This week, Congress and President Obama played disc jockey, spinning the same old tunes for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Stuck and skipping like the worn grooves of an old vinyl record, the 20-year-old U.S. "peace process" is mired in its old formulaic code words: " Land swaps" is code for "Israel gets to keep most of the West Bank and East Jerusalem." "Israel as a Jewish state" means "It's fine with the United States to maintain legal discrimination against Palestinian citizens of Israel." And "Palestine as the homeland of the Palestinian people" translates to "No Right of Return" for refugees.
So if 20 years of monotonous and moribund U.S. policy is not what challenges Netanyahu and his legions of cheerleaders filling the AIPAC gala dining room and the U.S. House chamber this week, then what does?
International Law. Beyond the lip-service paid by the U.S. government to justice and human rights, when it comes to policy, there's always that one little blunder of completely ignoring international law.
The past few days brought an unmistakably brilliant reminder -- not in the House chamber, nor the AIPAC convention -- but out in the Washington streets, where "Move Over AIPAC" activists, organized by our coalition member CODEPINK, gathered from across the United States to say: "We have a better approach! We believe that the majority in this country stands for international law and human rights, even if Congress and the President are scared to admit it."
Read on for the latest words, actions and initiatives -- by US Campaign members, allies and friends -- blaring with more flair and forte than the old broken record of Obama, Netanyahu and AIPAC.
So if 20 years of monotonous and moribund U.S. policy is not what challenges Netanyahu and his legions of cheerleaders filling the AIPAC gala dining room and the U.S. House chamber this week, then what does?
International Law. Beyond the lip-service paid by the U.S. government to justice and human rights, when it comes to policy, there's always that one little blunder of completely ignoring international law.
The past few days brought an unmistakably brilliant reminder -- not in the House chamber, nor the AIPAC convention -- but out in the Washington streets, where "Move Over AIPAC" activists, organized by our coalition member CODEPINK, gathered from across the United States to say: "We have a better approach! We believe that the majority in this country stands for international law and human rights, even if Congress and the President are scared to admit it."
Read on for the latest words, actions and initiatives -- by US Campaign members, allies and friends -- blaring with more flair and forte than the old broken record of Obama, Netanyahu and AIPAC.
There was at least one dissenting voice inside the halls of Congress on Tuesday. Rae Abileah, a Jewish-American activist of Israeli descent with the peace group CodePink, disrupted Netanyahu's speech. Standing in the congressional gallery, she yelled, "No more occupation! Stop Israel war crimes! Equal rights for Palestinians! Occupation is indefensible!" As she screamed, members in the audience tackled her to the ground, and undercover security forces later dragged her outside. She was taken to George Washington University Hospital where she was treated for neck and shoulder injuries.
The Emporer's clothes are still on, for now.
(while his heckler is roughed up, hospitalized)
By Josh Ruebner, National Advocacy Director, on Mondoweiss, May 24, 201
1
Gliding down the aisle of the House of Representatives like a popular president about to deliver the State of the Union address, escorted by a phalanx of dozens of ebullient Members of Congress, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu entered a joint meeting of Congress today to a round of hearty handshakes and a thunderous standing ovation.
No More Applause
I was stunned to see that our entire U.S. Congress gave Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu 29 standing ovations on Tuesday. Twenty-nine. Unbelievable, given what his speech contained.
The speech that Netanyahu gave that day will go down in history as an extraordinary embarrassment to Americans and Israelis alike. Read on to find out what he said and why we cannot let it go unanswered.
Catching AIPAC Off Guard
By Omar Barghouti, Palestinian human rights activist and author of "Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS): The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights"
May 13, 2011
May 13, 2011
The Arab democratic spring, striving to end authoritarian rule and establish freedoms and social justice, has not been welcome by all. Israel and its main lobby in the U.S., the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), for instance, appear to have been caught off guard and visibly disturbed by the seemingly irreversible transformations that these uprisings promise to bring about in the Arab world and, to an extent, the world at large.
Just as well that Obama had no details about Middle East peace
By Nadia Hijab, US Campaign Advisory Board Member
The Hill, May 19, 2011
The Hill, May 19, 2011
The Palestinian-Israeli conflict -- temporarily pushed off the front pages by the killing of Osama bin Laden -- is squarely back in the news as the Obama administration and Israel try to set the agenda in advance of the Palestinian plan to request full membership at the United Nations this September.
That's
Obama and Netanyahu
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