AIPAC Confronting Debbie Wasserman-Schultz--Finally
by Joel B. Pollak 24 Jan 2014
John Hudson of Foreign Policy
pours scorn (Update: see below) on the American
Israel Public Affair Committee (AIPAC) for raising questions about Rep.
Debbie Wasserman Schultz's opposition to new sanctions on Iran (to take effect
if and when the interim nuclear deal fails). How is it possible, Hudson wonders, that a
Jewish Democrat who prides herself on her pro-Israel record is now being
targeted by AIPAC? The implication, reinforced by choice quotes from former
AIPAC lobbyist is that AIPAC is becoming a more partisan, i.e. Republican,
outfit.
Rubbish. If anything, AIPAC has
bent over backwards to avoid antagonizing the Obama administration and the
Democratic Party. The organization sat on its hands during the Hagel
nomination, for example, and recently faced accusations that it had not been active
enough on the issue of new Iran
sanctions, which Obama has said he will veto. The risk to its traditional
partisanship has been entirely in the opposite direction--i.e. it has been
unusually charitable to Democrats in their increasingly creative definitions of
what it means to be "pro-Israel."
There is a simple explanation for
AIPAC's behavior--and probably the one AIPAC would give itself, were it
inclined to comment on such stories: namely, that the organization does not
focus on parties or personalities, but on policies. AIPAC's most important
policy for the past fifteen years has been preventing a nuclear-armed Iran. Wasserman
Schultz is in the crosshairs precisely because she is one of the few standing
in the way of a strong bipartisan consensus on that policy. Those arguing
otherwise likely prefer its recent Democratic drift.
Update: Hudson responds on Twitter, clarifying that
he is not taking sides in this particular dispute:
Debbie Wasserman Schultz
Debbie Wasserman
Schultz is the chair for the Democratic
National Committee.
Note: Steven Grossman was
the national chairman for the Democratic
National Committee, and the national chairman for AIPAC.
Kenneth D.
Wollack is a director at the Democratic
National Committee, and was a legislative director for AIPAC.
Wendy Senor
Singer is the head of Jerusalem
office for AIPAC, her brother is Daniel S. Senor, and married to Saul Singer.
Daniel S. Senor
is Wendy Senor Singer’s brother,
married to Campbell Brown, the chief
spokesman for the Coalition Provisional
Authority in Iraq, and was a guest on Morning
Joe.
Morning
Joe is an MSNBC program.
Harold E. Ford Jr. is a political
commentator at MSNBC, an overseer at
the International Rescue Committee, and
a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the International Rescue Committee, the Aspen Institute (think tank), and the Brookings Institution (think tank).
George
Soros was the chairman for the Foundation
to Promote Open Society.
Campbell Brown is
married to Daniel S. Senor, was a guest
on Morning Joe, and an anchor for CNN.
Wolf
Blitzer is an anchor for CNN,
and was a correspondent for the Jerusalem
Post.
Saul
Singer is the editorial page editor for the Jerusalem Post, and married to Wendy
Senor Singer.
AIPAC
is a U.S.-based lobby group for Israel.
Lee
Rosenberg is the chairman for AIPAC,
and a friend of J.B. Pritzker.
J.B.
Pritzker is a friend of Lee
Rosenberg, and a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago.
Commercial Club of Chicago,
Members Directory A-Z (Past Research)
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
James S.
Crown is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and a trustee
at the Aspen Institute (think tank).
Lester Crown
is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and was a lifetime
trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank).
Walter
Isaacson is the president & CEO for the Aspen Institute (think tank),
a board member for Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty, and was the chairman & CEO for CNN.
Thomas
A. Dine was the president for Radio
Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and an executive director for AIPAC.
David
H. Koch is a trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank), the
chairman for the Americans for
Prosperity Foundation, and was a donor for Americans for Prosperity.
Americans
for Prosperity Foundation is an affiliated group for Americans for Prosperity.
Sheldon G. Adelson
pledged support in 2012 for Americans
for Prosperity, and a contributor for AIPAC.
American
Israel Education Foundation is a charitable arm for AIPAC.
Saban
Family Foundation was a funder for the American
Israel Education Foundation, the Friends
of the Israel Defense Forces, and the Brookings
Institution (think tank).
Cheryl
Saban is the president of the Saban
Family Foundation, married to Haim
Saban, and was a major contributor for the 2011 Rahm Emanuel mayoral campaign.
Rahm
I. Emanuel was the candidate for the 2011
Rahm Emanuel mayoral campaign, the White House chief of staff for the Barack Obama administration, is the Chicago (IL) mayor, and a member of the
Commercial Club of Chicago.
Cyrus F.
Freidheim Jr. is a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Saban
Center for Middle East Policy is a policy center for the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Haim
Saban is a benefactor for the Saban
Center for Middle East Policy, the treasurer for the Saban Family Foundation, married to Cheryl Saban, and a friend of Shimon
Peres.
Shimon
Peres is a friend of Haim Saban,
and the president of Israel.
Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer (Past
Research)
Thursday, January 2, 2014
Martin S. Indyk
was the U.S. ambassador for Israel,
the assistant secretary for the U.S.
Department of State, the VP & director of the Foreign Policy Program founding
director for the Brookings Institution
(think tank), is the Middle East peace envoy for the U.S. Department of State, a director at the New Israel Fund, and founding director at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy.
Teresa Heinz
Kerry is an honorary trustee at the Brookings
Institution (think tank), and married to John F. Kerry.
John
F. Kerry is married to Teresa Heinz
Kerry, and the secretary at the U.S.
Department of State for the Barack
Obama administration.
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