I think it's over. The Israel lobby as a monolithic conspiracy dominating the discourse–over. The issue is now captivating the imagination of the left, including Jews; and looking more and more like South Africa redux.
Look at these protesters outside an AIPAC event at a Hilton hotel in LA, apparently yesterday from a Fox report on LA television. They've put on army uniforms and are holding guns to the heads of "Palestinians" at checkpoints and crying "Jewish only road!"
One of the protesters is Lisa Adler, maybe this Lisa Adler, a Jew who chained herself to the Israeli consulate fence two months ago. Lisa Adler is pushing 30, per that link. Do you think she's going to be engaged on this issue for a long time? Maybe longer than Alan Dershowitz, 70. It's over.
The local Fox correspondent, Christina Gonzalez, says she's surprised that AIPAC doesn't even respond with an official comment on the protests, it usually does.
So: What is the AIPAC policy conference in Washington going to look like this May? And what will the street theater look like? And how will AIPAC respond? I challenged AIPAC to invite Walt and Mearsheimer to debate a few weeks back. Yes, I was smoking something. But AIPAC's smart; and if you think AIPAC is going to be offering that good ole time religion–well, I wonder. It can't spend all of '09 on its heels or J Street is gonna eat its breakfast. (Phil Weiss)
