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Baker and Biden at AIPAC: A Tale of Two Speeches

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

At the AIPAC Policy Conference 20 years ago, Secretary of State James Baker made a widely publicized speech that, if I’m not mistaken, was written by Aaron David Miller. He told the throng: For Israel, now is the time to lay aside, once and for all, the unrealistic vision of a Greater Israel. Israeli interests [...]

Americans for Peace Now’s sensible take on new Iran sanctions bill

Friday, May 1st, 2009

New Iran sanctions legislation is now in the House and Senate (S. 908 and HR 2194). No doubt it will be the major focus of AIPAC’s lobbying efforts this coming Tuesday, after AIPAC”s Policy Conference, when literally throusands of its members will descend on Capitol Hill. According to a contact at Americans for Peace Now, [...]

Ace reporter: American Jewish leaders are getting nervous about Obama

Friday, April 17th, 2009

The well-connected and astute James Besser is hearing from American Jewish learders who are concerned that Obama will ignore conventional political wisdom and not worry (too much) about battling “the pro-Israel establishment.” He tells us: Last month Obama said “the status quo is unsustainable,” and he sounded like he meant it. For many pro-Israel leaders [...]

Israeli experts to U.S.: Come up with a regional plan, ASAP

Thursday, February 26th, 2009

It’s conventional wisdom that due to the divided Palestinian polity and the lack of bold Israeli leadership and political will, not much can be done to advance a two-state solution, at least not in the foreseeable future. A panel of Israelis organized by Israel Policy Forum begs to differ. In a new policy paper, they [...]

Hope, somehow, after the Israeli elections

Tuesday, February 10th, 2009

The Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci famously called for “pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will” in the face of adversity. When confronted with the bleakness of the Israeli-Arab conflict, in order not to give up completely, peace activists and advocates need more than that. We need to balance pessimism of the intellect with optimism [...]

Glimmers of hope for a sane American Middle East policy

Friday, January 23rd, 2009

After the carnage of the last few weeks, there are many compelling reasons to give up hope for an enduring peace settlement between Palestinians and Israelis. But there are shards of hope to be found in the Obama administration. Assuming, as I do, that a fair, evenhanded American approach to both conflict management and more [...]

Will Obama reduce loan guarantees to Israel?

Thursday, January 15th, 2009

It seems that the U.S. is considering a plan to reduce $1 billion worth of loan guarantees to Israel, according to Ha’aretz. The decision will be left to Obama, and perhaps it will be part of a larger diplomatic package: The assessment now is that the Obama administration will weigh the political situation carefully before [...]

“Emergency! Emergency! U.S. caves in at the U.N.”!

Saturday, January 10th, 2009

MJ Rosenberg writes, somewhat gleefully, that “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.” The AIPAC statement notes: AIPAC…expresses its disappointment with the U.S. administration [...]

Why Niebuhr, Obama’s favorite thinker, was a Zionist

Wednesday, November 19th, 2008

After years of shamelessly pretending to know what Reinhold Niebuhr wrote and thought when his name came up in conversation, I have taken the trouble to start reading him for the first time. There are two reasons. One is that our President-elect has indicated that Niebuhr has had a profound effect on his thinking. Andrew [...]

Newsflash: AIPAC (probably) isn’t pushing for an attack on Iran

Thursday, June 12th, 2008

I have read even more drivel than usual about AIPAC in the blogosphere these days, and thought I would explain a few things to those who have never attended an AIPAC Policy Conference. First of all, AIPAC does not appear to be trying to prod the U.S. to bomb Iran. If it is, I have [...]

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