Free Republic

Retired US Army Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson is no stranger to controversy, with a legacy of questionable statements on Israel and the US government. In 2013 the former chief of staff for then-Secretary of State Colin Powell suggested that Israel was responsible for the use of chemical weapons in Syria. In 2007 Wilkerson appeared in a Dutch documentary, claiming that American foreign policy was dominated by “the Jewish lobby”. Despite his history of inflammatory rhetoric and frequent conspiracy theories, Wilkerson was tapped to serve as a military and foreign policy adviser for the Bernie Sanders campaign in 2015. In the wake...

One of our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests has just uncovered more anti-Israel rhetoric from the Obama Administration, specifically Clinton’s inner circle. This time it’s coming from one of then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s top aides – one with questionable ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. Through our FOIA lawsuit, originally filed against the Obama State Department, the ACLJ has just obtained an email from Huma Abedin, the former Deputy Chief of Staff under Hillary Clinton at the State Department, in which she was told that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) was very interested in having former...

Former MK Michael Oren: Delegation is part of Democrats fight for the "soul of the party.” The 41 US House Democrats who arrived in Israel on Monday on a trip sponsored by an AIPAC affiliated charity are doing more than “just” showing mainstream Democratic support for Israel, they are wresting control of the party from the high-profile Progressive wing trying to hijack it. A part of this wing – embodied by congresswomen Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Alexandira Ocasio-Cortez – despises Israel and AIPAC with a venom that sometimes crosses the line into antisemitism. And two organizations identified with this...

The United States Army was the villain in the “Black Hawk Down” incident in Somalia, U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., wrote in a 2017 Twitter post. Omar, a Somali native elected to Congress last fall, was responding to a tweet that falsely described the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu as the worst terrorist attack in Somali history. The original tweet noted that 19 American soldiers were killed and 73 American soldiers were wounded. “In his selective memory, [the writer] forgets to also mention the thousands of Somalis killed by the American forces that day! #NotTodaySatan,” Omar wrote while still a Minnesota...

As the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's annual conference opens this week in Washington, the group finds itself caught squarely amid the quadruple crosshairs of a deeply divided Israel and the fractured state of U.S. politics. AIPAC's president, Howard Kohr, who is by both temperament and avocation a centrist consensus builder with a strictly bipartisan U.S. mandate, is attempting to thread the needle in a way that will test his prodigious powers of persuasion and almost uncanny political instincts. But thread the needle he must, because the threads of the complex tapestry that forms the U.S.-Israel bond need mending. The...

The Palestinian leader spoke in advance of the anticipated roll out of what US President Donald Trump is calling the “Plan of the Century” to resolve the Israeli-Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Trump Administration will allow Israel to annex portions of the West Bank and split the Gaza Strip from the West Bank so that it can be a state of its own, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Sunday. Speaking at the Arab League summit in Tunisia, "What is coming from the US is more dangerous and serious,” he said. “The US will tell Israel, annex part of the Palestinian...

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) faced ire from the left wing of her party on Monday after meeting with representatives from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Harris posted a photo of herself with the pro-Israel group's members at her Washington, D.C., Senate office on Monday, sparking criticism from left-leaning critics who argue that the organization, and support for Israel generally, should be challenged due to the treatment of Palestinians by the Israeli government. Harris was one of the 2020 Democratic Party contenders who skipped attending AIPAC's annual convention, prompting some to argue that she had reversed her decision. "Great...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rebuked Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) on Tuesday for her recent comments about the motivation of American allies of Israel, arguing that her remarks do more than just attack Israel — they target the Jewish people. Netanyahu, speaking by video from Israel on the final day of the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee Policy Conference, did not use Omar’s name, but he singled her out by referring to a comment she made on Twitter last month. “From this Benjamin: It’s not about the Benjamins,” Netanyahu said, responding to a February tweet by Omar purporting that...

A Virginia public school district has given a student art award to a drawing portraying a hook-nosed Jewish person carrying a money bag and entitled "Jewish People." The drawing was made as part of a student art class and won an award from Fairfax County Schools. It was on display at the Northern Virginia Community College’s Ernst Community Cultural Center, and celebrated at an awards ceremony. The drawing portrays a hooked-nose man holding a money bag. The caption reads, "No Jew in the World Understands the Importance of Money." When a school official was confronted by a concerned member of...

No other group is ever accused of having too much power and influence. That false claim – dating back to times and places where Jews had little or no influence – is an anti-Semitic trope that tells us more about the anti-Semites who invoke it that it does about the Jews. History has proven that Jews need more power and influence than other groups to secure their safety. During the 1930s and early 1940s Jews had morality on their side, but they lacked the power and influence to save six million of their brothers and sisters from systematic murder.[snip]When Jewish...

Not long ago, if a U.S. presidential hopeful from either party was mounting a serious bid for the Oval Office, the candidate would seek a spot on the main stage at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) policy conference, the largest U.S. gathering of the pro-Israel lobby. This year, it seems, not so much. While the 2019 speakers list was stacked with officials from President Donald Trump's administration and Republican Party grandees, most major Democratic presidential candidates for 2020 were missing from the conference altogether.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, Tuesday looked to distance the Democratic party from any suggestion it was anti-Semitic after freshman lawmaker Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., publicly criticized Israel and its leadership. Addressing the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in Washington, Pelosi stressed that Democrats remain “relentlessly bipartisan” in support of Israel and that no one should be allowed to make it “a wedge issue,” World Israel News reported. “From Israel’s founding through the present day, our pledge remains the same: Israel and America are connected, now and forever," she said. "We will never allow anyone to...

“America’s Rabbi” Shmuley Boteach pointed the finger at U.S. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and accused her of blatant anti-Semitism in a public, full-page ad printed in Sunday’s Washington Post just in time for this week’s 2019 American-Israel Public Affairs Committee Policy Conference in Washington DC. Boteach placed Omar’s own anti-Semitic words alongside some of the most anti-Semitic tropes of all time together with a full-length photo of the freshman Congresswoman. He brought along a copy of the attack ad to the AIPAC conference, waving it at anti-AIPAC demonstrators at the Washington Convention Center as they chanted “Shame on you!” at...

Honduras announced plans to move its diplomatic mission in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, opening a new embassy in the Israeli capital city. President Juan Orlando Hernandez made the announcement Sunday, during the 2019 American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference in Washington DC. Speaking at the opening meeting of the conference, Hernandez said his country would “immediately” open an “official diplomatic mission” in the Israeli capital city. "Honduras will immediately open our official diplomatic mission and this will extend our embassy to the capital of Israel, Jerusalem." The Hernandez government had previously floated the possibility of moving the Honduran...

Romania has announced on Sunday that it will be moving its embassy to Jerusalem. Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dăncilă made the announcement during her speech at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference, which began on Sunday in Washington, DC. "I, as prime minister of Romania, and the government I lead, will move our embassy to Jerusalem," Dăncilă said. "Our support of the State of Israel and the Jewish community is constant. I am determined to contribute to closer relations between Israel and the entire European Union, particularly now, when Romania is holding the presidency of the Council of...

While an array or recent controversies have developed from members of Congress around the US’ support of Israel, the fact is America is and was always pro-Israel. This is built on the foundation of early American leaders who understood the significance of Israel based on common Judeo-Christian values and solid biblical imperative. Of course, when the American founding fathers supported Israel, it was not based on the existence of a modern state. They understood that Israel, ie: Jewish people, and the Land of Israel, were inseparably linked. Long before there was ever an Israel-Arab conflict, and when Moslem Ottomans controlled...

Almost all major Democratic candidates for president in 2020 will not attend next week's American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference after the radical left group MoveOn.org called for a boycott of the event. The Hill: "The influx of progressive candidates confirming they will not attend — even those who have gone in years past — shows how the momentum is shifting," Iram Ali, campaign director at MoveOn, said in a statement Wednesday. "AIPAC is clearly a partisan lobbying group that has undermined diplomatic efforts, and progressives want no part in it."

Back in the day, all presidential candidates made an appearance at the annual AIPAC conference. By “back in the day”, I mean as recently as 2016. Alas, that was then and this is now. In 2019 a demand from MoveOn.org produced a mad scramble of today’s Democrat presidential nominee hopefuls to jump ship and quickly pledge to not show up during the annual three-day conference. Talk about falling in line!So, to show their support for a wave coming out of Congress that is giving voice to anti-Semitism in America, Democrats running for the Democratic nomination – Senators Sanders, Harris...

President Donald Trump reacted to the news Friday that 2020 Democratic candidates are skipping the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference this year. “The Democrats have very much proven to be anti-Israel, there’s no question about that, and it’s a disgrace,” Trump said. “I don’t know what’s happened to them but they are totally anti-Israel, frankly I think they’re anti-Jewish.”

By Sherkoh Abbas and Robert Sklaroff On the day Kurds celebrated Nowruz (the Persian new year) and Jews celebrated Purim (the defeat of the Persian who wanted to exterminate them), President Trump recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, and the Islamic State was defeated. These milestones in the history of the modern Middle East are a testament to victorious foreign and military policies of America and Israel.  The military outcome was presaged last year when Trump altered the rules of engagement, and the political outcome was presaged last week, when the State Department supplanted the official depiction of the Golan from Israeli-"occupied" to Israeli-"controlled" territory. Although naysayers claim that the Islamic State went underground...