The biggest impediment to annexation by Israel is a threat that the country will lose the support of the Democratic Party and American Jews, J Street says. The Israel lobby group called on Joe Biden to oppose annexation more emphatically than he already has.

Coronavirus entered the West Bank in early February, but political decisions have interfered with response, from apartheid water restrictions on Palestinians to the Netanyahu government’s refusal to quarantine Israelis returning from AIPAC conference in Washington. –A report from JVP’s Health Advisory Council.

Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-IL) was arguably the most conservative Democrat in the House and certainly one of AIPAC’s favorite lawmakers. Progressives threw him out.

Israel emerged as a hot topic in Illinois’s 3rd congressional district fight. In the race Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-IL) lost a tight race to progressive challenger Marie Newman, who has indicated that she is open to the idea of conditioning aid to Israel. “The U.S. has a responsibility to examine how aid to Israel is used and that we should ensure that this aid is not used to support actions and policies that undercut our values,” Newman has said. 

Rabbi Noah Zvi Farkas tells AIPAC that Zionists have to tell progressives about their need for Israel because of Jewish “vulnerability” and “trauma” from “thousands of years on the margins of society” in order to get them to stop “preaching BDS.” And it’s working, he says.

“As surely as Israel relies on the extraordinary young people in the IDF [Israeli Defense Forces], it relies on you for steadfast support and success,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer tells thousands of American college students at the AIPAC policy conference, describing their “mission” to fight BDS on campuses.

Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden told the Israel lobby group AIPAC this week that it is “dangerous” for Israel to become “another issue that divides Democrats and Republicans.” But he warned that Israeli moves to build more settlements and annex occupied territories were threatening that divide by alienating young Americans.  

An African president’s speech at the AIPAC conference fit the Israel lobby’s pattern of cynicism and dishonesty. The controversial president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Felix Tshisekedi, traveled to Washington to promise to send an ambassador to Israel after a 20-year absence.

AIPAC ceo Howard Kohr implicitly describes Bernie Sanders as a “radical” who is trying to undermine U.S. support for Israel and aid Israel’s enemies. “Israel cannot afford a single minute where America’s friendship with Israel at the highest levels either wavers or skips,” Kohr said.

Concerns about Russia’s impact on U.S. elections have generated countless articles and wall-to-wall cable news coverage, however blatant election interference from other countries is certainly not treated in the same way. This contradiction was on display over the weekend, when Benjamin Netanyahu bashed Democratic frontrunner Bernie Sanders during AIPAC’s annual policy conference.