The Zionist lobby, the Zionist leaders are thriving in certain Western countries, promoting Israel's interests abroad... (‘War’ With AIPAC)

UK Home Secretary declares BDS campaign as 'racist', 'anti-Semitic'

May 20, 2022 at 2:46 pm | Published in: BDS, International Organisations, Israel, Middle East, News, Palestine

British Home Secretary, Priti Patel, said the non-violent Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign to end Israel's illegal occupation of Palestinian territories was "racist" and "anti-Semitic".

"Holding the Jewish community collectively responsible for what happens in the Middle East by my definition is racist," Patel said in a speech at the Conservative Friends of Israel's annual parliamentary reception on Monday.

This comes after the UK government revealed its long-anticipated plan to ban the BDS campaign during the Queen's Speech last week. The anti-BDS legislation will curtail the freedom of public bodies from adopting ethical positions against human rights abusers by proscribing boycotts and divestment campaigns against foreign countries. Though Israel is not mentioned in the Queen's Speech, it is widely understood that the aim of the Tory government is to shield Israel from the growing BDS movement, which seeks to end Israel's apartheid regime in Palestine.

Addressing an audience of 140 CFI supporters, including 50 parliamentarians, the Home Secretary confirmed she is a "strong defender" of Israel.

She also praised Israeli Ambassador to the UK Tzipi Hotovely, who was also in attendance, for "who you are and what you do", and for the "wider support" that she said Israel gives to the UK.

Patel added "everything we have seen around the BDS movement is racist."

The UK Government, Patel added, "will continue to send out the strongest messages around zero tolerance towards terrorist activities, but also towards the type of activities that are aimed and targeted at hurting the State of Israel, Jewish communities and the people of Israel."

In response, Israeli Ambassador Hotovely commended the Home Secretary for her work in "combating terrorism, fighting all types of extremism and fighting antisemitism."

She also praised CFI for "its incredible work that really contributes to the prosperity of our wonderful democracies", describing CFI as "an organisation that stands behind actions."

Hotovely said that CFI is "always there on the front line to help us to fight BDS."

A Nakba denier, Hotovely has said it is an "Arab lie" and a "made up story". She also previously asserted that the entire occupied West Bank belongs to Israelis alone – "This land is ours. All of it is ours. We did not come here to apologise for that."

Pro-Israel lobbying group Aipac secretly pouring millions into defeating progressive Democrats

American Israel Public Affairs Committee has disguised its efforts to undermine pro-Palestinian candidates

The US’s most powerful pro-Israel lobby group is pouring millions of dollars into influencing Democratic congressional primary races to counter growing support for the Palestinian cause within the party, including elections today in Pennsylvania and North Carolina.

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s money is focused on blocking female candidates who, if elected, are likely to align with “the Squad” of progressive members of Congress who have been critical of Israel.

But it is funneled through a group, the United Democracy Project (UDP), that avoids mention of its creation by Aipac and seeks to decide elections by funding campaign messages about issues other than Israel.

The UDP has thrown $2.3m in to Tuesday’s Democratic primary race for an open congressional seat in Pennsylvania – one of a handful of contests targeted by the group where a leading candidate is overtly sympathetic to the Palestinians.

The money has mostly been spent in support of a former Republican congressional staffer turned Democrat, Steve Irwin, in an attempt to block a progressive state representative, Summer Lee, who is leading in opinion polls in the solidly Democratic district which includes Pittsburgh.

Lee has spoken in support of setting conditions for the US’s considerable aid to Israel, has accused Israel of “atrocities” in Gaza, and has drawn parallels between Israeli actions and the shooting of young black men in the US. She is endorsed by Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, members of the Squad who support the Palestinian cause.

Irwin has defended Israeli government policies and questioned whether Lee has “a strong conviction that Israel has a right to exist”.

The UDP has also spent $2m in support of the North Carolina state senator Valeria Foushee in today’s Democratic primary in an attempt to block Nida Allam, the political director of Senator Bernie Sanders’s 2016 presidential campaign and the first Muslim American woman to hold elected office in North Carolina. Allam has participated in pro-Palestinian rallies and has been endorsed by members of the squad. She has also spoken out against antisemitism.

Aipac launched the UDP in December as a super political action committee, or Super Pac, which is permitted to spend without restriction in support of candidates but cannot make direct donations to campaigns.

The lobby group’s move into financial support for political campaigns for the first time in its 70-year history was prompted by alarm in Washington and Israel at the erosion of longstanding bipartisan support for the Jewish state in the US.

Opinion polls show younger Democrats, including American Jews, are growing more critical of Israel and that there is rising support for the Boycott, Sanctions and Divest (BDS) movement.

Israel is also concerned by the breaking of a longstanding taboo on comparing Israel’s domination of the Palestinians to apartheid South Africa after the publication of a series of international and Israeli human rights groups reports accusing Israel of practising a form of apartheid.

The UDP has also spent $1.2m to protect the Texas Democratic congressman, Henry Cuellar, who faces a run-off later next week against Jessica Cisneros, a 28-year-old immigration lawyer who has spoken in support of the Palestinians and is endorsed by members of the Squad.

Cuellar is described as an ally by Aipac and co-founded the Congressional Caucus for the Advancement of Torah Values to combat “anti-Israel bigotry”.

After Amnesty International joined other human rights groups in accusing Israel of imposing apartheid, Cuellar accused the group of endangering Jews. “Israel is not an apartheid state. Full stop. These inaccuracies incite antisemitic behavior against the Jewish people,” he tweeted.

A smaller and more liberal pro-Israel group, J Street, has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in support of Cisneros, saying she is committed to a more just solution to the conflict with the Palestinians.

J Street’s spokesperson, Logan Bayroff, accused Aipac of being a Republican front organisation that strongly supported Donald Trump, and of attempting to intimidate candidates into avoiding criticism of Israel by implicitly threatening to fund campaigns against them.

“Aipac are taking all this money from Republican donors, and they’re obfuscating the fact that they’re a very Republican-aligned organisation while trying to persuade Democratic voters who they should support,” he said.

“The United Democracy Project sounds innocuous and the advertising that they’re running in these districts is about healthcare and reproductive rights and things that have nothing to do with Israel. Which makes sense because those are the things that decide elections, not Israel. But the reason that they’re aligning with certain candidates is because they are more aligned with their more hawkish positions on Israel, and because they fear that other candidates will be more progressive and aligned with the Palestinians.”

A UDP spokesman, Patrick Dorton, said the group was doing no more than running legitimate political advertising. “All we are doing is talking about candidate’s public record and that is something voters deserve to know,” he said.

Dorton said the group will be funding more campaigns.

“Our goal is to build the broadest bipartisan coalition in Congress that supports the US-Israel relationship. We are proud to support pro-Israel progressive candidates including women of colour,” he said. “We are looking at 10 to 15 other races where there is a pro-Israel candidate and a candidate that, if elected, would undermine the US-Israel relationship.”

Earlier this year, Aipac was accused by other leading supporters of Israel of being “morally bankrupt” and of putting Israel’s interests ahead of American democracy after it launched a separate political action committee that endorsed 37 Republicans candidates who voted against certifying Biden’s victory after the 6 January 2021 storming of the Capitol.

Aipac said that it supports politicians from both parties who will “advance the US-Israel relationship.

“It requires bipartisan support in Congress to adopt legislation that would advance that relationship. Consequently, we support members from both parties in their election races. In addition to the Republicans we have supported, we have made contributions to over 120 House Democrats, including half of the Congressional Black Caucus, half of the House Progressive Caucus, and the top Democratic leaders in the House,” Aipac said in a statement.

Bernie Sanders Prepares for ‘War’ With AIPAC and Its Super PAC

The pro-Israel group, which is involved with direct political spending this year for the first time, has opposed progressive candidates backed by Mr. Sanders.

By Shane Goldmacher - May 20, 2022

Senator Bernie Sanders, the progressive former presidential candidate who rose to prominence in part by denouncing the influence of wealthy interests in politics, has a new target in his sights: the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and its affiliated super PAC, which is spending heavily in Democratic primaries for the first time this year.

After Mr. Sanders traveled last week to Pittsburgh to campaign for Summer Lee, a liberal state legislator whose House campaign was opposed by millions of dollars in such spending, he is now headed to Texas. There, he is aiming to lift up another progressive congressional candidate, Jessica Cisneros, whose left-wing challenge of a moderate incumbent has been met with significant spending from the pro-Israel super PAC.

“This is a war,” Mr. Sanders said in an interview, “for the future of the Democratic Party.”

AIPAC has long been a bipartisan organization, and its entry this year into direct political spending has included giving to both Democrats and Republicans. That has earned the ire of Mr. Sanders and other progressives because the group’s super PAC also ran ads attacking Ms. Lee as an insufficiently loyal Democrat.

“Why would an organization go around criticizing someone like Summer Lee for not being a strong enough Democrat when they themselves have endorsed extreme right-wing Republicans?” Mr. Sanders said. “In my view, their goal is to create a two-party system, Democrats and Republicans, in which both parties are responsive to the needs of corporate America and the billionaire class.”