Our dear friends Phil Weiss and Adam Horowitz of Mondoweiss at an event organized by Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA) to launch of their new book The Goldstone Report: The Legacy of the Landmark Investigation of the Gaza Conflict, an edited version of Judge Goldstone’s U.N. report documenting war crimes during Israel’s Operation Cast Lead in Gaza. It includes essays by Raji Sourani, Leila El-Haddad, Ali Abunimah, Rashid Khalidi, Letty Cottin Pogrebin, Brian Baird, with a forward by Desmond Tutu and an introduction by Naomi Klein.
The event was chaired by Penny Rosenwasser of MECA. Also speaking at the event were Prof. George Bisharat of UC Hastings Law School and Barbara Lubin of MECA.
This is as good as talk radio gets. Our friend, the great Phil Weiss on Radio Open Source with Chris Lydon to discuss the implications of the Arab revolt and the changing discourse in the American Jewish community.
Col (ret.) Ann Wright and Code Pinkers bring long overdue attention to the AIPAC annual conference, that great annual firesale of American politics.
In that radical handbook on the workings of American society, the Wizard of Oz never recovered once Dorothy pulled back the curtain of her own innocence. One would like to believe that AIPAC will never recover from a brutal spring that has exposed its real interests to the American public. Even supporters of the Jewish state have criticized the American Israel Public Affairs Committee for fully taking Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s side in his battle with Barack Obama over settlements, and during its recent annual conference, the lobby looked wobbly and defensive.
Yes, there was the usual procession of weak-kneed politicians professing love for Israel, not to mention AIPAC board members explaining how they cultivate “relationships” with the powerful. Yes, Sen. Chuck Schumer gave a bloodcurdling yowl, Am Yisroel Chai—the Jewish people live!—as he pledged to be Israel’s guardian. But a large shift in American policy and opinion has left the lead institution of the lobby exposed, and worse, mocked.
AIPAC was taking on water before its VIP-studded conference began in late March. Important supporters of Israel in the media, including Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic and David Remnick of The New Yorker, questioned whether reflexive support for Israel’s right-wing policies served the American interest, echoing the view of Gen. David Petraeus that the Palestinian problem is our problem in the battle for hearts and minds in the Middle East.
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