By Nicole Scott, NDG Contributing Writer
At the risk of sounding presumptuous, I think it would be safe to write if you polled the African-American community most would not know what the AIPAC is, nor the huge political influence it yields. In fact I would be willing to bet a significant wager many would probably guess the A in the acronym stands for African-American. I would not consider this an indication of their lack of intelligence nor political involvement. Instead it is a general unawareness within the African-American community as it relates to the state of Israel, Jewish-Americans connection to Israel, and the political clout they carry.
After President Barack Obama was elected and forming his cabinet, I remember receiving from one of my Israeli Jewish friends a widely circulated email. The email posed the question whether Obama was forming a cabinet or a minyan. [A minyan is the minimum number of adult men needed for a communal Jewish religious service.]
Obama’s adminstration is inundated with Jews. Some include:
- Former Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel;
- Former Director of the National Economic Council (for the Obama adminstration) and U.S. Secretary of the Treasury (during President Bill Clinton’s adminstartion), Larry Summers;
- U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, Timothy Geithner;
- Chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission Gary Gensler; and
- New Chief of Staff Jacob Lew
Their presence and Obama’s allegiance to them can be seen in his various forms of placating. For example, the annual hosting of a Pesach seder at the White House, Hanukkah celebration and trip to the Western Wall in Jerusalem.
Despite the fact Jews comprise approximately 2 percent of the American population Jewish dollars in politics account for a disproportionate amount. Media mogul and Democratic National Committee (DNC) “sugar daddy” Haim Saban in 2007 donated upwards of $13 million to political campaigns. He was Clinton’s as well as Obama’s largest donor, respectively.
Claims from varying sources as the Washington Post to the Jerusalem Post, as well as authors Steven Pease and Henry Feingold contend anywhere from 45 percent to 60 percent of political contributions come from Jews. Leading that charge is the behemoth of lobbying groups, AIPAC the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
In an interview with Bill Maher, Elizabeth Warren spoke of the relentless barrage of coaxing of Congress by lobbyists and their unrivaled financial backing. She equated them to a “Goliath.”
Referring to the bank lobbyists Warren said, “They’re coming, not just you know, once a month, once a week or even once a day. These guys are coming in two and three and four times a day. They’re making phone calls. They’ve got the position papers and they just keep slamming in the same direction over and over and over.”
AIPAC, which is considered to be one of the most influential lobbying groups on Capitol Hill, spent $4 million in 2010 alone. Its affiliate, the American Israel Education Foundation spends up to $28,000 on elaborate trips to Israel for elected officials and their spouses.
One of AIPAC’s more recent gambits is the courting of African-American college students to posture as spokespeople in favor of Israel, and more specifically pro-Israel policy. AIPAC offers African-American students a front row seat in politics by providing all expense paid trips to Washington, D.C., where they can meet congressmen, senators, even the President.
In 2011, at its national policy conference in Washington, AIPAC featured several speakers from HBCU’s (Historically Black College and Universities). A semi-annual workshop the Saban Leadership Summit offers the opportunity for, in AIPAC’s own words “more than 400 of its top student activists from over 140 campuses to participate in four days of intense political programming and advocacy training. During these seminars, students interact with leading Washington policy makers, Middle East experts and AIPAC leadership development professionals.” Saban Leadership Summit, yes brought to you by none other than the aforementioned Haim Saban. The same Haim Saban who has openly stated he has one issue and that issue is Israel.
So while African-Americans are sending their children to HBCU’s with the intent of empowering them to better serve the communities from which they come, many are being indoctrinated and recruited to act as buffers against increasing condemnation of the state of Israel and its treatment of the Palestinians. Many of these students previously had limited, if any, knowledge or understanding of Israel’s policies. However, after completing AIPAC’s crash course in Middle East politics, they rise to become avid mouthpieces championing Israel’s “democracy” claiming it “a country whose laws of democratic government ensure the rights of every man, woman and child.”
Well, if you are going to impose apartheid upon a people without being called to the carpet, who better to do your bidding than the descendants of slaves?
Who’s your daddy?
Nicole Scott is a freelance journalist based in Israel. She is a contributing writer for the North Dallas Gazette. She is an American-Israeli, born in the United States but has lived in Israel for the last 9 years.
Outstanding work. People are so afraid go confront and condemn Israeli policies even when they know they are abhorrent, but not this writer. Great job and thank you for sharing how students at HBCUs are being manipulated and programmed at the behest of those calling themselves Jews in America.
What the world needs is to know the truth about African -Americans and their relationship to Israel and the Jewish communities in the U.S The Palestinian issue as it relates to African-Americans needs to be clarified also.