After decades of control and intimidation in Congress
The Israeli lobby is losing its control over the Democrats
AIPAC took control of Congress by threatening them with defeat in the elections. Father
The policy that Pompeo received from members of the House of Representatives and Congress includes opposition to annexation and a bill linking Israel's aid to the improvement of its policy in the West Bank. A.F.B.
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I came to Washington nearly four decades ago to run the Palestinian human rights campaign. We established this campaign by a number of lawyers and human rights activists in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, after we heard terrifying stories of human rights violations on a daily basis.
Because these stories were not known to the United States or were ignored, we created the Palestinian Human Rights Campaign to highlight these violations and to mobilize support for Palestinian victims.
Anger of the pressure group
From the start, we had success in gaining the support of civil rights leaders, who were the leading activists against the war in Vietnam, and church leaders from a number of major Christian denominations. But there are a few members of Congress who have supported our efforts, thus exposing themselves to the wrath of the pro-Israel lobby group, known as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). They expressed their resentment over the fact that elected American officials supported Palestinian rights, and they had always threatened members of Congress who supported the Palestinian right that they would be defeated in the elections.
In 1979, I got a call from an employee of a member of the US Congress who was in favor of some of our high-profile causes, and who was a staunch critic of Israeli policy. He has long voted against laws aimed at giving Israel more aid, and cites its poor human rights record. The employee told me that her boss met with representatives of AIPAC and another person from the Israeli embassy, and a heated discussion took place between them. She asked me to visit him in his office, and I visited him, but I did not find him. In fact, even though we were friends, he didn't talk to me anymore after this incident. Not only that, but during the decades following his presence in Congress, he never voted against laws aimed at granting more aid to Israel, and with days he became one of the largest recipients of financial aid from an Israeli supporter.
Fear and threat
Accordingly, it became fear and the threat of defeat that determine the attitude of members of Congress when it comes to the issues of Israel and Palestine. Of course, members of the US Congress are not the bravest people. As a result of the corrupting influence of money in politics and the increasing amounts spent on political campaigns, elected officials find themselves engaged in endless fundraising campaigns.
I remember one day that I expressed my frustration to former congressman Don Conyers that the members of Congress who gave their support to Israel without discussion, were behaving without principles and against the interests of the United States. He laughed and told me that from the first day of their election, the only principle that determines the behavior Members of Congress, with their desire to be re-elected, and deeply believe that "the national interests of the United States become synonymous with their re-election."
Although there are many doctrines in Congress, there are many who have no goal other than being re-elected. Their condition is "Why do I oppose banks, insurance companies, the pharmaceutical industry, weapons, and Israel, when the result of that is my exit from Congress?"
No need to add a new issue
Even strong-minded members have been known to make such decisions. In the 1980s, after Israel expelled two Palestinian city governors, she went to Congress for support. The first person I met was a member of Congress known as a human rights champion. I told him, “I ask for your help because I know that you are a permanent defender of human rights. I have spoken out loud about the victims of South Africa, the Philippines, and Latin America. You are a leader in the struggle to get rid of nuclear weapons and civil rights here in the United States, ”but his response was,“ If you do what you ask of me, the money will be spent for my defeat in Congress, and I will not be here in Congress to defend these issues. Which has long defended it », and now I knew that he knew that what he said was not true. And he wanted to be reelected.
The effect of money
In fact, the money that EPAC spends plays an important role in defeating one congressman and replacing him with another, but it is not the decisive factor. AIPAC consolidated its power in the 1980s, when it received two bonuses by chance. AIPAC claimed that it was responsible for defeating two prominent Republican members of Congress. He was well aware of this incident, because although AIPAC pumped a lot of money, this was not the decisive reason for the loss, as the Republican member lost that year, because his election was moved from one constituency with a Republican majority to another. Democrats. In addition, in the year he lost, there was a wave of democracy in the country, as the Democratic Party won an additional 27 seats in Congress. However, this did not prevent AIPAC from boasting that it had taken it out of Congress, and used this victory, to spread fear of its might.
Despite the money AIPAC spent in defeating the Republican member, I met him a month after his defeat, and he told me that the real reason for his defeat was that for the first time black voters chose his opponent, as they always voted for him. In fact, many of those who fiercely defend Israel in public, are secretly anti-Semites. Over the years I compiled a list of members of Congress who were confidently telling me, "I am really with you, but I'm afraid of opposing AIPAC."
James Zogby, founder and director of the Arab American Institute
The money AIPAC spends plays an important role in defeating one congressman and replacing him with another, but it is not the decisive factor.
Fear and the threat of defeat are what define the attitude of members of Congress when it comes to issues of Israel and Palestine.
Causes of change
Some of the reasons for that change can be cited, which are the terrible arrogance of the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu. The fact that the dominant lobby supporting Israel in Washington is the Christian right in the Republican Party, in addition to the hypothetical marriage between Netanyahu and Trump, and the deep division in the Jewish milieu, which resulted in the birth of powerful new groups defending justice and peace, in addition to the fact that Americans of Arab descent have become Now stronger and not afraid to speak out loud, support for Palestinian rights has grown, especially among black voters, but also among Hispanics and Asian Americans, and young people in general. As a result of all these factors, change has begun, and I hope it will happen quickly.