Ron Kampeas filed two stories from the AIPAC policy conference:
Obama and Netanyahu administrations listen to each other at AIPAC
WASHINGTON (JTA) — “This relationship matters to me,” one partner says.
“Show me,” says the other.
Such conversations, as any couple can attest, usually don’t augur the happiest of chats.
If this year’s AIPAC policy conference stopped well short of a full-blown spat between the pro-Israel lobby and the Obama administration, it was because each side was listening to the other: Obama officials listened to Israeli fears about the Iranian nuclear threat, and AIPAC and Israel’s prime minister listened to the U.S. administration’s insistence on the inevitability of Palestinian statehood. … read more
Sitting between Bibi and Obama, AIPAC criticized by left and right
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Days after AIPAC’s apparent success navigating the churning waters between the Obama and Netanyahu administrations, the pro-Israel lobby is being criticized by Jewish groups on both sides of the political spectrum.
Pro-Israel groups on the right and left have assailed the American Israel Public Affairs Committee because of elements of its agenda that emerged from its annual policy conference this week.
The Zionist Organization of America registered a protest about AIPAC’s backing for Palestinian statehood. Meanwhile, three groups that backed the U.S.-sponsored peace process — Americans for Peace Now, J Street and Brit Tzedek v’Shalom — rallied supporters to help roll back Tuesday afternoon’s Capitol Hill blitz by 7,000 AIPAC delegates, suggesting the organization had failed to fully endorse Obama’s peace moves.
The AIPAC conference suggested a middle road that could reconcile differences between the two young governments over a key issue — whether to press toward Palestinian statehood. … read more
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