~ The power of AIPAC ~

[voltaire]

I don't think that's new - it's just the latest incarnation of so-called "Christian Zionism".

If it's any consolation, they all think the Jews in Israel that don't convert are gonna go to hell after the Apocalypse



V

[Al-khiyal]

I think that dreams of obtaining the theme park concession is what's motivating some of them.

[Al-khiyal]

The annual gathering of the nation's top pro-Israel lobbying group, which starts here on Sunday, will be addressed by Vice President Dick Cheney and United Nations Ambassador John R. Bolton. Politicians are lined up to warn of the threat from Iran and Hamas. Workshops will offer advice on winning the legislative game on Capitol Hill.

But the official program omits a topic likely to be a major theme of corridor chatter: the explosive Justice Department prosecution of two former officials of the group, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), that is ticking toward an April trial date.

The highly unusual indictment of the former officials, Steven J. Rosen and Keith Weissman, accuses them of receiving classified information about terrorism and Middle East strategy from a Defense Department analyst, Lawrence A. Franklin, and passing it on to a journalist and an Israeli diplomat. Mr. Franklin pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 12½ years in prison, though his sentence could be reduced based on his cooperation in the case.

The prosecution has roiled the powerful organization, known as AIPAC, which at first vigorously defended Mr. Rosen and Mr. Weissman and then fired them last March. And it has generated considerable anger among American Jews who question why the group's representatives were singled out in the first place.

AIPAC would appear to be an unlikely target for the Bush administration; it is a political powerhouse that generally shares the administration's hawkish views on the potential nuclear threat from Iran and the danger of Palestinian militancy. But the case does fit with the administration's determination to stop leaks of classified information.....

Pro-Israel lobbying group roiled by prosecution of two ex-officials


(ID mediajunkie16 password mediajunkie to access full article)

[Al-khiyal]

From AIPAC to Check Point: Is Check Point’s problem over Sourcefire caused by a hostile Washington bureaucracy?

[Al-khiyal]

Israeli interests in the West Bank and Gaza could be hurt by a bill being pressed by the pro-Israel lobby that would restrict American assistance to the Palestinians, several Israeli officials and representatives of international aid organizations told the Forward.

In an attempt to isolate any Palestinian government led by the terrorist organization Hamas, pro-Israel activists are backing a bill — the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act of 2006 — that bans all non-humanitarian American assistance to the Palestinian Authority and prohibits official American contacts with the P.A. unless Hamas recognizes Israel and renounces terrorism. Thousands of lobbyists with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee flooded Capitol Hill Tuesday, holding almost 500 meetings with legislators and their staff, in which they urged members of Congress to endorse the bill.

But Israeli officials told the Forward that it could be a serious mistake to pass the bill before a Palestinian government has been formed and before the March 28 Israeli elections. They argued that at this point the bill could end up limiting the diplomatic flexibility of the new Israeli government in dealings with the new P.A. regime. In addition, Israeli officials said, the bill may place the onus of providing for the wellbeing of the Palestinian population on Israel, the occupying power in the territories....

Israelis want AIPAC-backed bill softened

[HOUDA-K]

AIPAC Plotting To Hurt Iran

Iran ’s continued pursuit of nuclear weapons will be discussed early next week in an upcoming session of the U.N. Security Council, where political and economic sanctions could be imposed on Tehran, the Associated Press reported. On Tuesday, Vice President Dick Cheney told more than 5,000 pro-Israel activists attending AIPAC’s Annual Policy Conference that the Security Council would “impose meaningful consequences on Iran” if it does not end its nuclear pursuit. Iran on Wednesday threatened the United States with “pain and suffering” should it be hit with sanctions. The United States and its European allies have long suspected Iran of covertly working to develop atomic weapons. Earlier this year, the International Atomic Energy Agency found Tehran in non-compliance with its nuclear non-proliferation obligations

[HOUDA-K]

There is no such thing as the United Nations ... There is an international community that occasionally can be led by the only real power left in the world and that is the United States when it suits our interests and we can get others to go along."


Current UN ambassador for the US
John Bolton

Noam Chomsky once stated when questioned on the topic of ‘conspiracy theories’, that often time, those in the majority in terms of regional dominance, either politically, economically or through any other means of power, would label certain opposing views and ideas – even plain facts – ‘conspiracy theories’. It is well known there are a multitude of weird and wonderful conspiracy theories out there in the e-world; we’ve heard them all: The Bush-Bin Laden allied engineering of the World Trade Centre Attacks, the fabrication of Neil Armstrong ever having landed on the moon, among others.

Then there’s the theory that ‘Jews control the world’.

Admittedly, such an exaggeration is on the tongues of many a victim of Israeli oppression, as well as others who would clutch at straws to avoid pointing the finger of blame at themselves for their own passivity in effecting a just and peaceful change in society. The facts behind it, however, that are often amplified and distorted to be seen as some sort of ‘global conspiracy’ is that many Jewish notables have used to their advantage their knowledge of the political system wherever they have settled as a community, exercising their influence on key figures within the media and government.

There is nothing wrong in doing so; democracy exists for whosoever wishes to utilise it to their advantage. Neither is there anything ethically wrong in doing so; it is only natural that after the Nazi Holocaust the Jewish community would want to do everything to ensure their safety in society. There are Jews within the UK and abroad whom MPACUK have morally supported in their lobbying efforts within both parliament and the media to strive for justice for all.

Our fight therefore is and always is against those – Jew, Christian or Muslim – who impose injustice upon others in Palestine and elsewhere – namely the Zionist ideology and its adherents and allies; those with ulterior motives, whether rooted in their own distorted version of religion or in some perceived material benefit.

The extremely powerful pro-Israeli lobby in the US, the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), has recently concluded its annual Policy Conference for 2006. Among the many notable and powerful speakers was the notorious John Bolton, an extremely outspoken hawk within the Bush administration who was last year controversially appointed – despite the continuous blocking attempts by US Senators led by the Democrats – as the US Ambassador to the United Nations.

Here is a man for whom George W. Bush bypassed the majority of Senators that objected to his appointment, who simply asked that before supporting him, investigations be carried out concerning the many serious allegations that have abound through his political career. He is alleged to have employed various bullying tactics against those who hold differing opinions to him – including the state department analyst Christian Westermann, who questioned Bolton’s perceived ‘intelligence’ in 2002 when he accused Cuba of pursuing a biological weapons programme. To accusations of intolerance and endeavouring to sack Westermann, he simply replied by stating that his beef with Westermann was not with his differing view, but with his going behind his back in trying to change his infamous speech regarding Cuba. Furthermore, he claimed, he never sought to sack Westermann but simply find other work for him to involve himself in.

Prior to Bush overriding the Senators’ opposition, he simply avoid the topic when questioned on it, and instead urged them to put him in “if they’re interested in reforming the United Nations.”

John Biden, a Democrat Senator, lashed back at Bush that it was “totally unacceptable” for Bush “to dictate to the United States Senate how he, the president, thinks we should proceed.”

Perhaps the clearest signal for those who doubt Bolton’s sincerity in acting as a responsible ambassador is the batch of his past remarks concerning the UN, who he describes as having “gone off track”. The opening quote in this article was made by Bolton himself over ten years ago; quotes that he brushes aside as being within an overall context of grabbing the attention of his audience.

For AIPAC to have placed John Bolton as one of their opening speakers is clearly indicative of the extent of their lobbying prowess in the United States – his speech, a strong message against Iran’s persistence in resisting international pressure with regards the nation’s atomic energy proliferation, shows the incredible influence of political lobbying. But for a hawk like Bolton – favourable to AIPAC’s objectives of influencing American opinion with regards to Israel – to have surpassed the strong opposition of Senate with the help of the President, would have taken more than just to place one or two men in key positions; it took years of lobbying at various levels, to the extent that many of the American public have absolutely no clue as to how their government’s expenditure will, when averaged, give more to an individual Israeli citizen than to an American citizen. It should come as no surprise to anyone that this hawk, John Bolton – regarding whom it has been said by one of his former college peers: “sort of Napoleonic but without any of Napoleon's talents for leadership” – was a sure candidate for this year’s AIPAC conference.

This is what we, the Muslim world, are up against. There are no conspiracy theories, no protocols of Zion; the facts are clear to see in front of us, should we so care to find out – the Zionists exercise their policy through lobbying and influencing key figures who eventually shape national and foreign policies. Before even embarking upon trying to change this state of affairs, we at least need to be aware of the tools that they use, and become accustomed to them ourselves; and use them, instead of perpetrating tyranny, to bring about, wherever possible, justice for all humanity.