Longtime Middle East analyst Jeffrey Blankfort discusses the history of pro-Israel neoconservatives in Washington, and the influence of AIPAC and Sheldon Adelson in Middle East policy – and he’s naming names.
The new official in charge of the State Department’s long-term strategic thinking is yet another neoconservative with close ties to Israel.
In a secret meeting between Jewish leaders and 25 Senators, the principal topic was likely how to contain and reverse pro- Palestinian sentiment among progressive Democratic voters, who, to the horror of the participants, actually have been embracing the possibility that Palestinians are human beings with plausibly the same rights as Israelis.
AIPAC-connected officials are about to launch yet another pro-Israel political action committee, “Pro-Israel America,” which will be be targeting smaller donors. It hopes to give pro-Israel candidates from both parties at least $2 million in the 2020 elections and has already endorsed 27 candidates…
Philip Weiss reports that writers try to blame Democratic support for Israel on evangelical Christians so they won’t be called antisemitic. However, if evangelicals were so influential, Democrats would have supported Kavenaugh, would be anti-abortion, etc. And regarding Republicans: Adelson’s money was a major influence in Trump’s decision to move the embassy…
NPR’s ‘All Things Considered’ segment underreports AIPAC’s finances, uses only Israel partisans as commentators, minimizes power of AIPAC, ignores Palestinians, and fails to inform listeners of the full scope of the Israel lobby…
The new Congress member, a Muslim-American who has often been attacked by Israel partisans, suggested that AIPAC is responsible for U.S. politicians’ slavish support for Israel. Her very reasonable tweets caused a firestorm of controversy, powerful leaders attacking her, many others supporting her. But the Israel lobby goes far beyond AIPAC and is embedded in organizations throughout the U.S.
A bipartisan bill uses a new, Israel-centric definition of ‘antisemitism’ that experts say would censor information about Israel-Palestine in Florida public schools and colleges. This is the latest such effort in an international campaign on behalf of Israel…
Senate Republicans again failed to obtain the 60 votes necessary to move the bill to a quick vote, as Democratic leaders complained of what they say is Republican intransigence in ending the government shutdown. Rubio says the bill was crafted to help Israel, says he opposes Trump troop withdrawal from Syria because it would hurt Israel…
The first Senate bill of 2019 would finalize a $38 billion aid package to Israel ($23,000 per Jewish Israeli family of four), combat BDS, and rebut Trump’s attempt to withdraw troops from Syria (Israel opposes the US withdrawal)…