Inspired by BooMan’s fp story He Who Is Without Sin…. An influx of readers from Eschaton.
No one complained, what is the row? 100% Compliance to a pro-Israel point of view is guaranteed, just look at the voting record. The Jewish people are so far superior than the Palestinians, one can argue all the water should be allocated to the productive settlers. After setting the agenda for western powers, who is discussing the peace plan today? [In article links added are mine – Oui]
(Veterans Today) – The American Israel Educational Foundation, a group related to AIPAC, the prominent pro-Israel advocacy group, sponsored the trip, which ran from Aug. 13 to Aug. 21, 2011. The trip cost AIEF upwards of $10,000 per person, according to records filed with the House Ethics Committee. More than 60 people took part in this AIEF trip.
[On its single-page website there is no information whatsover about leadership, board or the executive. No contact information available, so I imagine you just call AIPAC.]
These trips to the Holy Land are a rite of passage for members of Congress, as they visit the most sacred sites in the Jewish and Christian faiths – while their Israeli government hosts drive home the huge importance of U.S. support of Israel. That’s partially why, when the trip devolved into drinking and merrymaking, Cantor was livid.
In a Congress that has already sunk to new lows in public-opinion polls, and seen a bipartisan wave of scandals, this latest controversy could only further damage that image.
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Eric Cantor, left, with Benjamin Netanyahu during the same trip. (photo credit: Moshe Milner)On the Israel trip that included the late night swim, the group of lawmakers on Aug. 18 departed the posh David Citadel Hotel in Jerusalem for Tiberias, a historic seaside town located on the banks of the Sea of Galilee. On the night in question, the GOP group checked into Scots Hotel, where rooms could run up to $1,000 each night. At 8:45 p.m., they headed to Decks, a popular restaurant located on the sea, according to an itinerary filed with the House Ethics Committee.
Patrick Dorton, a spokesman for AIEF [read AIPAC], defended the group’s trip to Israel, saying it was substantive and rigorous.
“As part of the trip, and after of day of meetings including with the Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, and briefings on Hezbollah and the border with Lebanon, trip participants traveled to the shore of the Sea of Galilee,” Dorton said in an emailed statement.
“This location made it possible to visit a series of Christian holy sites the next day. After dinner that evening, some in the group went swimming in the biblically significant sea.”
The AIEF trips to Israel are a fixture of Washington. Both staff and lawmakers travel with the group to the Holy Land, and schedules are filled with boldfaced names.
On this trip, lawmakers met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his office and huddled with his top aide Ron Dermer over dinner at 28 King David, a posh banquet facility in Jerusalem. They ate breakfast separately with the Washington-based Israeli ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, and Jerusalem’s Mayor Nir Barkat. Israeli President Shimon Peres had the group gathered at his residence, and later that day, they met with Tzipi Livni, the opposition leader. Dan Shapiro, the American ambassador to Israel, had the large group to his home in Herzliya for dinner.
On the day of the swimming incident, they met with Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian Authority prime minister, according to the itinerary filed with the House.
AIEF managing director Richard Friedman (salary $395,000)
This year, campus activists also had the opportunity to hear from three of AIPAC’s top leaders: President Lee “Rosy” Rosenberg, Executive Director Howard Kohr, and Managing Director Richard Fishman. On stage simultaneously, Rosenberg and Fishman discussed many of the key challenges facing the pro-Israel movement and what can be done to ensure the strength of the U.S.-Israel alliance over the next decade and beyond.
PM seeking int’l support for military in Jordan Valley
(Haaretz) March 9, 2011 – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking the support of major international leaders for Israel’s military presence in the Jordan Valley, a senior official in the Prime Minister’s Office said yesterday.
The campaign comes amid a renewed push for a peace deal with the Palestinians, who oppose letting Israel keep its military along the border with Jordan after a peace deal.
“It’s important that we reach an agreement with the most influential countries,” the PMO official said. “It’s possible.”
Netanyahu began raising the issue last week in meetings with European foreign ministers and U.S. envoys Dennis Ross and Frederick Hoff, and has discussed it with Chilean President Sebastian Pinera and Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd this week.
“The IDF must be deployed along the Jordan Valley,” Netanyahu said yesterday during a tour of the area. He said the Israel Defense Forces must maintain its presence along the length of the Jordan Valley in any future peace arrangement reached with the Palestinians, as a safeguard against rocket attacks.
The Jordan River is Israel’s security border, Netanyahu told soldiers there.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak is floating the idea of seeking an additional $20 billion in security assistance from the United States.
Netanyahu to Abbas: We will track down those who petrol-bombed Palestinian car
- My diary of Dec. 29, 2012 – Deal Made: Not Israel but US Will Strike Iran in 2012
- Will Israel Strike Iran – 80 Days to go
