Report on Huffington Post headed 'Who Will Stop AIPAC Before It Is Too Late?' from the co-founder of Code Pink, Medea Benjamin, which was able to disrupt the recent meeting of AIPAC, the leading pro-Israel lobby group in the US. It is people like Medea who are keeping alive the Jewish tradition of siding with the oppressed. No doubt the Zionists would describe her as a 'self-hater'. But in truth the hate was to be found on display in all its hysteria at the AIPAC policy conference, as the report shows.
I found it fascinating that AIPAC's executive director Howard Kohr opened the conference admitting that there was now a huge, international campaign against the policies of Israel. He painted a picture of 30,000 people marching in Spain, Italian trade unionists calling for a boycott of Israeli products, the UN Human Rights Council passing 26 resolutions condemning Israel, an Israeli Apartheid Week that is building a global boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign.
This global movement, he warned, emanates from the Middle East, echoes in the halls of the United Nations and the capitals of Europe, is voiced in meetings of international peace organizations, and is spreading throughout the United States -- from the media to town hall meetings, from campuses to city squares.
"No longer is this campaign confined to the ravings of the political far left or far right," Kohr lamented, "but increasingly it is entering the American mainstream."
But Kohr failed to explain why there has been such an explosion in this movement, even among the American Jewish community. He didn't tell the attendees that the world was shocked and outraged by Israel's devastating 22-day attack on Gaza that left over 1,300 people dead -- mostly women and children. He didn't mention the killing of civilians fleeing their homes, the use of white phosphorous, the bombing of homes, schools, mosques, hospitals, UN buildings, factories. He didn't talk about the continuing, cruel blockade of the Gaza Strip that is keeping desperately needed humanitarian aid from reaching 1.5 million people and making rebuilding impossible...
...I couldn't ask my questions at AIPAC. My mouth was muzzled by the sweaty hands of hate-filled staffers demanding that I "shut the f--- up." But despite AIPAC's massive funds and influence, I feel certain that more and more members of the Jewish community will step forward and refuse to be silent. I just pray it is not too late. more
Medea Benjamin (medea@globalexchange.org) is the co-founder of the peace group CODEPINK (www.codepinkalert.org ) and the human rights group Global Exchange (www.globalexchange.org). For information on upcoming delegations to Gaza, see http://www.womensaynotowar.org/article.php?id=4817.
Code Pink outside the AIPAC conference
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