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Iran “This provocative book documents a history that is

essential in understanding today’s world. Scholarly,
Iraq yet readable, it is a must for all Americans.”
—James Abourezk, former U.S. Senator

Israel Lobby Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)
policy conference in Washington in 2015. (REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst) Order Against Our Better Judgment
Israelcentric defin of by Alison Weir on Amazon.com
antisemitism To invite Alison to give a presentation in
Historian Doug Rossinow discusses the creation of AIPAC, which was originally formed to spin your city, please contact us.
Israeli governmental positive PR after the 1953 Qibya Massacre (in a now-familiar pattern of non-proportionality,
policies wiping out over 60 Palestinians in revenge for the killing of 3 Israelis).
LIVES LOST
Legislation
Over the years, the organization has proven that nothing Israel can do can’t be spun to deflect
Marzieh Hashemi the blame or attention elsewhere. 

Media Bias By Doug Rossinow, The Washington Post

Neoconservatives
AIPAC, the swaggering and influential American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which brands

News itself as “America’s Pro-Israel Lobby,” is holding its annual policy conference. Top politicians from
both parties vie for speaking slots at the group’s glitzy gala. Everyone pays AIPAC attention. And Total:
Opinion/Analysis 11253
for good reason. Since the late 1970s, it has informally directed substantial campaign
contributions toward chosen candidates for Congress. Its messaging on the Middle East is
Politics
essential in Washington’s foreign-policy conversation.
Pro-Israel Think
Tanks Some love AIPAC, some hate it, some fear it — but it is a huge factor in U.S. policy, in American
politics and in American Jewish life.
Progressive Except
Palestine Source: IsraelPalestineTimeline.org
AIPAC’s beginnings in the 1950s reveal the long journey the group has traveled as it has grown in
Regional News size and stature. It once operated in obscurity; now its influence lies partly in its genius for
publicity. But some things have remained consistent: It has always responded to Israeli actions,
Religion LAND LOST
working to mitigate their impact on the American scene. At the same time, it has welded a united
front of American Jews in support of Israel, a unity that politicians have had to respect.
Trump /
Governmental
actions Even before advocates for Israel had AIPAC, they had the tireless I.L. “Si” Kenen. He led AIPAC — in
a real sense, he was AIPAC — from its inception until 1974. A journalist and lawyer, Kenen had
Uncategorized
switched back and forth during the 1940s and early 1950s between working for American Zionist
organizations and for the state of Israel.
Videos

Zionism During Harry Truman’s presidency, Kenen started helping to win U.S. aid for the new state,
cultivating ties with members of Congress and their staffers and supplying talking points for
those willing to advocate for Israel. A political progressive, Kenen found his strongest support on Read more at: IfAmericansKnew.org

Capitol Hill among liberal Democrats, and his toughest opponents were conservative Midwestern
EDUCATE
Republicans and Southern Democrats. In contrast to his brash successors at AIPAC, Kenen’s
LATEST CONFLICT VICTIMS
methods were low-key and discreet.

Badawi Khaled al-Masalma December 1,

But despite their early successes, Kenen and other American champions of Israel faced
2019
challenges after Dwight Eisenhower entered the White House in 1953. Ike’s secretary of state,
John Foster Dulles, said he wanted to pursue a balanced, neutral policy toward the Israeli-Arab Fahed Mohammad al-Astal November 30,
conflict — not what Israel’s supporters wished to hear. 2019

Mohammad Nassar Al-Nawajaa

In the fall of 1953, Eisenhower briefly suspended the delivery of U.S. aid to Israel after it violated November 29, 2019
the terms of a U.N.-brokered armistice agreement with Syria by venturing into a demilitarized
Educational materials
zone to try to divert the waters of the Jordan River. Eisenhower and Dulles resolved to use their Sami Abu Diak November 26, 2019
on Israel-Palestine
leverage to get Israel to back off. However, Israel and the United States apparently agreed to keep
Mohammad Salama Sawarka November
Eisenhower’s action quiet in hopes of a quick resolution. 22, 2019

But on Oct. 15, 1953, all hell broke loose. News spread that a special Israeli army unit had struck Mohannad Rasmi Salem Sawarka
into the Jordanian-occupied West Bank and committed a massacre in the Palestinian village of November 15, 2019

Qibya, killing more than 60 civilians indiscriminately in retaliation for the murder of a Jewish
Moath Mohammad Sawarka November
woman and her two children in Israel on the night of Oct. 12. 15, 2019

The strike reflected Israeli policy. Ever since the end of the 1948 war, Palestinians had frequently Waseem Mohammad Sawarka November
15, 2019
crossed the so-called “Green Line” into Israel. Most had been driven or had fled from their homes
in what was now Israel and simply wished to return. But some committed violence against
Israelis. Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion had fixed on a policy of reprisals — military assaults,
intentionally disproportionate, on local Arab populations — as a response to any such attacks. RECENT POSTS
After the Oct. 12 killings, Ben-Gurion and top colleagues chose nearby Qibya to suffer retribution.
Experts: Israeli System Constitutes
The outcry was sharp and wide. Apartheid, Crime against Humanity
December 11, 2019

Time magazine carried a shocking account of deliberate, even casual mass murder by Israeli Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib targeted in
soldiers at Qibya — “slouching . . . smoking and joking.” The New York Times ran extensive Israeli fake news operation December 10,
excerpts from a U.N. commission that refuted Israeli lies about the incident. 2019

Israel lobby is the reason for perpetual

Israel’s most active U.S.
oppression of Palestinians December 10,
supporters realized how 2019
severe the danger of
damage to Israel was. Lost count? Israel killed 43 Palestinians
in November December 5, 2019
Kenen wrote of the ill
effect of Qibya on what Israeli occupation costs Palestinians
he called “our billions: UN December 4, 2019
propaganda.” After Qibya,
Dulles confirmed for the
first time that Washington
FATALITIES TIMELINE
was holding up aid to
Israel. The United States All people killed in the Israel-Palestine
supported a censure of conflict since 2000. View the list
A resident of Qibya at the ruins of his house after the attack by Israeli forces in
October 1953. (Credit: Wikimedia)
Israel in the U.N. Security
Council. U.S. aid soon
resumed, after Israel
HEADLINES FROM THE REGION

pledged it would stop its work at the controversial water-diversion site.

BDS: The Full Menu of Rights December
11, 2019
Aware Israel’s reputation in the United States had been tarnished, American Jewish supporters of
Israel scrambled to mount a damage-control effort in late 1953 and early 1954. Kenen managed Israeli Authorities Thwart Progress of
this ad hoc effort, involving many parties in Washington and around the country. But it was clear Students and Schools over
Archaeological Sites December 11, 2019
that a firmer, more nimble, ongoing structure of advocacy for Israel was necessary to better meet
such challenges. Detainee Zahran Continues Strike For
80th Day December 11, 2019
In March 1954, Kenen and his associates announced the formation of the American Zionist
Committee for Public Affairs (AZCPA) — which would be renamed AIPAC in 1959 — and thus Settlers Attack Shepherds in Northern
West Bank December 11, 2019
launched the modern Israel lobby. AZCPA was quickly joined by the new Conference of Presidents
of Major American Jewish Organizations. That group of top Jewish leaders promoted Israel’s EU to Discuss Recognition of Palestine
interests with high U.S. government officials, including presidents and secretaries of state. Si December 11, 2019
Kenen regularly attended meetings of the Conference of Presidents and coordinated the work of
Soldiers Abduct Seven Palestinians,
the two new groups.
Injure Many And Attack Three
Journalists December 11, 2019
Kenen had additional reason for forming a new advocacy group in early 1954. U.S. officials had
been inquiring into whether his (then) employer, the American Zionist Council, ought to register Israeli Troops Invade West Bank; Abduct
as the agent of a foreign power, which might limit its activities and complicate its funding. It made Seven Palestinians December 11, 2019

sense for the council to consider spinning off a new lobbying group with a “cleaner” financial
Israeli Soldiers Shoot A Palestinian Near
basis. Tulkarem December 11, 2019

However, that motivation for forming AZCPA, while significant, did not dominate the thinking of AXA, Divest from Israel’s Climate
Apartheid: Day of Action Roundup
American Zionists in these crucial months as much as the need to manage the political fallout
December 11, 2019
over Qibya, and to prepare for any future shocks coming out of Israel.
Israeli Troops Raid Al-Bireh Industrial
Even before AZCPA appeared, Kenen and others labored to construct a united front among Zone December 11, 2019
American Jewish groups in support of Israel amid the Qibya controversy. AZCPA strengthened
that Jewish united front, which was impressively broad. This was revealing and foretold the
future.

It showed that there was nothing Israel might do that would jeopardize American Jewish support.
Indeed, to some in the Jewish community, the more disturbing Israeli behavior was, the more
Israel needed their ardent advocacy. So began a three-decade cycle, one that did not end until
Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon, in which American Jews closed ranks to support Israel
regardless of circumstances. Jews harboring reservations about Israeli actions found it extremely
hard to gain a foothold in Jewish communal life — something that is less true today, but still a
central reality in Jewish America.

The perception that AIPAC represents a consensus among American Jews has always been a key
to its political influence, which explains the group’s sometimes seemingly outsized opposition to
Jewish dissent from its line. “America’s Pro-Israel Lobby,” born in awful knowledge, has always
existed to make Israeli realities and priorities palatable to Americans.

Doug Rossinow teaches history at the University of Oslo, and is currently writing a history of American
Zionism from 1948 to 1995.

For more information on the roots of AIPAC and the Israel Lobby see Alison Weir’s best selling
book, Against Our Better Judgment: The Hidden History of How the U.S. Was Used to Create Israel.

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