‘Expose AIPAC’: U.S. activists campaign against Israeli lobby in America

Posted on February 28, 2013 by admin

http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2013/02/28/268900.html

Thursday, 28 February 2013

A national coalition of nearly 400 groups, the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation says it works to end U.S. support for Israel's occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. (Screen grab from www.endtheoccupation.org)

A national coalition of nearly 400 groups, the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation says it works to end U.S. support for Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. (Screen grab from www.endtheoccupation.org)

By AL ARABIYA

A U.S.-based coalition that opposes the Israeli occupation of Palestine plans to step up its campaign to “Expose AIPAC” during the Israeli lobbyist group’s upcoming annual conference in Washington, DC.

Josh Ruebner, the National Advocacy Director for “the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupations” said the coalition, which includes Interfaith Peace-Builders and Code Pink, — a women grassroots peace and social justice movement — will be holding training conferences, demonstrations and a lobbying event from March 2 to march 5.

Ruebner said there was also an additional “surprise” activity that will be launched on Sunday and which will be made public later.

Ruebner explained that the anti-AIPAC coalition includes about 400 groups across the United States and that hundreds of activists are expected to take part in this year’s campaign.

“From previous years, we have had a few hundreds people and that is what we are expecting this weekend as well,” he said.

The AIPAC conference will be held from March 3-5, in Washington, D.C. with thousands of Israeli supporters in northern America due to attend, from U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, Republican Senator John McCain to Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird.

But for the first time in seven years, neither the U.S. president nor the Israeli prime minister is scheduled to attend the AIPAC conference, according to Israel’s Haaretz news website.

Haaretz also reported that for “the second year in a row, no mention of the Palestinians, negative or positive, appears on the conference’s legislative agenda.”

AIPAC’s conference will focus instead on pushing for a Congressional legislation that would designate Israel as a “major strategic ally” of the United States. If enacted and adopted, the legislation will give Israel a status that no other nation on earth enjoys with America.

It is also reported that the legislation will make it easy for Israel to obtain a U.S. approval for a strike against Iran.

 

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