{"id":18011,"date":"2016-04-01T00:18:25","date_gmt":"2016-04-01T07:18:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=18011"},"modified":"2016-03-31T16:58:31","modified_gmt":"2016-03-31T23:58:31","slug":"iran-dominates-aipac-talks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2016\/04\/01\/iran-dominates-aipac-talks\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran dominates AIPAC talks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump upset AIPAC organizers when he criticized President Barack Obama. (photo by David Zam)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

There were clear signs of discord in Washington, D.C., as representatives of AIPAC publicly rebuked presidential hopeful Donald Trump after he harshly criticized the sitting president.<\/p>\n

At the pro-Israel organization\u2019s policy conference last month, in front of some 18,000 attendees, visibly upset AIPAC president Lillian Pinkus admonished Trump on stage for his remarks a day earlier.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever policy disagreements we may have, we must not condemn the sitting president on stage,\u201d she said. \u201cThere are people in our AIPAC family who were deeply hurt last night and, for that, we are deeply sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chairman of the board Robert A. Cohen said that booing and clapping speakers when they attack another person was unacceptable at the event, and that \u201cAIPAC doesn\u2019t pick sides.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump, who was cheered wildly for noting that it was President Barack Obama\u2019s last year in office, said that \u201cObama rewards our enemies\u201d and \u201cHillary was a total disaster as secretary of state\u2026. Obama and Hillary have been very bad to Israel. Obama may be the worst thing to happen to Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Every major party candidate for president spoke at the dais, except the senator from Vermont, Democrat Bernie Sanders, who is Jewish. All candidates who spoke placed heavy emphasis on Iran.<\/p>\n

GOP frontrunner Trump didn\u2019t mince words. He called the Iran deal brokered by the P5+1 \u2013 the United States, China, Russia, France and the United Kingdom plus Germany \u2013 \u201cawful\u201d and \u201cbad for Israel, the Middle East and the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

The $150 billion channeled to Iran in the agreement, by his reckoning, was \u201cunbelievable\u201d with \u201cnothing in return,\u201d and that the Islamic Republic will have a nuclear bomb within several years.<\/p>\n

As president, Trump said he would \u201cstand up to Iran\u2019s aggression\u201d because \u201cI know how to deal with aggression and that\u2019s why I\u2019ll win.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Middle East\u2019s terror activity has Iran\u2019s fingerprints all over it, he continued, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, reward money for Palestinian terrorists, and influence in at least two dozen other countries.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will dismantle Iran\u2019s global terror network,\u201d Trump said. \u201cWe will enforce this deal like you\u2019ve never seen a contract enforced before.\u201d<\/p>\n

The New York billionaire mogul and reality TV host took aim at two other threats to Israel, the United Nations and Palestinian terror activity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe UN is incompetent and no friend of Israel,\u201d he said. \u201cA [peace] agreement imposed by the UN would be a total disaster. And the U.S. must use our veto, which I will use 100%.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Jewish state, he said, has always been willing to strike a deal with its neighbors, noting that prime minister Ehud Barak in 2000 offered nearly the entire West Bank as a Palestinian state, but the offer was dismissed by then-PLO leader Yasser Arafat. Other times, he said, \u201cPalestinian leadership has rejected very good offers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump noted that, under his purview, the U.S. embassy would move \u201cto the eternal capital of the Jewish state, Jerusalem.\u201d<\/p>\n

Texas Senator Ted Cruz, trailing a distant second to Trump in GOP delegates, began his speech, \u201cAmerica will stand with Israel and defeat Islamic terror.\u201d<\/p>\n

He spoke about his three trips to Israel as senator, including a visit to Israeli hospitals that treated Syrian refugees. He noted that he had proposed legislation to ban the Iranian ambassador to the UN from entering the United States since he was involved in the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis. It passed in both the Senate and House.<\/p>\n

Taking a jab at the Obama administration, he said it was \u201cunjust\u201d for them to impose a travel ban on Israel in the summer of 2014. He further called out Democrats for boycotting Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu\u2019s speech last year at AIPAC.<\/p>\n

\"photo
At AIPAC, Democrat frontrunner Hillary Clinton advised a three-pronged approach to global security, focusing on Iran, extremism and the attempts to delegitimize Israel. (photo by David Zam)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential frontrunner, was taken to task for saying that Hamas fires rockets from civilian areas because Gaza is tight for space. \u201cRather,\u201d said Cruz, \u201cit\u2019s because Hamas are beasts who use human shields.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the \u201cfundamentally immoral\u201d Iran deal, Cruz said he will \u201crip it to shreds on the first day,\u201d since the Islamic Republic won\u2019t follow it anyway.<\/p>\n

\u201cHear my words Ayatollah Khomeini: If I am president and Iran launches a missile test, we will shoot that missile down,\u201d said Cruz. \u201cAnd, in January 2017, we will have a commander-in-chief who says under no circumstances will Iran be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons: either you will shut down your nuclear program or we will shut it down for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cruz compared the Iran deal to the failed 1938 agreement between British prime minister Neville Chamberlain and Adolf Hitler, which led to the Third Reich\u2019s takeover of Czechoslovakia and allowed its continued military build-up.<\/p>\n

If elected president, Cruz said he would move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, yank federal funds from schools that boycott Israel and veto any UN unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state.<\/p>\n

Governor of Ohio John Kasich, running third in the GOP delegate count, noted his 35-year support for Israel and his role in helping erect a Holocaust monument in his state.<\/p>\n

He called for the suspension of the Iranian nuclear deal, particularly after recent test missiles in contravention of international treaties. As president, he would \u201cdefeat ISIS and stop arms flows to Hezbollah.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also spoke out against the boycott, divestment and sanction movement, and antisemitism on campus. On Israel, he noted the \u201cculture of death that the Palestinian leadership has promoted for decades,\u201d and that \u201cPalestinians cannot continue to promote hatred.\u201d In sum, he called Jerusalem the eternal capital of Israel.<\/p>\n

When she took to the stage, Clinton noted that the \u201cthe ideological gap between the parties has increased, but there\u2019s still common agreement on Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

She took a three-pronged approach to global security: Iran\u2019s aggression, the growing tide of extremism, and efforts to delegitimize Israel. \u201cThe deal with Iran is making the world safer, including Israel,\u201d she said. \u201cThe supreme leader still calls all the shots in Iran, but we should support voices who want to bring change in Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regarding other parts of the region, she said that \u201cISIS must not be contained; it must be defeated.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the issue of Israel, she noted that Palestinian leadership has to stop inciting violence. \u201cChildren should not be taught to hate in schools,\u201d she said, adding that she would oppose any attempts to \u201cpush a [unilateral two-state] solution,\u201d including in the UN. \u201cPalestinians should be able to govern themselves in their state,\u201d she said, while adding that Israeli \u201csettlements are not helpful to peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

She condemned BDS and said, \u201cwe have to fight against it\u201d because \u201cantisemitism has no place in American society.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden took a risk mentioning to the 18,000 attendees at the policy conference that Israeli \u201csettlements are a barrier in the way of a two-state solution.\u201d That risk was welcomed by a chorus of boos \u2013 despite attendees being cautioned by AIPAC leadership to not do so.<\/p>\n

Biden insisted that, notwithstanding political differences, the United States is \u201cunited in our unwavering commitment to the Jewish state of Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, \u201cviolent acts of retribution must stop,\u201d he continued, \u201cterror is terror is terror … and it must be stopped.\u201d<\/p>\n

The White House \u201cstands with Israel against delegitimization\u201d and believes that \u201cIsrael is stronger today because of the Obama-Biden administration,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Biden touted last year\u2019s Iran deal as a \u201csuccess,\u201d explaining that many \u201cIranian facilities are dismantled and destroyed\u201d and that \u201cIran is further away from the possibility of being nuclear. If Iran violates [the deal] there will be consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking by video link from Israel, Netanyahu both criticized, and suggested salvaging, the U.S.-brokered Iranian nuclear deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose who worked for the deal and against the deal can work together to ensure that the deal is followed,\u201d he insisted, noting that, in March, Iran tested a missile that posed a threat to Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe writing isn\u2019t just on the wall; it\u2019s on the missile,\u201d said Netanyahu.<\/p>\n

He said that Israel is singled out for condemnation at the UN and said he hopes the United States will continue its moral voting record at the Security Council.<\/p>\n

With regard to Israel\u2019s neighbors, he said Palestinian children are taught to hate, and showed a video of television broadcasts that illustrate his point.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot compromise with terror and must defeat it,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need a two-state solution with a demilitarized Palestinian state.\u2026 We are ready for negotiations anywhere and anytime without preconditions.\u201d But, he said, Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the Palestinian Authority, \u201cisn\u2019t ready or willing to come\u201d to the negotiating table.<\/p>\n

David Zam<\/strong> has covered political, cultural and historical events for <\/em>Landmark Report, including the 50th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery voting rights march as White House-approved press, two AIPAC policy conferences and several other political conventions. He has degrees in history and law.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump upset AIPAC organizers when he criticized President Barack Obama. (photo by David Zam) There were clear signs of discord in Washington, D.C., as representatives of AIPAC publicly rebuked presidential hopeful Donald Trump after he harshly criticized the sitting president. At the pro-Israel organization\u2019s policy conference last month, in front of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18002,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[1034,4597,5242,2462,4330,2949],"class_list":["post-18011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-aipac","tag-donald-trump","tag-hillary-clinton","tag-iran","tag-israel","tag-netanyahu"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18011\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}