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AIPAC

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Real News: Israel and the American Elections  Muzzlewatch - AIPAC. This is a guest post by Souciant Magazine and Inter Press Service writer Mitchell Plitnick, formerly with Jewish Voice for Peace and B’Tselem: It’s a little hard to imagine.

Muzzlewatch - AIPAC

The self-proclaimed “most influential foreign policy lobbying organization on Capitol Hill,” an admittedly deserved sobriquet, is apparently afraid of what little old me might say about their conference. It’s hard to interpret what has happened in any other way, after my approved media credentials for AIPAC’s annual policy conference were rescinded without explanation just a few days before the event. I applied for media access to the conference back in January. Soon after, I received an email from AIPAC’s then-media relations officer, Ari Goldberg, confirming acceptance of my application to attend as a reporter. So, it was no surprise that AIPAC credentialed me. More surprising was the revocation of those credentials with just a few days to go before the conference. Again, I’ll leave that for you to decide. instagram. Al Jazeera: What role does AIPAC play in US elections?  The American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the most powerful pro-Israel lobby in the US, is holding its biggest annual conference yet with around 13,000 delegates in Washington.

Al Jazeera: What role does AIPAC play in US elections? 

For all those bidding to become the next US president, it has become an essential campaign stop. The group has strong ties to the religious right and evangelical voters. And it is a very influential force in Washington politics. Obama's Aipac speech – read the full text. Thank you.

Obama's Aipac speech – read the full text

Well, good morning, everyone. Rosy, thank you for your kind words. I have never seen Rosy on the basketball court. Does AIPAC want war? Washington, DC - For all it has done to promote confrontation between the United States and Iran, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee has worked to avoid the public perception that AIPAC is openly promoting war.

Does AIPAC want war?

In AIPAC's public documents, the emphasis has always been on tougher sanctions. (If you make sanctions "tough" enough - an effective embargo - that is an act of war, but it is still at one remove from saying that the US should start bombing.) But a new Senate effort to move the goalposts of US policy to declare it "unacceptable" for Iran to develop a nuclear weapons capability - not a nuclear weapon, but the technical capacity to create one - gives AIPAC the opportunity to make a choice which all can observe. MJ Rosenberg: AIPAC's "War With Iran" Bill Passes House Committee. Wasting no time after its success in getting the administration to oppose Palestinian statehood at the United Nations, and still celebrating the UNESCO funding cut-off, AIPAC has returned to its #1 priority: pushing for war with Iran.

MJ Rosenberg: AIPAC's "War With Iran" Bill Passes House Committee

The Israelis have, of course, played their own part in the big show. In the last few weeks, it has been sending out signals that it is getting ready to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities (and embroil the United States in its most calamitous Middle East war yet). But most observers do not believe an Israeli attack is imminent. The Israel Lobby Finds a New Face: Black College Students. When Vincent Evans arrived as a bright-eyed first-year at Florida A&M, the country’s largest historically black university, he knew he wanted to get involved in politics.

The Israel Lobby Finds a New Face: Black College Students

So when an older student leader approached him one afternoon after a student government meeting to ask if he wanted an all expenses paid trip to D.C., Evans jumped at the opportunity. AIPAC - The American Israel Public Affairs Committee.   Articles on AIPAC. Occupy AIPAC!  AIPAC's Hold. The Congressional reaction to Hezbollah's attack on Israel and Israel's bombing of Lebanon provide the latest example of the lobby's grip on US foreign policy.

AIPAC's Hold

In early March, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) held its forty-seventh annual conference in Washington. AIPAC's executive director spent twenty-seven minutes reading the "roll call" of dignitaries present at the gala dinner, which included a majority of the Senate and a quarter of the House, along with dozens of Administration officials. AIPAC: The unrivalled lobby. Not surprisingly, my recent piece on an ugly 1988 experience with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the Israeli government, and late New York Times newspaper columnist William Safire elicited some controversy.

AIPAC: The unrivalled lobby

I knew it would. There aren't that many first-person accounts of encounters with the lobby (for obvious reasons) so my recollections of how it went down on Capitol Hill fill a vacuum. Hopefully, there will be more such accounts as those of us who dealt with the lobby in the 1980s move into a position (career-wise or financially) where we feel free to talk and write about it without any fear of retribution. If I were 35, there is no way that I would challenge an institution which has a long history of preventing its critics from advancing professionally.

Obama gives up, AIPAC wins. On the surface it appears that president Obama has given up on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and, frankly, given the evidence, it is difficult imagining that there is something different beneath the surface.

Obama gives up, AIPAC wins

To wit: Special Envoy George Mitchell resigned, clearly angry at the lack of support his peace efforts received from the White House - and his resignation letter was about as curt and cold as any in recent memory. Confessions of an AIPAC Veteran.