AIPAC Dual Loyalty Or One
And to what?
The following are excerpts from an article from Jewish Insider, an informative and valuable free daily publication albeit one that is invariably reflective of the views of AIPAC and the Israeli government. The article calls out Congressman Marc Pocan (D WI) for saying the Israel lobby has dual loyalties and consistently puts the interests of Israel first whenever they conflict with American interests.
Hmmm. All I know is that in all the years since its creation, there has never been a single instance in which the US and Israel diverged and AIPAC sided with the United States. Not one.
Is that dual loyalty? I thought that was its mission statement.
Of course, most of AIPAC’s positions are not pro-Israel at all (like supporting the Gaza war and maintaining the occupation forever). It’s hardly pro-Israel to support policies that lead to the continuing captivity of the hostages, more dead Israeli soldiers, fuels ugly antisemitism worldwide, and now raises the question of whether Israel will survive at all. (For the point of the argument I’m making here, I won’t refer to the mass slaughter of innocent Palestinians which AIPAC supports and wants to see continue).
And, now that they are openly in the business of rewarding “friends” and defeating enemies, their sole criterion is whether the candidate adheres to the AIPAC/Israel line 100% of the time. That is how they can (and do) support Members of Congress who are insurrectionists and enemies of the Constitution if they are also Netanyahu supporters. And it’s how they silence good people like Hakim Jeffries who knows that if he utters a word of criticism of Israel, all Democratic candidates for the House will be punished.
Dual loyalty? You decide. They may have only one or even two or three loyalties if you include their devotion to the interests of big money and corporations over regular people. I’m not labeling! But I will quote from the article’s indictments of Pocan and say that I agree with everything Pocan says. I know from experience that he is simply telling the truth.
PS. For the record, AIPAC speaks only for its (self-proclaimed) 100,000 members (and primarily its corporate millionaire board), not the 6,000,000 American Jews who are overwhelmingly progressive, over 75% Democrats and, according to every available poll do not include Israel as among their top ten issues when they vote. And 90% of us hate antisemite racist Trump and everything he stands for.
Equal rights, the right to choose, climate change, and the other top items on the progressive agenda are the issues Jews vote on, not Israel which has never been a partisan issue despite AIPAC’s best efforts to make it one. Conflating AIPAC with American Jews is not antisemitic but it is a libel. The most progressive voting bloc in the US should not be tarred as the same as the funder of racists, reactionaries and insurrectionists. This is, to use the favorite phrase of the “pro-Israel” lobby, a “blood libel,” whatever the hell that is.
In social media war against AIPAC, Rep. Mark Pocan advances antisemitic tropes
Pocan’s jabs have frequently echoed or embraced a slew of antisemitic canards, including dual loyalty, control of government and even blood libel, experts say
By
For months since Oct. 7, Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) has taken to social media, on a regular basis, to level barbs at the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC, offering wide-ranging attacks on the organization’s political spending and support for Israel’s operations against Hamas in Gaza….
Pocan’s jabs at AIPAC — often coming in the form of X (formerly Twitter) exchanges with AIPAC, which frequently tags Pocan in its own posts — have frequently echoed or outright embraced a slew of antisemitic tropes, including dual loyalty, control of government and even blood libel, experts say.
In some of the most striking attacks, Pocan — who maintains a combative social media presence on a range of subjects — has accused supporters of AIPAC of being indifferent to, or even reveling in, the deaths of civilians in Gaza, particularly children.
Just last week, responding to a video of an Israeli bombing in Rafah, which included graphic imagery of the attack’s aftermath, Pocan declared, “This is porn for @AIPAC. Doubt they’ll show any regret.”
Accusations that AIPAC seeks and is responsible for the murder of innocents, or is unconcerned by it, are a recurring theme of Pocan’s attacks. Pocan generally cites casualty data provided by the Hamas-controlled Gaza Ministry of Health, the reliability of which has been called into question.
AIPAC’s “call for ending Hamas is code for its ok to kill Palestinian kids. 4500 so far. Pathetic,” Pocan said in November.
“31,000 dead, thousands being kids, not enough for you? Sorta sick,” Pocan posted on March 20.
“I’m starting to think that @AIPAC isn’t just a puppet of Netanyahu, but a partner,” Pocan said on Feb. 21. “They cover for his murdering of innocents in the course of supposedly going after Hamas & those actions aren’t getting hostages released. They seem fine with that & don’t mind the killing of kids.”
“They don’t care that a majority of the 30,000 dead in Gaza are women and children,” Pocan said on March 7.
“Stopping ‘collective punishment’ bombing means thousands of kids stay alive,” Pocan said, responding to a tweet by AIPAC about footage from the Oct. 7 attack. “How terribly unreligious of a position by @AIPAC.”….
As recently as Monday, Pocan said, “Hey @AIPAC, seems your ‘leader’ doesn’t like the idea of stopping the killing of Palestinians. Comment?” referring to a statement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s on a cease-fire proposal outlined by President Joe Biden and approved by the Israeli government….
The Wisconsin congressman, who represents the state’s progressive center of Madison, has often focused his attacks on AIPAC’s political fundraising and spending, regularly describing AIPAC donations and outside spending as “toxic” to American democracy and the candidates who receive them, and repeatedly describing the group as a “Trojan horse” interfering in Democratic politics.
He has argued on numerous occasions that AIPAC is distinct from and more sinister than other issue PACs that raise money from and spend money in races on both sides of the aisle. [MJ here. It is. Other PACs don’t raise money to support the interests of a foreign country].
Among those attacks: “Your PAC corrupts democracy,” “@AIPAC wants you to think they are just another PAC like nurses or workers. Nothing could be further from the truth,” “They skirt campaign finance law in the sleaziest way,” and “You. Are. Not. A. Regular. PAC. You. Are. A. Dark. Money. Front. Group. For. Conservatives.”
Pocan has called candidates who take AIPAC money “bought and paid for” and “monkey[s]” who are “purchased by conservative groups like you” and would otherwise be “free” to express opinions that differ from AIPAC’s…
AIPAC spokesperson Marshall Wittmann told JI that Pocan “traffics in the most despicable tropes about America’s ally that reflect his extremist views about Israel and its fight against Iranian terrorist proxies. His fringe views are far outside the mainstream of American support for the Jewish state.”