I came home from the AIPAC policy conference exhausted. When I tried to put my finger on when was the last time I felt so totally drained, I realized

Transcription

1 1 I came home from the AIPAC policy conference exhausted. When I tried to put my finger on when was the last time I felt so totally drained, I realized that it was the five-day portion of the inland tour of Alaska. And before that, it was the last time I led a Congregational trip to Israel. My hope is that many of you will join me for a somewhat less exhausting trip to Israel this coming June June And please come to the informational meeting on Wednesday evening, March 25 at 7:00pm. Before I get to Bibi s speech, permit to report to you on what I heard, saw and did It started off on Sunday morning with a general session and a joint interview with Senators Ben Cardin and Lindsey Graham. On the topic of Israel there is no daylight between Sen. Cardin a democrat, whose daughter, Rabbi Nina, is an old friend of mine, and Republican Lindsey Graham. I should have kept the better record of what they said and all the other presentations in the general session next year I will, but we were treated to a combination of brief speeches, profiles on non-jewish AIPAC supporters, and Israeli innovations. The first breakout session the first of real substance--that I attended was called Israel in the Courtroom and it featured the well-known Canadian lawyer Irwin Cotler and lesser-known Marlene Mazel. They spoke about how Israel will handle UN inquiries both from the inhumane Human Rights Council and the latest investigation into last

2 2 summer s Gaza war. They also spoke about the possibility of Israel being brought up on charges before the International Criminal Court. I would describe this session as sobering. Israel starts at a deficit: the Human Rights Council has only one standing agenda item every time it meets, and that is Israel. The latest Gaza inquiry has a mandate to investigate only Israeli violations and, in effect, begins with the assumption of Hamas s total innocence and lack of culpability. And contrary to much of what I ve been reading about the International Criminal Court, it appears that there, too, the deck may be stacked against Israel. Marlene Mazel, who came from Israel and has responsibility for coordinating Israel s response to the legal challenges before the ICC, has a remarkable team of dedicated lawyers and we can only hope for the best. In the afternoon I attended a screening of an inspiring movie produced by Steven Spielberg s sister Nancy. I ve sent you a few clips from this movie just before last Yom HaAtzma ut. It s called Above and Beyond, and it is the story of the early days of Israel s Air Force how with few planes and next to no training young, but experienced World War II veterans mostly Jews, but not all held Egyptian, Jordanian, and Iraqi ground troops and tanks at bay during the War of Independence by flying German Messerschmitt aircraft that they obtained from

3 Czechoslovakia. I hope to purchase Above and Beyond for our Yom HaAtzma ut celebration. 3 At Sunday afternoon s general session we heard from US UN ambassador Samantha Power. She is a force for good in the world, particularly when it comes to human rights violations, and it is good to have such a principled representative of the United States and advocate for Israel as our ambassador. My only concern is that if the domestic situation in Israel deteriorates further, Samantha Power will have no choice but to condemn Israel and perhaps rightly so. At Monday morning s general session we heard from former Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird Canada. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Canada has been an amazing pro- Israel advocate on the world scene We also heard from former Spanish PM Jose Maria Aznar and the current Czech president, Milos Zeman. When asked why the Czech Republic was the only European country to vote against Palestinian statehood in the UN last fall, Pres. Zeman explained. We are the same: that 75 years earlier Czechoslovakia had been in the same position as Israel: surrounded by hostile, if not brutal dictatorships on all sides, and with few, if any allies who were willing to do more than pay lip service to the plight of his country when Chamberlain gave Czechoslovakia to Hitler.

4 4 Bibi also spoke at the session, but he left me with only one powerful phrase: for the US the Iranian nuclear threat is a matter of security; for Israel, it is a matter of survival. The most significant thing he said was that Israel is the only country in the Middle East where the Christian community is experiencing growth and thriving. On Monday afternoon I attended a forum on the Progressive Case for Israel a panel of three liberals: my colleague Rabbi Jack Moline, former Congressman Barney Frank and Dr. Einat Wilf an Israeli. For them the greatest difficulty is battling the anti-semitism that is masquerading as anti-israel policies in the liberal camp and how that is motivating BDS and other anti-israel campaigns. I ran out of that meeting early to hear Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat, speak to Conservative rabbis. I know Ambassador Eizenstat; from personal experience is very pro-israel. It was an interesting contrast: Eizenstat has much less sympathy for the West Bank settlements and many other Israeli policies than do Moline, Frank and Wilf! And then I went to the most scary and depressing session Iranian Nuclear Talks and US Policy. This panel was composed of four experts: Amb. Bradley Gordon who formerly worked for the CIA, is an expert on nuclear nonproliferation and served as Assistant Director of the US Arms Control and

5 Disarmament Agency for Nonproliferation Policy, former Congressman Howard Berman who helped craft the Iran sanctions legislation that rely so heavily on the pivotal role that US banks play in almost all international transfers of money, Michael Singh managing director of the Washington Institute for near East policy, and Dr. David Makovsky. There was nothing positive to take from the session; two of them think that when Iran goes nuclear, Israel will act alone, even if she will not be able to succeed. 5 And then came the evening session with Susan Rice, our National Security Advisor, who I am convinced has nothing but good feelings and concern for the State of Israel. She spoke of the warm relationship that she has with her Israeli counterpart and US support for Israel on the world stage. Her 17 year old insisted that he wanted to come to AIPAC and she brought him and her husband along. She called the US Israel level of cooperation and assistance especially in military matters unprecedented and added and that s the way it s gonna stay! But then she delivered a gentle, but very clear message about what our expectations from the negotiations in Switzerland should be, and they do not include a nonnuclear Iran. She did however reiterate our country s commitment to making sure that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon. (not sure how to square those 2 statements).

6 6 Within her speech she made reference to Secretary of State John Kerry going into the belly of the beast that very day: he attended the UN Human Rights Council meeting in Switzerland and made it clear that permanent agenda Item #7 Israel s human rights violations and the lopsided condemnations of Israel by this group have to come to an end. He called it unbalanced and an obsession and said it must stop. And I sat there thinking that Susan Rice had also been sent into the belly of the beast, albeit a somewhat more receptive and friendly one, to deliver a message to AIPAC about what our realistic expectations ought to be. Her message was received largely in silence. Then came an emotional moment with four of the six parents of the Israeli teens who were murdered last summer, and the evening was capped off by our amazing senator, Robert Menendez. I sent you a video of his speech in yesterday s . Tuesday morning we met a paralyzed US Marine veteran who can walk with the help of an Israeli invention called Re-Walk, and a southern minister, whose dying father-in-law spoke to him of what he witnessed as a World War II soldier, liberating concentration camps. He pointed at son-in-law and said, You have a big mouth; make sure it never happens again. I then went to a rather packed lobbying session with Sen. Cory Booker who continues to say all the right

7 things, but doesn t do much, at least so far. That s why it was so important that 300 to 400 people were in attendance at that session to send him the message we are watching and waiting for him to deliver. 7 We watched Bibi s speech to Congress speech to Congress on large screens set up in the lobbying rooms, and then met with two of Sen. Menendez s staffers; they were wonderful. The Senator was unavailable because he escorted Prime Minister Netanyahu both to and from the House Chamber. In the afternoon I went to Capitol Hill to lobby my Congressman, Bill Pascrell. He s quite a character and doesn t like to be told what to do. Despite his initial intention to boycott Bibi s speech, he did show up but with the warning that if Bibi were to say anything disrespectful about the President or reveal any secrets he would walk out. What changed his mind and why did he attend the speech? And what changed the mind of Charlie Rangel and some other members of the Black Caucus who intended to boycott? The answer is AIPAC. AIPAC. On Monday night AIPAC members, who have longestablished relationships with many members of Congress, hosted them for receptions and asked them to please reconsider. Many of them did. And that s part of what AIPAC does. I will remind you

8 again and as often as I need to that AIPAC is only partisan when it comes to the state of Israel. It supports and advocates for the policies of the state of Israel whatever those policies happen to be, and whoever the Prime Minister of Israel happens to be. Here in the United States, AIPAC is bipartisan and will always remain so. 8 I reserved five, discounted registrations to next year s AIPAC policy conference that I hope you will purchase first come, first served. Last week, to the best of my knowledge, Iris Coleman was the only member of the shul who went to AIPAC. Next year, on March 20-22, I m hoping that at least five more of you will join us. Tons of Bergen county residents went, especially from Teaneck, and Rabbi Kirshner told me that he led a delegation of 60 from Temple Emanuel in Closter. I m content to start small like going from 2 to 7. And don t worry: there will be plenty of room to accommodate you: in addition to the DC Convention Center, AIPAC has reserved the Verizon sports arena, and they anticipate 25% increase in attendance, going from 16,000 to 20,000 attendees. It s an amazing and exhilarating conference and it is very, very well run and efficient. You d be amazed what Jews can do! PAUSE

9 9 Okay, so now to Bibi s speech before the Congress. Here s my take on it, briefly--- personal views of the PM aside. Had he come, as Britain s David Cameron came last month, to lobby Congress in support of the Obama administration s Iran negotiations, I doubt that the fact that there is an election coming up in Israel would have raised objections from the White House. The President and Bibi have diametrically opposite worldviews they come from very different places and we have to respect both: the President hopes that one day everyone will live live in respect and harmony, and Netanyahu thinks that any day when Israel and the Jews are still here, is a miracle. As to the speech itself, I wasn t worried that he would reveal any secrets-- he is not stupid. But I was concerned that he would come off as either arrogant or obnoxious----i often find him to be both. And he was neither on Tuesday. I also think that there are two positive things that may emerge from Bibi s speech before Congress. First of all, speaking before Congress captured everyone s attention in a way that a speech before 16,000 people attending the AIPAC conference could never have done. We can also thank the White House for their help in objecting and thus hyping the speech. If people will stop focusing on the controversy over the timing and protocol, which we all love to do and which led me to consider boycotting his AIPAC talk because of the affront to

10 10 the OFFICE of the President, and instead focus on the message, Bibi will have prompted an important debate in the United States and in the world about what we can and should expect from Iran and these negotiations, and whether and how much to hold their feet to the fire. Up until now the substance of the Iran negotiations has not really captured sufficient attention among the general public it has not come to the fore. I think Bibi s speech changed that and that is a good thing. Secondly, I think that the very positive reception that Bibi s speech received in the U.S. Congress could even play into the hands of Secretary of State Kerry. He can point out to the Iranians the growing support for the Menendez-Corker Bill in the Senate, proposing increased sanctions should the deal fall through or prove to be a bad deal, and he can point to the letter of support currently circulating in the House of Representatives. John Kerry can point to the obviously positive reception that Bibi s words garnered on Tuesday morning. He can then tell his Iranian counterparts that unless they are more forthcoming, this deal just won t fly with the Senate and House--- that economic sanctions will remain in place, and with this pending legislation will only tighten the screws. So I think that Bibi s speech may have helped strengthen Kerry s position in the negotiations. Let us all pray that I am right.