caveat of yours holds the key:
"If his popularity drops"... If Obama doesn't toe the line, AIPAC will make very sure that his popularity drops.MJ are you really as innocent as you put on? You are not dumb and you are not a young kid.
January 10, 2009 2:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
What I am saying is that Bush, who is leaving and whose popularity cannot "drop" any further is the one who is really "free", not Obama, who has everything to lose. And you are right, Bush has done a true service to his country and the world by abstaining in the Security Council call for a ceasefire... I'm with you on that, give the devil his due.
January 10, 2009 2:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
You will see.
It's all changing.
January 10, 2009 6:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Another bad news, M.J.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Ross
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1054246.html
January 10, 2009 2:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's great when AIPAC reveals just where its loyalties lay.
I hope Bush and others see just how much their 8 years of unflagging support get them: slip just one little bit and your basically a Nazi.
Why do we let this network of foreign agents operate so freely in our country is beyond me.
January 10, 2009 4:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND LOYAL AMERICANS ARE NOT FOREIGN AGENTS, jerk, but please, please keep spreading that calumny because it really helps my friends and I persuade D.C. decison-makers that the "blame Israel first" crowd are just a bunch of bigoted lunatics.
Mr. Rosenberg, did it ever occur to you, that as a shrewd tactical move, maybe AIPAc was trying to put some distance between it and the Bush Administration as a way of ingratiating itself with the new President and his team and as a way of thanking the Democratic Congresional leadership for its steadfast support of AIPAC's position. Did it ever occur to you that perhaps somebody in the Obama transition shop and Speaker Pelosi's office knew about and was perfectly OK with AIPAC's statement?
Of course not. That kind of inside the Beltway gameplaying is something you know nothing about.
January 10, 2009 6:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ah yes, AIPAC can do no wrong and any criticism of Israel and their hideous behavior of late constitutes bigotry. Very rational of you.
Are you telling me that we are supporting this unforgivable war out of deference to one hundred thousand Americans? Are you kidding?
January 10, 2009 7:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sageemetchai,
formerly known as AIPACmember is deeply loyal to his country.
So is ShlomaA.
Each is loyal to their respective countries. Deeply.
January 10, 2009 6:58 PM | Reply | Permalink