Israel/Palestine
Related: About this forumAfter Iran sanctions debacle, AIPAC Conference looks to Netanyahu as consoler and cheerleader
Prime Minister Netanyahu always receives an exceptionally warm welcome at AIPAC gatherings, but this year might be something special, even by his own high standards. Netanyahu is popular among AIPAC members, possibly more than ever, but that wont be the main reason for the loud cheers and enthusiastic applause that will greet him at next weeks Policy Conference in Washington: the noise will also be meant to drown out a growing sense of discomfort, a creeping crisis of confidence, a fear of an approaching age of uncertainty.
Whistling in the dark, its called, or, in another version: whistling past the graveyard.
The special effects and the décor will be impressive as always, of course, as befits the Jewish worlds most impressive annual gathering. There will be senior figures from the Administration and Congress, ministers and politicians arriving in droves all from Jerusalem, outstanding displays of Israeli ingenuity and start-up nationhood, a top notch professional production and 14,000 delegates with love of Israel in their mouths and in their hearts. A steady stream of conviction and confidence, verve and gusto, energy and devotion will emanate from the podium while everyone tries to ignore the earth that seems to be moving underneath and the stench of failure hanging in the air.
Though AIPAC remains strong and influential, a combination of unique factors have created the backdrop for what seems to be a sense of looming crisis. The lobby has always been viewed on the liberal left as an instrument of the rigid right, but now it is also coming under attack from the hawkish right for being soft and indecisive. It is caught in the ongoing internal contradictions between an administration that most Jews voted for but which nonetheless elicits constant suspicion. And it is dealing with a Jewish community that is increasingly concerned about boycott barbarians at the gate, is incapable of regulating its own internal debate and is finding it harder and harder to conceal an evolving internal schism concerning Israel and its policies.
AIPAC, understandably, cannot discern in which direction the wind is blowing in Jerusalem concerning Secretary of State John Kerrys efforts to achieve a breakthrough with the Palestinians, but it also failed to read the map in Washington when it decided last year, much to the chagrin of its Republican allies, to support a military attack in Syria which Congress opposed and the Administration soon abandoned. And all of these pitfalls and setbacks are dwarfed by what currently seems to be the epic failure in the battle against the interim nuclear agreement with Iran and the now-stalled additional sanctions bill.
http://www.haaretz.com/.premium-1.576940
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)In an article published this week in the New York Times, AIPAC Chairman Lee Rosenberg and President Michael Kassen reaffirmed their commitment to the bill, which only a few days earlier they had opted to postpone. The content of the article didnt make too much waves a worrying symptom in and of itself but the language it used raised more than a few eyebrows among American Jewish leaders. After consistently denying that they were the initiators of the Senate bill, AIPAC was suddenly using a presumptuous and imperial we, as if they were talking on behalf of the United States itself, while placing itself on center stage: The approach we outline, Rosenberg and Kassen wrote, our message to Tehran should be the President should this and Congress should that.
Its a clear signal of distress, one perturbed Jewish official told me.
After all, no one is happy with AIPACs performance in the Iran sanctions debate: not the Republicans, who now accuse the lobby of folding too quickly, not the Democratic senators who fought for the bill and now complain that they were left stranded on the battlefield, and certainly not the White House which accused the bills supporters of warmongering while suspecting AIPAC of political collusion with President Obamas rivals and enemies. The Prime Ministers Office was disappointed, AIPACs hawkish donors were incensed, the organizations dedicated rank and file know that something is amiss and only the lobbys critics - of which a sizeable portion are genuine haters of Jews and Israel have reasons to rejoice.
The failures, follies and repeated zigzags of recent months have damaged some of AIPACs strategic assets, including its power of deterrence, its image as a successful political player for whom failure is not an option and its claim to be a completely bipartisan actor. Republicans have become the lobbys natural allies on everything that is Israel and the Middle East, but their far out positions on many social issues continue to serve as a barrier to most American Jews. Democratic lawmakers, on the other hand, continue to support Israel and to enlist in AIPACs causes, but no one is ignoring the arctic winds blowing on the liberal left that will inevitably cool the Democratic establishments relations with Israel as well.
When he addresses the conference on Tuesday, Netanyahu will be cast as part consoler, part savior and a bit of a father figure as well. Of all the Israeli or American politicians in office or on the horizon, it is Netanyahu that AIPAC delegates feel most comfortable with and the feeling is entirely mutual. AIPAC is Netanyahus dream team, the embodiment of his own self-image - well-heeled, well-to-do, well behaved, ethnocentric and English-speaking - the kind of Likud Central Committee that the prime minister can only fantasize about, instead of the legions of coarse and extreme politicians that he has to contend with at home.
His positions, after all, are their positions: militant suspicion of Iran, theoretical support for a two-state solution coupled with complete distrust of the Palestinian partner, a complex love-hate, respect and suspect relationship with the Obama administration - all wrapped in a world view of constant danger, threat and siege.
Netanyahu will come to the conference 24 hours after his White House meeting with the President, which may be difficult and tense because of the sharp disagreements between the two leaders over Iran and the Presidents renewed motivation, according to the New York Times, to personally intervene in the negotiations with the Palestinians. The AIPAC delegates will want to support Netanyahus and bolster his resolve, as always, but this time they are expecting something in return: they want him to comfort them, to persuade them that business is as usual, to cast out the doubt and to instill renewed passion.
They will want him to be their cheerleader, one worried Jewish official said. Hes concerned that the combination of the crowds expectations and Netanyahus possible frustrations may lead him, not for the first time, to mistake AIPAC for America. He might then make a militant speech that momentarily rallies the troops but also inflames tensions with the Administration, thus driving the lobby even further into the corner that it has managed to push itself. Maybe you should write something, he suggested.