Activism

Advertising campaigns target AIPAC and US aid to Israel across Washington DC

VP Bombs Diorama 2013 03 04
(Image: Visualizing Palestine/ US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation)

The following press release was sent out by the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation and Visualizing Palestine:

As the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) gathered for its annual policy conference in Washington, D.C. today, the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation and Visualizing Palestine launched an advertising campaign calling on the United States to end $30 billion of military aid to Israel.

A three-day mobile truck ad highlighting the devastating impact U.S. weapons have on Palestinians will follow AIPAC attendees during their conference and as they lobby Members of Congress for more weapons for Israel.

VP Housing Diorama 2013 03 04
(Image: Visualizing Palestine/ US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation)

In addition, beginning Monday, ads at three Washington, D.C. Metro train platforms—Pentagon, Mt. Vernon Square/Convention Center, and Foggy Bottom—highlight the budgetary trade-offs of providing weapons to Israel at the expense of failing to fund local community needs.

Josh Ruebner, National Advocacy Director of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, stated: “At a time when the sequester is cutting billions of dollars from programs to help those in need, it is grotesque that AIPAC is lobbying Congress this week for ever-increasing amounts of military aid to Israel, especially as these U.S. weapons are used by Israel—in violation of U.S. laws—to abuse Palestinian human rights.”

Ahmad Barclay, Lead Information Architect with Visualizing Palestine, stated: “We see visual media as an essential tool in communicating marginalized social justice issues to a mainstream audience. We hope that this ad campaign will spur U.S. taxpayers to question more actively where their money is being spent at such a critical time.”

VP Green Jobs Diorama 2013 03 04
(Image: Visualizing Palestine/ US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation)

And Jewish Voice for Peace and Avaaz announced the following ad campaign in Washington DC during the AIPAC conference:

JVP Avaaz AIPAC DC Metro Ad
(Image: Jewish Voice for Peace/ Avaaz)

“AIPAC Does Not Speak for Me” say 100 billboard ads in DC Metro, highlighting gap between AIPAC’s peace-killing policy positions and most Jewish Americans

Today, Jewish Voice for Peace and Avaaz unveiled 100 billboard ads in major subway stations across downtown Washington, DC, showcasing the faces of Jewish Americans saying boldly: “AIPAC does not speak for me. Most Jewish Americans are pro-peace. AIPAC is not.”

The ad campaign is timed to coincide with the annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and is designed to challenge the lobbying group’s influence on US foreign policy in the Middle East.

Rebecca Vilkomerson, Executive Director of Jewish Voice for Peace, said:

“AIPAC is the NRA of foreign policy lobbies, pushing a right-wing agenda that does not represent the majority of Jewish Americans: Its support for military build-up and endless settlement expansion makespeace impossible. It cannot claim to speak for all American Jews.”

Noah T. Winer, Jewish Voice for Peace Board member, said:

“AIPAC represents the views of a few big political donors, not most American Jews. What’s the price tag for the rest of us to get a vote on AIPAC’s agenda?”

Hundreds of lawmakers and Vice President Joe Biden are expected to attend AIPAC’s annual gala this week. Considered one of the most powerful lobbying forces in Washington, a number of AIPAC’s hawkish positions put it at odds with the majority of American Jews.

According to a recent poll by pollster Jim Gerstein, 82% of Jewish Americans support a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — while last year AIPAC aggressively lobbied the US government to oppose UN recognition of Palestinian statehood. In another poll by Zogby, a majority ofJewish Americans listed Israeli settlements as illegal or a problem for future peace deals — but AIPAC has refused to publicly condemn any settlements. That poll also found that 33% of Jewish Americans identify with pro-peace Jewish groups, while only 23% identify with AIPAC.

The 100 ads can be seen throughout the Washington, DC Metro system at Union Station, Gallery Place, Judiciary Square, Archives, L’Enfant Plaza, Federal Center, Farragut North, Eastern Market, and other stations. The ads will be on display for two weeks, including at the two Metro stops closest to the Washington Convention Center, venue of AIPAC’s conference: Gallery Place and Convention Center.

The ads are echoed in the moving video declaration of Jewish Voice for Peace’s “Young Jewish and Proud” youth wing.

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Rabbi Eric Yoffie

http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/aipac-and-american-jews-be-proud-of-jewish-power.premium-1.507134#article_comments

“The simple fact is that power – or more precisely, influence – is a good thing. To the extent that Jewish Americans have influence, they should nurture it and use it responsibly. But they should never minimize it, apologize for it, or be squeamish about it. And they should avoid the trap of thinking that the exercise of influence in our political system is contrary to some abstract notion of American interests; it is
not.”

They can’t use it responsibly.

I got a taxi last night in Switzerland. The driver’s name was Haim. I thought he might be Israeli. We started talking about languages . He said he spoke Hebrew, German, Swiss German. Israeli. He had the accent as well.

I was thinking about him all the way home. Very decent man. His country is run by sociopaths and the whole setup he knows is going to fall apart. That’s Jewish power and dysfunction. Ordinary little guys will be the ones who lose most. Victims of history.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QYF4WI9Gl8

Yoffie has no clue.

Will we see these ads and a discussion of them on America’s cable TV breaking news-entertainment shows? CNN, No. MSNBC, No, Fox, No. PBS, No. CSPAN? Slim odds.

Local network news channels? No.

Most beautiful ads I ever saw. Warm the heart.

Thank you US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, Visualizing Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace /Avaaz.

Powerful stuff. So much more effective than Geller’s “hate- speak”.

This is how to move forward.

Yoffie’s money shot :

http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/aipac-and-american-jews-be-proud-of-jewish-power.premium-1.507134

“AIPAC should be an inspiration here because it understands power like no one else and because it gets things done for Israel and the Jewish people. This is a time to admire and learn from AIPAC (even if you don’t completely agree with every word that it says). This is a time to put aside Oscar night jokes and SNL skits, and to focus on how to best wield influence in this dangerous world in which we live. “