AIPAC: Lobbies What It Stands For

 Nadene Goldfoot                                         

Anthony Blinken,Sec. of State and Michael Tuchin, with Blinken speaking to the group June 5, 2023.  

AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) is a pro-Israel lobbying group that engages with the Jewish community on issues related to Israel's security and the U.S.-Israel relationship.

 It supports policies strengthening the alliance, opposes boycotts against Israel, and advocates for a strong U.S. role in promoting peace through bilateral relations. 

While historically a central political expression of the organized Jewish community, some members of the community have become critical of AIPAC's increasingly right-wing political stances (with Republicans) and its alignment with some groups deemed dangerous to Jews. 

It seems that every group has its competitor, and for AIPAC it's been 

J Street.  J Street is often cited as the primary competitor to AIPAC, though other groups like the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) and various progressive organizations also act as competitors or counterweights. 

J Street: An alternative to AIPAC that advocates for a two-state solution and is critical of some Israeli policies, like settlement expansion. It has a different stance on issues like the Iran nuclear deal, supporting it while AIPAC opposed it.  In fact, I have seen it go against Israel 90% of the time.  I also have been many Americans go along with J Street, even many rabbis.  

J Street is a liberal, pro-Israel lobbying group founded in 2007 by Jeremy Ben-Ami and Daniel Levy. It was created to advocate for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to act as an alternative to more conservative pro-Israel groups. The organization supports diplomatic solutions, opposes Israeli settlements and the occupation, and provides support for candidates who align with its views, probably like Marjorie Taylor Greene.   

J Street is seen "by some" as a progressive alternative that supports a two-state solution, while AIPAC is a more traditional, hawkish organization that has historically supported right-wing policies. There have been times when I as an AIPAC person have wondered how J Street could believe in their demands since they went against Israel so many times.  They were more than competitors, but were Israel's antagonist.

• Justice Democrats, Working Families Party, Sunrise Movement, and Jewish Voice for Peace, have formed coalitions to counter AIPAC's electoral influence.
• Other pro-Israel organizations: Groups like the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), the American Jewish Congress, and the American Jewish Committee also engage in the "Israel lobby," advocating for policies that can differ from or align with AIPAC's positions, and remember, AIPAC backs Israel's position and explains why.  
• Christian Zionists: This group is also part of the broader Israel lobby and may have different perspectives than AIPAC on specific issues.  Christian Zionists are Christians who believe the modern state of Israel has a theological and biblical basis, and they support its existence and the Zionist movement. They are often motivated by an interpretation of biblical prophecy that links the restoration of the Jewish people to Israel with the second coming of Jesus Christ. This belief often translates into political and social support for Israel, including financial aid, and a stance that is critical of policies that could be seen as weakening Israel. 
  
             PM Ehud Olmert speaking to AIPAC on June 4, 2008.

AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, was founded in 1954 by Isaiah L. Kenen to lobby for pro-Israel policies in the U.S.. It evolved from the American Zionist Council (AZC) and became a powerful bipartisan organization by the 1980s, concentrating its efforts on influencing Congress through donations, lobbying, and political action. 

Over time, its activities have included advocating for U.S. military aid to Israel, influencing policy on issues like the Iran nuclear deal and the recognition of Jerusalem, and using its political action committee (PAC) to support and defeat candidates. It's part in all this has been informative. 

The United States allows people to lobby for an issue, and this right is protected by the First Amendment's guarantee to "petition the Government for a redress of grievances". While lobbying is permitted, it is subject to regulations like the Lobbying Disclosure Act, which requires professional lobbyists and certain organizations to register and disclose their activities to ensure transparency and prevent corruption. 

Resource:

 

Marjorie Taylor Greene and AIPAC

 Nadene Goldfoot                                          

Marjorie Taylor Greene (b:27 May 1974) 51 years old, was on CNN this morning being interviewed about all the things she has said.  She recently has been telling her viewers that AIPAC is telling people not to release the Epstein Files, so she figures that Epstein has been a spy for Israel!!  Gosh! Epstein was Jewish!  By the way, she doesn't like the government of Israel at all, said she.  Oh yes, but she is not anti-Semitic, she said.  

She is one spreading this:  

• Intelligence Allegations: Speculation has widely circulated, primarily from a single unverified source, that Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell worked for Israeli intelligence (Mossad) to collect blackmail material on powerful individuals. This has been forcefully denied by former Israeli officials, including former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, as "categorically false". Recent news reports, however, continue to explore Epstein's personal and business ties to powerful Israeli figures, such as former Prime Minister Ehud Barak.
• Political Debate Over Files: The issue has entered the U.S. political arena, with some politicians and commentators linking the two entities. The release of the "Epstein files" has been a point of contention in Congress. Some representatives and online discussions have alleged that AIPAC-aligned politicians in the House blocked efforts to force the release of all related documents, using this as an example of the lobby's perceived influence on U.S. policy.
  
  Georgia U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene appeared to be practicing her shooting skills from her back porch.
• And here I thought most were worried about being connected to a sex scandal !  AGAIN !  IT'S ISRAEL'S AT FAULT !  Next they'll have us drinking Christian blood again, or causing hurricanes- both things thrown in our faces in the past.  
• Public and Media Discourse: Discussions linking AIPAC and Epstein often appear in news articles, podcasts, and social media, particularly in the context of foreign influence in U.S. politics and the push for transparency surrounding Epstein's connections to elite circles. These discussions intensified around the time of the release of some Epstein-related court documents in late 2024 and early 2025.
• Direct Mention in Politics: The connection has been explicitly raised by political figures. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Rep. Ro Khanna, for instance, have mentioned AIPAC and the "Epstein files" in the same breath, often in the context of political attacks or legislative efforts. 
• It just happens that U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene's recent stance on Israel has marked a significant break from the traditional Republican party line, primarily centered on her characterization of Israel's war in Gaza as a "genocide" and her push to cut U.S. military aid. Well, this is what I'm fighting against, in that this genocide is somethinghappening against Israel's will to exist, being a war and all, and the Hamas keeping the people in place-it's as long and dreadful story.  But she hasn't wondered why Israel has suddenly changed overnight other than October 7th. I guess that's asking too much of leadership.  
• In fact, Genocide Accusation: Greene is the first Republican lawmaker to publicly describe the crisis and "starvation happening in Gaza" as a genocide. She has equated the suffering of innocent people in Gaza with the horrors of the October 7, 2023 attack in Israel, arguing that both are horrific.  
• Funding Cuts: Earlier in 2025, Greene led a failed effort to strip $500 million of American military funding for Israeli missile defense systems (like Iron Dome) as part of an annual defense bill. The amendment was overwhelmingly rejected by a 422-6 vote in the House. She argues that the U.S. should prioritize its own border security and stop funding foreign wars, aligning with an "America First" agenda.                 
•                                  AIPAC
• Criticism of Israeli Government: Greene has accused the "secular government of nuclear armed Israel" of being in the process of "systematically cleansing" Palestinians from the land. She has also questioned the "incredible influence" of the pro-Israel lobby, AIPAC, and called for it to be registered as a foreign agent.
• Next I'll have to write an article about how much AIPAC is a help, and not a hindrance which is a legal entity. 
•  

Jews Living in Palestine During Ottoman Period Before 1948

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                       

       Jerusalem Under Attack By Romans in 70 CE  (First Jewish-Roman War (66-70CE) a major revolt against Roman rule that culminated in the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. 

Captured Jews from Jerusalem forced to carry items from Temple, as shown to be remembered through the ages on Arch of Titus in Rome in order to shame the Jews

First of all, and we tend to forget, 70 CE was the big attack on Judah by the Romans who also caught our ancestors in a surprise attack in  part of the Jewish Independence War and  they were starved to death, then burned Jerusalem down after robbing all the wealth in it.  Men were forced to carry the loot all the way to Rome.  They were told they could never enter Jerusalem again or suffer the pain of death. 

• The expulsion decree: The Alhambra Decree was a royal edict issued by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain on March 31, 1492. It gave Jews living in their kingdoms until July 31, 1492, to either convert to Catholicism or leave Spain. Constantine had started the attacks on Jews in his meetings in the 300's, setting the stage for such expulsions.

 They issued the decree in 1492 that caused Jews to leave their countries, so that Spain, then Portugal obeyed.  Jews set out on boats that were fragile in the seas, lucky to land anywhere. However, it was the Spanish monarchs, and not the Pope, who signed the final decree to expel all Jews from their territories.  

From 1360, when Louis I of Hungary had issued a decree of expulsion, Jewish people had sought refuge in the Ottoman Empire. In 1492 and again in 1498, when the Sephardic Jews were expelled from Spain and Portugal respectively, refugees migrated to the Land of Israel, which changed hands from Mamluks to Ottomans after the second Ottoman–Mamluk war, and Muslim Ottoman tolerance was seen as an alternative to Christian persecution. Joseph Nasi, with the financial backing and influence of his aunt, Gracia Mendes Nasi, succeeded in resettling Tiberias and Safed in 1561 with Sephardic Jews, many of them former Anusim (Jews that kept their religion a secret and had to pretend to be a Christian).  The Mamluk period (1260–1517) saw an increase in the Jewish population, especially in the Galilee, but the Black Death epidemics had cut the country's demographics by at least one-third. Safed and Jerusalem were the major populated Jewish urban areas, replacing Tiberias, Acre and Tyre.                   

 Those Jews who left Jerusalem in 70 CE and went to Spain, called Sephardim;  Photograph of Sephardi Jews in 19th century taken from 1899 book Views from Palestine and its Jewish colonies. They spoke Ladino at this time, which was part Spanish and part Hebrew.  They had managed to keep in touch with their Yiddish speaking cousins, the Ashkenazi Jews who had settled after 70 CE in Rome and then Germany.  Yiddish is part German and Hebrew.  I've read that most could speak German but the Germans couldn't speak Yiddish. 

The book, The Settlers, is a historic novel and tell all about this era.It is so interesting with actual facts interwound in the story.  The Settlers, by Meyer Levin, covers the period in Palestine from the turn of the 20th century to the Balfour Declaration in 1917. The novel follows a Russian Jewish immigrant family as they face hardships while trying to build a new life in their ancient homeland, Eretz Yisroel.   

                                   

                  From the  Jewish community in the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem under Ottoman rule, 1895

Jews never left Israel like the Romans wanted.  The land was not flat but full of hills and valleys, so they could be overlooked, hidden away from the Romans who were only interested in Jerusalem, anyway.

So there were Jews living in Palestine, renamed as such by the Romans for the Philistines, the great enemy of the Jews.  Romans were contemptuous of Jews. 

A distinction is sometimes drawn between the Old Yishuv and the New Yishuv.                   

      Jews at the Kotel (wall) in 1870, praying

The Old Yishuv refers to all the Jews living in Palestine before the first Zionist immigration wave (aliyah) of 1882, and to their descendants until 1948.  The Old Yishuv residents were religious Jews, living mainly in Jerusalem, Safed, Tiberias, and Hebron. There were smaller communities in Jaffa, Haifa, Peki'in, Acre, Nablus, Shfaram, and until 1799 in Gaza. In the final centuries before modern Zionism, a large part of the Old Yishuv spent their time studying the Torah and lived off charity (halukka), donated by Jews in the Diaspora. The Ottoman government was not supportive of the new settlers from the First and Second Aliyah, as the Ottoman government officially restricted Jewish immigration. The Yishuv relied on money from abroad to support their settlements.

The term New Yishuv refers to those who adopted a new approach, based on economic independence and various national ideologies, rather than strictly religious reasons for settling in the "Holy Land". The consolidation of the new Yishuv took place by the end of World War I. The new Yishuv, characterized by secular and Zionist ideologies promoted labor and self-sufficiency. 

The precursors began building homes outside the Old City walls of Jerusalem in the 1860s, followed soon after by the founders of the moshava of Petah Tikva, with growth in full swing during the First Aliyah of 1882, followed by the founding of neighbourhoods and villages until the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. The First Aliyah was the very beginning of the creation of the New Yishuv. More than 25,000 Jews immigrated to Palestine. The immigrants were inspired by the notion of creating a national home for Jews.                             

      Palmah Unit (striking  arm of the Haganah) in training December 31, 1942, numbered a few hundred in  1942, 2,500 in 1945 and 5,500 in 1948.  British wouldn't defend Jews against attacks, so that's why they developed their own defenders.  

The Haganah was the primary paramilitary organization that defended the Yishuv (Jewish community) in Mandate Palestine from 1920 to 1948. Other groups like the Irgun and Lehi also engaged in defense, sometimes through more militant actions, though the Haganah was the main defense force. 

Resource:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yishuv

The Story of Yiddish by Neal Karlen

Kibbutz Be'eri Receives Body of Hostage, Leaving Three More To Be Returned

 Nadene Goldfoot                                     

Israel said Thursday that militants have handed over the body of one of the last four remaining hostages taken during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that launched the war in Gaza. Israel identified the body as that of Meny Godard, who was abducted from Kibbutz Be'eri in southern Israel.  He was a lover of the ocean and the people.  Godard was a professional soccer player before enlisting in the Israeli military and serving in the 1973 Mideast War, according to Kibbutz Be’eri. He served in a variety of different positions in the kibbutz, including at its printing press.

Godard, a former soccer pro, war veteran, economist and lifeguard, was murdered at Kibbutz Be’eri while in their home along with his wife Ayelet, 63,  on Oct. 7.  Evidently Ayelet was killed and only Meny's body was taken as hostage. Godard, 73, was murdered by Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists  The couple is survived by their four children, Mor, Gal, Bar, and Goni, seven grandchildren and several siblings. 

                                                 

  IDF troops salute the casket containing the body of hostage Meny Godard after it was returned by Hamas, during a short ceremony led by IDF Chief Rabbi Brig. Gen. Eyal Krim (right) in the Gaza Strip, November 13, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

In the wake of the October 7 attacks that sparked the Gaza war, Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups abducted 251 people from Israel to the Gaza Strip, including children, women, and elderly people. 

For each hostage returned, Israel has released the remains of 15 Palestinians, an exchange central to the ceasefire’s first phase. Overall, the number of bodies of Palestinians received so far is 330, of which only 95 have been formally identified, according to Gaza Health Ministry officials.

Hamas, in a joint statement with Palestinian Islamic Jihad, said that the body had been located in the Khan Younis area of southern Gaza earlier on Thursday. Footage aired by Al Jazeera earlier in the day showed heavy equipment digging through rubble in Khan Younis, before masked gunmen dug up white plastic sheeting apparently containing the body. They had taken his body and buried it away from the Kibbutz.  

The remains of 25 hostages have been returned to Israel since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas began on Oct. 10. There are still three more in Gaza that need to be recovered and handed over. Hamas returned 20 living hostages to Israel on Oct. 13.   The bodies of three slain hostages now remain held in the Strip — two Israelis and one Thai national: Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, Dror Or and Sudthisak Rinthalak.

The PMO said that Israel was “determined, committed, and working tirelessly” to bring back the remaining three slain hostages for burial, adding that Hamas is “required to fulfill its commitments to the mediators and return them as part of the implementation of the agreement.”

Resource:

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/3-hostages-remains-gaza-127517519

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2025/11/14/bodies-of-15-palestinians-returned-by-israel-health-officials-in-gaza-say

https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-receives-casket-with-apparent-body-of-hostage-from-red-cross-in-gaza-2/