by Medea Benjamin
In this time of economic austerity, when jobs are being slashed and Americans are fearful about their future, the Congressional recess is the time for our elected representatives to be home in their districts, reaching out to their constituents and servicing the people they are paid to represent. Instead, this August one out of every five representatives will be taking a junket to Israel, compliments of an affiliate of the Israel lobby AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) but still clocked in on the taxpayer’s dime.
Americans who have lost their jobs and seen their life savings evaporate because Congress can’t seem to get it together deserve an explanation of how this crisis will be solved. Following the recent debt debacle, the public is hungry for information about the mysterious 12-person “super committee” that will slash over one trillion dollars from the federal budget. But instead of opening their doors to their constituents, 81 members of Congress will be getting briefings from Israeli government officials, touring historic religious sites, and perhaps “seeking a salty dip in the Dead Sea.” Representative Steny Hoyer, who is leading the Democratic delegation, said he is pleased members of Congress have this opportunity “to gain a deeper understanding of the issues involved in increasing stability in the region.” One has to wonder whether our elected officials are more concerned about the stability of Israel or the well-being of American families.
Not surprisingly, trip expenses are being paid by an affiliate of the all-powerful AIPAC lobby, the American Israel Educational Foundation. AIPAC lobbies hard to ensure that Israel is kept on the U.S. dole, with $3 billion of US taxpayers’ dollars a year going to the Israeli military. Without AIPAC and the financial contributions to Congressional campaigns made by its affiliate organizations, our representatives would be freer to speak out against funneling precious taxdollars to this already wealthy nation. This junket goes to show that those who claim AIPAC has a stranglehold over our Congress are not far off the mark.
Going on an AIPAC-sponsored trip to Israel is the moral equivalent of using an Anglo-Boer travel company to visit apartheid-era South Africa. Although they claim to be visiting leaders “across the political spectrum”, including Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, you can bet your bottom dollar that AIPAC will not be giving these 81 Congresspeople a fair and balanced view of Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. They won’t observe one of the weekly demonstrations in Bi’lin or Nabi Saleh, where Israeli soldiers routinely tear gas and arrest non-violent protesters. They won’t spend time with grieving Palestinians whose homes have been demolished to make way for more Jewish-only housing. They won’t spend a few hours at a checkpoint to witness how Palestinians are detained, abused and humiliated, or how this “thriving democracy” forbids Palestinians from driving on Jewish-only roads. They won’t go to Gaza, where 1.5 million people are suffering under an unbearable siege, unable to travel freely, conduct business transactions across borders or even rebuild their homes destroyed by the Israeli invasion. And they won’t likely be visiting the burgeoning tent cities in Tel Aviv where hundreds of thousands of Israelis are currently camped out protesting the lack of affordable housing, gas and food.
With the disapproval rate for Congress at a record 82%, now is not the time for our representatives to pander to AIPAC. Now is not the time for “free” junkets to Israel—with an implicit promise of $3 billion of our taxdollars in return. Now is the time to stop the freefall of the American economy. If our representatives want to earn more respect from the American public, they better prove that their allegiance is not to a foreign government or a group that lobbies on behalf of a foreign government, but to their constituents back home.
Medea Benjamin is cofounder of Global Exchange and CODEPINK. She encourages you to contact your congressperson and ask where they will be this August recess. Call 202-224-3121.
P U L S E 
Thank you for your voice and your tireless work to wake up the sheeple.
Thank you too for this great article, Ms. Benjamin!
I have tried to copy and paste portions of this article in Yahoo news comments sections to draw attention to these issues. They will not upload. I wonder if Israel’s hackers have somehow flagged this website or the articles therein to make this impossible to C&P.
Medea, you’d do Goebbels proud!
Their trips are not paid for by their constituents, and the $3 billion in military aid to Israel is part of the foreign aid package which accounts for just 1% (!) of the budget. Instead of complaining about this aid that goes to an *ally*, how about cutting the aid to Pakistan, which has no qualms about harboring Bin Laden? Or the Palestinians, which transfer the millions they get to terrorists in jail?
ya know what “mary smith”…We Americans are tired of paying your way. Because of the internet Americans are finally waking up to the thieves liars and hypocrites running israel..Get used to it.
Ms. Smith,
Invoking Geobbels, or deflecting attention to Pakistan or Palestine doesn’t resolve the issues raised by the author. The other parts of your argument are more convincing. At least they express your opinion and educate us on the other side of the arguments. I would suggest that you do more of the latter and less of the former.
You see the problem is that people (like me) work three to four months out of every year to pay our taxes. We feel that our money should go to causes we agree with, and our representatives should do as their title suggests — represent us. This does not mean that we should not give Israel any aid. It simply means that we should think of what we get in return for our money. If whatever we receive is worth the money, then the aid is a bargain for us. But, if the money doesn’t buy us anything, then it is a waste.
Do you see the basic issue there? That’s the real tussle between competing schools of thought.
Thank you.
Ms. Smith,
Pulling Bin Laden into this wasn’t your best choice in retort to Medea’s piece given the U.S. spent a substantial amount of money creating him. In addition, U.S. alliance with a country that is responsible for internationally recognized terrorism against a people that it illegally occupies isn’t helping to protect you.
Since 1999 I’ve been aware of the many deceptions, bold brazen lies that come from Israeli spokespersons.
It was a story about olive trees that illuminated the outline of the zionist conspiracy against the world, Palestinians, Muslims and Arabs in particular, but haters can swiftly change their targets, it could well be you and me tomorrow.
I believe the whole zionist project, founded on stolen land and murdered innocents is doomed by karma alone. People who were ‘self proclaimed humanitarians’ have morphed into armies notorious for cruel brutality. These ‘moral’ army personnel murder on whim and as a rule get punished lightly if at all.
How are we to believe a pathological liar of an entity, based on crime, lies, and the moral values of a chimpanzee?