Free Republic

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) has spent more than $24 million to defeat progressive candidates in this year's Democratic primaries. The United Democracy Project (UDP), an AIPAC-affiliated super PAC, has already spent $24.2 million on Democratic primaries this cycle, including millions that it raised from top Republican megadonors like Paul Singer and Bernard Marcus. The money has helped AIPAC-backed candidates wipe out progressives in primaries in Michigan, Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, California and Ohio. UDP and other pro-Israel groups tied to AIPAC – Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI), Urban Empowerment Action PAC and Pro-Israel America PAC —...

The White House announced on Thursday that Karine Jean-Pierre, a veteran anti-Israel activist who is married to CNN correspondent Suzanne Malveaux, will replace outgoing press secretary Jen Psaki, raising potential ethical quandaries. The announcement drew celebratory headlines in the mainstream press: Jean-Pierre is the first black woman and openly gay person to serve in the role. But her relationship with the CNN reporter raises ethical questions about her new role. The White House did not respond to a request for comment about whether Jean-Pierre would recuse herself in dealing with CNN. Malveaux's colleagues include Valerie Jarrett's daughter, CNN justice correspondent...

Progressive Democrat Nina Turner teased a 2024 presidential bid during a concession speech on Tuesday after she was defeated in her bid to challenge Democratic Representative Shontel Brown. Brown defeated Turner with 66.3 percent of the vote to 33.7 percent in Ohio's 11th congressional district. Turner had read most of her concession speech from her phone but toward the end of her remarks, she said she would speak "extemporaneously" and stopped reading. "Sister Turner ain't going nowhere," Turner said and the crowed applauded and cheered. Turner made reference to the late former Representative Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman ever...

An analysis of FARA filings shows they contacted members of Congress and others over 10,000 times. ------------- AS TENSIONS WITH Russia reach a boiling point, lobbyists from Ukraine are working feverishly to shape the U.S. response. Firms working for Ukrainian interests have inundated congressional offices, think tanks, and journalists with more than 10,000 messages and meetings in 2021, according to an analysis of Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA, filings for a forthcoming report from the Quincy Institute. To put this extraordinary campaign into perspective, the Saudi lobby — known for being one of the largest foreign lobbies in D.C....

The director of Amnesty International USA on Wednesday said Israel "shouldn't exist as a Jewish state" in the wake of his organization's release of a controversial report on Israel that drew backlash from U.S. officials. American Jews want a "safe Jewish space," Executive Director Paul O'Brien said, rather than an explicitly Jewish state. O'Brien, who is not Jewish, called on the Jewish community to "collectively change the conversation" and bring about a secular state by adhering to "core Jewish values, which are to be principled and fair and just." "Amnesty takes no political views on any question, including the right...

AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobby in the United States, welcomed US President Joe Biden’s meeting with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. “Today’s meeting between President Biden and Prime Minister Bennett reflects the close and enduring relationship between the United States and Israel,” it said. “Israel is a valued ally of the United States that can be counted on to advance our shared interests and values.” “We applaud the President’s strong commitment to Israel’s security. We urge Congress to act promptly to approve his request to replenish Iron Dome and bolster Israel's capabilities,” added AIPAC. “America must ensure Israel has the resources it...

Facebook refused to remove an attack ad falsely linking Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar to Hamas, even after her aides said similar claims had resulted in death threats to the lawmaker in the past. The ad was produced by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the pro-Israel lobbying group, and showed the face of the Minnesota lawmaker, who is Muslim, superimposed onto rockets fired by Gaza militants toward Israel. "When Israel targets Hamas, Rep. Omar calls it an act of terrorism," the caption said. The ad is still live on Facebook. The ad seemed to be based on a tweet by...

US President Joe Biden removed sanctions on Friday that former President Donald Trump placed on two top officials of the International Criminal Court (ICC) reports France 24. The sanctions were among the previous administration’s more aggressive moves targeting international institutions and officials. Pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC blasted the move warning that it could have damaging affects on Israel who is the target of an investigation by the Hague for war crimes. In a tweet on Friday, AIPAC wrote: “We are disappointed the administration is revoking sanctions on the International Criminal Court officials who are pursuing a baseless and discriminatory attack...

Former MoveOn.Org head Karine Jean-Pierre praised lawmakers for boycotting pro-Israel confab Incoming president Joe Biden is reportedly close to selecting a vocal Israel critic to serve as his White House press secretary. Karine Jean-Pierre, a longtime campaign adviser and incoming vice president Kamala Harris's chief of staff, is currently the "top candidate" for the job, according to NBC News. Jean-Pierre was senior adviser and national spokeswoman for MoveOn.org, a far-left anti-Israel group that defends boycotts of the Jewish state, from April 2016 until August 2020, when she was hired as chief of staff for Harris. Jean-Pierre has been a vocal...

WASHINGTON – A man from Ohio who attended the AIPAC policy conference in Washington last week has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said in a statement released Monday, bringing to total of cases linked to the event to four. The three previous cases at the pro-Israel lobby's conference were diagnosed in New York and Los Angeles.

Vice President Mike Pence, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and hundreds of members of Congress attended a conference last month along with at least two people who have tested positive for a novel strain of coronavirus that has killed more than 3,000 people across the globe. “We have confirmed that at least two Policy Conference attendees from New York have tested positive for the Coronavirus,” the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, known as AIPAC, said in a statement on Twitter. This year’s AIPAC conference featured a who’s who of high-profile politicians, both from the U.S. and Israel. In addition to...

Ouch. AIPAC confirms that two people who attended its Conference (Sunday and Monday) have tested Positive for #CoronaVirus. Annual conference was in DC. VP Pence, Pompeo and Bloomberg spoke in person at the event:

WASHINGTON — The Office of Attending Physician notified some congressional staff members on Wednesday in an email of a possible coronavirus exposure that may have occurred among attendees at the recent American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference in Washington, D.C.

With the conclusion of another amazing AIPAC Policy Conference, and as an evangelical Christian advocating for a stronger American-Israeli relationship, the question has occasionally been asked “What is the real reason Christians support Israel? Aren’t you just secretly trying to Trojan Horse and convert the Jews?” Often following that comes the question “Aren’t Christians just trying to speed up the end times by supporting Israel?” Both statements are not based in reality but rather on rumors. Frankly speaking, there is no secret Christian agenda. The Bible clearly states the agenda of every Christian and it is a public agenda, never...

Senator Bernie Sanders’ accusation of bigotry, aimed at the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, is ironic given that AIPAC is a bi-partisan group that supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, something that Bernie says he also supports.  Bernie also wants “an independent, democratic, economically viable” Palestinian state, the same objectives outlined in detail in President Donald Trump’s recent peace plan -- yet Bernie has publicly rejected that, too.  Something smells about Bernie’s ongoing declaration that he is both “pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian.” He has digressed to the same modus operandi favored by the Palestinians -- hurling racist accusations, refusing...

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee late Sunday called out Sen. Bernie Sanders over his decision to skip its conference next month in Washington and blaming his decision on his concern that the group provides a platform for leaders to "express bigotry" and oppose basic Palestinian rights. Sanders, who is on the heels of an emphatic win in the Nevada Caucuses, took to Twitter on Sunday to voice his concern about the influential lobby. The Vermont senator vowed that if elected president he would work with both Israelis and Palestinians to bring peace and stability to the region. AIPAC wasted...

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) blasted the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) on Sunday in a statement confirming that he would not attend the pro-Israel organization's annual conference. Sanders tweeted that he would not attend the conference due to AIPAC's connection to "leaders who express bigotry and oppose basic Palestinian rights," an apparent reference to the current administration of Israel headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, whom Sanders has repeatedly criticized in the past. "The Israeli people have the right to live in peace and security. So do the Palestinian people. I remain concerned about the platform AIPAC provides for leaders who...

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) fired back at Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Sunday night after he said he would not attend the organization's annual conference and accused it of providing a platform to leaders who “express bigotry and oppose Palestinian rights." In a statement AIPAC posted to Twitter, the pro-Israel group said Sanders “has never attended our conference and that is evident from his outrageous comment.” “In fact, many of his own Senate and House Democratic colleagues and leaders speak from our platform to the over 18,000 Americans from widely diverse backgrounds – Democrats, Republicans, Jews, Christians,...

The votes being counted in Ireland today. Yesterday's projection as polls closed put the left-wing Sinn Fein Party in the top three of Irish political parties with its best showing yet in a southern Irish election. Early declared results show Sinn Fein a clear winner.... In Switzerland a law against "homophobia" projected to have won in a referendum..... More unusual activity related to Iowa's Democrat caucus last Monday. The Iowa Democratic Party today awarded the popular vote winner Bernie Sanders only 12 delegates to the national convention while the candidate who ran in second place, Pete Buttigieg, was given 14...

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Bernie Sanders launched a campaign video highlighting his Jewish identity and casting President Donald Trump as part of the white nationalist threat. The four-minute video posted Thursday night on Sanders’ Twitter feed, interpolates excerpts from Sanders’ speech last year to J Street, the liberal Jewish Middle East policy group, with commentary by Joel Rubin, the campaign’s Jewish outreach director. It starts with Sanders’ declaration of pride in being Jewish. “I’m very proud to be Jewish and look forward to becoming the first Jewish president in the history of this country,” Sanders says. During his 2016 run for...