Washington,
D.C. --- March 6, 2013 If you are an Israeli, never feel
alone. Over 13,000 Americans converged on the Washington Convention
Center for the AIPAC Policy Conference this past Sunday, Monday
and Tuesday. A sea of people proudly wearing American Israeli
pins on their suits and carrying grey, plastic AIPAC pens came
to hear from both Israeli and American Jewish leaders.
As
one who has dedicated over 20 years of his life to Israel, to
Israeli advocacy. Having worked with American Jewish organizations,
the IDF as an officer, as a journalist in Israel and as a senior
media, marketing and cross-cultural consultant to the Israel Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, I have never witnessed an event as large and
as supportive of Israel as this.
Once
seated at the newly established press area, as AIPAC never had
a section dedicated only to news reporters and editors, I must
have turned my neck a dozen times to witness 13,000 Jews and Christians
sitting behind me, to my right, in front and to my left.
That
Israel has this enormous amount of support by the American people
is a fact that transcends the physical threats we face and reinforces
our moral responsibility to one another - in Israel and around
the world. It provides morale to our troops in the IDF and to
all who serve in the Israel security forces.
To
hear speeches by US Vice President Joe Biden, Canadian Foreign
Minister John Baird and many in the US Congress that illustrate
understanding and support against the threats we face by Islamic
Jihadists - Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iran which
has sworn to wipe Israel off the map further provides Israelis
with the motivation we need to keep moving forward. To maintain
democracy in a region which only knows brutal dictatorships, the
absence of human rights and the massacre of innocent civilians.
Many
from AIPAC need to be acknowledged. But like the IDF, where does
one start?
Allow
me to praise AIPAC President Michael Kassen, AIPAC CEO Howard
Kohr, AIPAC PR Director Marshall Wittmann, PGA Director Jeff Kuhnreich,
AIPAC Director of National
Events Jeffrey Shulman, AIPAC Director of Marketing and Creative
Services Jeremy Rider, Technology Division Director Scott Dubin
and many from sister organizations such Jewish Federations of
North America President Jerry Silverman and JFNA Washington Director
William Daroff.
But
among all these numbers of support and praise of their leaders,
one must look at where AIPAC is going.
Many journalists, who give their blood for Israel, were prevented
from attending critical sessions at AIPAC.
This
is the first fault that I find with AIPAC. If there needs to be
a system where AIPAC's strategy must be protected then by all
means exclude the press - but not those who have a "security
level" to attend. There are those of us in the media who
have security access in Israel and we are not prohibited from
attending sensitive news briefings. Just the opposite - we are
encouraged to attend so that we have a better understanding in
getting the word out to political, Jewish and Christian community
leaders.
AIPAC
is one of the finest Jewish organizations on the face of this
good earth. But they are not perfect. That Hagel was nominated
by Congress as Secretary of Defense, a man who calls Israel an
Apartheid state, should never have happened. Yes, AIPAC needs
to pick their fights. But this was a fight that should have been
addressed.
As
for details as to why it was not confronted by AIPAC I can only
guess. But guessing is not good enough when it comes to saving
lives in Israel.
AIPAC needs to brief the pro-Israel media and not throw us all
under the bus as "press" that we cannot be trusted.
In
Israel we have "war corespondents" and have government
issued press cards with different levels of access. AIPAC needs
to implement the same system. I can assure you that Steve Linde,
the editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post and David Horovitz
of the Times of Israel, that those who work for the Israel
Broadcasting Authority and I do not represent a threat to the
state of Israel.
We are not Peace Now, J Street or the Jews of Satmar.
Having
support for Israel is good but having policy direction for those
numbers is critical. It is my educated guess that AIPAC is on
the same page as the Israel Ministry of Defense, the Israel Ministry
of Foreign Affairs and the Prime Minister's Office.
And
we can see this in what was spoken at AIPAC.
Prime
Minister Netanyahu and Israel Ambassador Michael Oren's call for
a "clear and credible military threat" by the US to
Iran and repeated that diplomacy and sanctions have failed.
That Iran is
only using talks to stall to develop a nuclear weapon, a weapon
which they will threaten to use against the Jewish, Infidel state.
US Vice President Joe Biden presented a list of supposed attempts
to delegitimize Israel and a recent UN fact-finding mission on
settlements. Biden addressed the threat by Iran and made it clear
that President Obama "is not bluffing" about preventing
Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
Iran
and the actions of AIPAC to secure the Iron Dome defense system
in Israel were repeated throughout the three days.
AIPAC
also highlighted many of the achievements that Israel has recently
been responsible for. From developing new health technologies,
humanitarian rescue missions to Haiti and Japan to presenting
Israeli climber Nadav Ben Yehuda who forsaked climbing to the
peak of Mount Everest to save the life of a fellow climber - a
Muslim from Turkey.
AIPAC
concluded it's conference with several delegations, such as Hillel,
coming together from every state to enjoy both good talk and food.
But it was the Tuesday event - the lobbying of 100 members of
Congress by thousands of AIPAC delegates which one must note.
The logistics here were fantastic. Having each and every delegate
do what AIPAC staffers perform every day. Only one thing was missing.
There was no press coverage. There was no press coverage by some
of us who have and continue to carry an M-16 in Israel. We are
the messengers. AIPAC needs to define which ones of us among the
messengers will not report or leak AIPAC strategy.
We
need to work together. Please don't place us all in the same boat
with J Street, the ISM or BDS.
AIPAC
is a wonderful, potent organization that deserves the full and
unconditional support of every American Jew. They are truly the
PR arm of the IDF in North America. They say that they are not
in the business of PR but rather lobbying. They need to embrace
lobbying, public affairs and PR as essential tools for Israel.
They need to explain their actions, not all, but most to both
Congress and the American public to remain relevant.
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