Bruce Levy from London BDS just returned from Washington DC where he was attending MOVE OVER AIPAC. Here’s his report.

AIPAC, which is an acronym for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, is America’s Israel lobby. With an annual budget of approximately 60 million US dollars, AIPAC is largely responsible for the over 3 billion dollars that’s channelled directly to Israel every year by the American Government.

In addition to advocating as much US financial and political support as possible for the Zionist state, AIPAC supports the building of illegal settlements, approves Israel’s inhuman siege of Gaza and attacks any US politician who expresses any sympathy for the plight of the Palestinians.

AIPAC held its largest annual policy conference ever between the 22 – 24 May at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington DC that attracted over 10,000 Zionist delegates from all across America.

As an answer to the AIPAC conference, CODEPINK, an American grassroots, women-initiated peace group organised MOVE OVER AIPAC, a series of actions held in Washington DC between the 21-24 May. This historic, ground-breaking event, supported by over 100 American progressive organisations brought together human-rights activists from all over the country.

The purpose and goal of MOVE OVER AIPAC is to begin to move American foreign policy away from AIPAC’s grip and towards a more even-handed position that respects international law and the rights of all people in the region.

A WELCOME, WORKSHOPS AND MORE

Saturday started with an introduction and overview in a central Washington DC church by CODEPINK’s Medea Benjamin and Rae Abileah, as well as author/activist Anna Baltzer, Laila al-Haddad and others who spoke to a standing room only crowd of campaigners and activists.

Speakers included Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer who delivered briefings about their bestselling book, “The Israel Lobby.” The assembled audience was told that AIPAC isn’t really a PAC or “Political Action Committee” at all, as it doesn’t give money directly to political candidates, but instead sees to it that campaign contributions are steered their way if the candidate supports Israeli policy. You can view Stephen Walt’s presentation HERE.

There were also workshops on Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, Creative Tactics, Poster Making & Street Theatre, Speaker Training and Flashmobs. Others workshops included The Goldstone Report, Exposing AIPAC, Combating Misused Charges of Anti-Semitism, Influencing Congress, Student Divestment Campaigns and the Middle-East: A Nuclear Weapons Free Zone.

In the BDS workshop, Dalit Baum of Who Profits spoke of the importance for a campaign to have measurable goals, the value of focussing on corporations rather than on products and the importance of research. Nancy Kricorian spoke about the Ahava Stolen Beauty campaign and touched upon its many successes, especially in the UK. Singer-songwriter Dave Lippman of Adalah-NY reviewed that group’s campaign against Israeli blood diamond magnate Lev Leviev and Rebecca Vilkomerson, Executive Director of Jewish Voice for Peace spoke about the campaign to convince TIAA-Cref, one of the world’s largest pension funds, to divest from Israel.

The Flashmob workshop included videos of Adalah-NY’s impressive creative actions and it was not surprising to hear that Adalah-NY has a choreographer, as well as other creative talent in their group. Best selling author and journalist Max Blumenthal demonstrated that it’s possible to produce a very powerful video featuring nothing but interviews that you can view HERE.

Between workshops, people milled around stalls from groups including CODEPINK, Jewish Voice for Peace, Two Peoples One Future, The Rachel Corrie Foundation, US to Gaza, Adalah NY , Young, Jewish, Proud and If Americans Knew.

AN HONOUR FOR LONDON

On Saturday evening, there was a ceremony at Busboys & Poets, a local progressive restaurant honouring “Peacemakers and Truthtellers.”
Among those recognised were Holocaust Survivor Heidi Epstein, Palestinian activist Amr Shurrab, Nancy Kricorian, Phil Weiss and Adam Horowitz of Mondoweiss, as well as “One Future” Billboard Campaign Organisers Caren Levy-Van Slyke and Mai Abdul Rahman.

Bruce Levy of London BDS, J-BIG, PSC, Americans AGAINST Apartheid UK, as well as a JfJfP signatory was also honoured for his dedication to peace and spoke about the activists and coalition of groups in London whose hard work, efforts, dedication and creativity made the Ahava and other BDS campaigns in London and throughout the UK a success.

MEETING THE DELEGATES

Sunday, the first day of the AIPAC gathering, delegates were met by several hundred social justice activists that included giant figures of Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu, banners, flags and several “walking settlements.”

Gun-toting, pink dressed IDF soldiers guarded a sidewalk checkpoint and welcomed AIPAC delegates with a cheery “Shalom, welcome to Israel” while denying entry to a pregnant Palestinian woman. An apartheid wall, complete with graffiti, was set up at a location that many AIPAC delegates had to walk past. Several vans carrying anti-AIPAC billboards and electronic displays circled the convention centre while demonstrators chanted:

“Not another nickel, not another dime, no more money for Israel’s crimes.”

(Nickel and dime refers to five and ten US cents - equivalent to roughly two and five pence respectively)

Since President Obama was scheduled to speak at the opening of the AIPAC conference, everyone was on the lookout for his motorcade which was heralded by the appearance of a police motorcycle escort followed by several black SUV’s which quickly sped by to shouts of “FREE, FREE PALESTINE!”

As seen in the video below, both the DC Police and Secret Service had quite a job keeping the protesters off the street while President Obama’s motorcade passes:

Throughout the morning, activists walked very slowly across the pedestrian crossing successfully blocking traffic while police looked on helplessly. This culminated in a lively rally in front of the convention centre:

When word spread that a human-rights activist was arrested, protesters quickly surrounded the patrol car where he was being held and demanded his release. Police finally had to resort to pushing people out-of-the-way to clear a path for the car which then sped off. Shortly after the street in front of the convention centre was taken over by demonstrators who staged a die-in, forcing police to divert traffic for some time afterwards. One cop was overheard to say to another, “I told you this would happen if you made the arrest.”

While helping to hold part of a banner, I was surprised to see a bald man wearing sunglasses and a blue uniform with the insignia of the Israeli police leaving the convention centre and I wondered what would be the reaction of people if he were to walk the streets of London wearing the same uniform. Several people shouted at him: “how many Palestinians have you murdered?” and “war criminal!“ The uniform smirked and I snapped his photo, not knowing at the time that this wasn’t to be my last encounter with this character.

About a dozen members of the anti-Zionist Hassidic group, the Neturei Karta were also present and carried placards that read, “Zionist Occupation is a Heresy and a Crime.” Another sign read “AIPAC endangers the Middle East and Violates Judaism.”

NO JUSTICE

On Monday morning, social justice activists met outside the Department of Justice to call on the US Government to register AIPAC as an agent of a foreign government. Also present was Ann Wright, a former US Army Colonel who resigned from the State Department on the eve of the American invasion of
Iraq. Everyone present wrote letters which were submitted to the US Attorney
General demanding that AIPAC be registered as such.

It was here I met Lee Whitnum, a writer and politician from Connecticut who is running for Senate. If you live in Connecticut, USA, please support her campaign, as I’m certain she’ll prove an asset to the citizens of that state if elected.

After the rally outside the Justice Department building, those present staged a march - in the road - to the convention centre. Surprisingly no police were present, leaving us at the mercy of car and lorry drivers. I offered to help carry an American flag banner hoping it was the safest place to be, as I figured that few drivers, especially in Washington DC, would run over someone carrying the stars and stripes. We then started walking on a busy road chanting:

“AI-PAC, AI-PAC, not above the law,

AI-PAC, AI-PAC, not above the law.”

 

“AI-PAC, AI-PAC, not above the law,

AI-PAC, AI-PAC, not above the law.” 

Our group, led by a cyclist weaving around the road on a pink bicycle, passed the convention centre and then the decision was taken to pay a visit to the National Public Radio Building. It was easy enough to get inside to the lobby where we were met by a bemused security guard and a surprised receptionist. After a while, a suit came down to hear our complaint regarding NPR’s biased coverage of AIPAC.

SHAMING POLITICIANS

Monday afternoon, activists gathered directly outside the entrance of the convention centre to talk to elected representatives who accepted invitations to the gala reception that was being held later that evening where Benjamin Netanyahu would be speaking. As their taxis and posh cars pulled up to the kerb, they were met with questions such as: “What about the settlements?”, “What about Apartheid?”, “What about the occupation?”, “What about the white phosphorus?” and “Why are you here?”

Most politicians ignored us and walked quickly into the convention centre, a few waved. Not surprisingly, hardly any stopped to talk to us.

One face who I immediately recognised was Newt Gingrich, a veteran Republican politician who  announced his candidacy for the US Presidency in 2012. “The Newt” was immediately surrounded by the crowd and listened to a few campaigners before going inside.

A spoof programme was distributed to AIPAC delegates who attended Monday’s Gala.

Along with a few Zionist supporters gathered on the green opposite the convention centre waving Israeli flags, giving the thumbs up sign and cheering the AIPAC delegates was also a very disturbed man who was yelling every imaginable obscenity against Islam who certainly would have been arrested
in the UK for committing a hate crime. But in America, freedom of speech, no
matter how outrageous or hateful, is a guaranteed right under the US
Constitution.

Over dinner at a nearby restaurant, we watched coverage of the AIPAC conference and Netanyahu’s speech on large video monitors, which was almost enough to put us off eating. After we finished our meal, about a dozen of us went back to the convention centre just when about 10,000 AIPAC delegates were leaving and again saw our bald Israeli uniform.

Using a megaphone, we immediately called upon the authorities to arrest this Israeli criminal. The police, however, had other ideas and instead surounded and protected him while many of the AIPAC delegates showed how brave they were by pushing, punching and swearing at us.

Our small group found ourselves at the front of the convention centre and were quickly surrounded by a few cops and a violent, unruly Zionist mob. Then all of us, except for two comrades who were holding the Palestinian flag, staged a die-in and fell to the pavement. Some of the crowd showing Zionism’s true face, spat at us and started singing the Israeli national anthem and other Zionist songs.

When we decided to get up, we were all pushed to the other side of the street by the police and sang “Peace, Salaam, Shalom. Palestine will be free” to even more verbal abuse from the unruly crowd who were slowly dispersing.

LOBBYING CONGRESS, A FAMILIAR FACE AND AN ACT OF BRAVERY

Tuesday was spent lobbying members of Congress and was the day that Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a speech to a joint session of Congress. Also in attendance were many AIPAC delegates – as well as one very brave lady.

I joined about a dozen human rights activists who were picketing opposite the Capitol building complete with walking illegal settlements, a checkpoint, signs and placards, as well as the giant figure of Netanyahu, all of which attracted a lot of attention from both tourists and delegates alike. We chanted:

“Heeeyyy Congress, what about the settlements?”

“Heeeyyy Congress, what about Apartheid?”

“Heeeyyy Congress, what about occupation?”

After Netanyahu’s speech, hundreds of  AIPAC members, recognisable by their
distinctive lanyards poured out of the Capitol to visit their representatives whose offices were nearby.

Though most delegates ignored us, some stopped to debate a few activists said that they were spat at and pushed while about the thirty or so US Capitol Police present just passively watched.

One Zionist told me that he considered the United Kingdom to be anti-Semitic due to its laws on Universal Jurisdiction that allowed arrest warrants to be issued against war criminals such as Tzipi Livni as well as other senior members of the Israeli government and military. I replied that in the UK, there are many people, including many Jews, who want to see Israeli government officials be held accountable for crimes against humanity committed while they held positions of authority. The Zionist just shook his head, laughed and walked away.

The Neturei Karta were out in force this time, holding their many placards denouncing Israel and Zionism while chanting, “Judaism YES, Zionism NO, the State of Israel has got to go!”

Throughout the sunny and humid morning and afternoon we chanted, carried placards, spoke to delegates, visitors and tourists and walked in groups very slowly from one corner to another of the intersection blocking traffic, much to the frustration and anger of the Capitol Police who threatened us with arrest if we continued.

It was here that I spotted a face from the past, which was none other than self-described “independent filmmaker” and Jerusalem resident Izzy Lemberg, who claims to be from New Jersey, USA. Lemberg was interviewing an American activist across the street from the US Capitol and seems to be part a project that involves filming and interviewing Palestine activists on both sides of the Atlantic.

London BDS mentioned Lemberg in a previous post when he and his photojournalist wife Ricki Rosen, whose photographs adorned a book that glorified the Israeli Occupation Army, came to London back in March and were filming those attending the Celebrate Palestine Festival at SOAS, as well as at the picket outside AHAVA on Monmouth Street. Lemberg was very angry then, yelling that I was the reason why no one would talk to him. So maybe that’s why when I called him by name, Lemberg ignored me.

As soon as he finished filming, Izzy Lemberg, who according to the Jewish Federation of Ottawa is originally from Cleveland, the Jerusalem-based filmmaker and his cameraman both disappeared into the crowd.

Later we heard that Rae Abileah was admitted to hospital with neck injuries after bravely interrupting Benjamin Netanyahu while he was addressing Congress and that the police were waiting to arrest her. Some spoke of going to the hospital where she was being treated and staging a sit-in to prevent the police from taking her away, but that idea was soon quashed as being too extreme.

We left late in the afternoon, proud of all our efforts.

AFTERWARDS

Rae Abileah is still wearing a neck brace and may need some follow-up chiropractic care. She was arrested while in hospital, but is no longer in police custody. However, her legal and medical issues are far from over. You can read more about why Rae did what she did HERE.

Israel still continues its blockade and siege of Gaza and settlements in
the West Bank continue to expand.

The amount of American military aid promised to Israel through to 2018 is $30 billion.

…and AIPAC recently announced plans to hold its next Policy Conference in Washington DC from 4–6 March 2012.

Here are some more images: