Elections in Israel, U.S. Occupy Center Stage at Aipac Conference

Farley Weiss sat in his seat at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s annual policy conference and cringed when President Clinton spoke glowingly of Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres.

“His clear endorsement of Peres was outrageous,” said Weiss, a pro-Likud activist from Phoenix. “Clinton should not be so involved in internal Israeli politics.”

Weiss clearly had a minority view of the president’s speech.

Taking the podium after the Israeli prime minister Sunday night, Clinton received thunderous applause when he addressed the more than 2,000 delegates gathered for the pro-Israel lobby’s annual conference.

Amid chants of “four more years,” AIPAC delegates cheered the two leaders as they were honored in a “Salute to the Peacemakers” ceremony.

As AIPAC delegates from across the country gathered here this week for a three- day conference, the upcoming elections in Israel and the United States took center stage.

Predictions that the policy conference would be held in the midst of an Israeli military assault fizzled with last Friday’s cease-fire agreement in Lebanon and Israel.

With no other urgent issues topping the pro-Israel communal agenda, most eyes here turned to the ballot box.

“Elections are more than just a backdrop,” said Morris Amitay, a former AIPAC official and longtime activist who now serves as treasurer of the pro-Israel political action committee Washington PAC.

“This year politics are at the forefront,” he said.

A senior AIPAC official agreed.

“The timing and proximity of the conference to the elections is on everybody’s mind,” said the official, who asked not be named.

Indeed, many of the speakers tailored their remarks with the elections campaigns in Israel and the United States in mind.

White House officials openly acknowledged that Clinton used the occasion to rally behind Peres.

Israeli voters go to the polls in less than one month. Labor leader Peres is facing Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu in a closely contested race.

During his Sunday speech, which was peppered with praise for Peres, Clinton called the Israeli leader “our full partner for peace and security.”

He praised Peres’ vision of a peaceful Middle East, saying, “That vision is what must drive us all into tomorrow.”

And just days after his administration brokered a deal for a cease-fire in Lebanon, Clinton reaffirmed U.S. support for Israel’s recent actions.

“Make no mistake about it,” Clinton said. The Israeli attack on the U.N. refugee camp in southern Lebanon on April 18 was caused by “the deliberate tactics of Hezbollah in their positioning and firing.”

To drive home that support, Clinton veered from his prepared text, saying, “The tragic misfiring [was] in Israel’s legitimate exercise of its right to self- defense.”

Clinton’s words, Amitay said, show that “Peres can do no wrong in his eyes.”

For his part, Peres returned the effusive praise, thanking Clinton for being “a true friend of the State and people of Israel” who “embraced a whole nation when we were in pain.”

“You have led the struggle for a better life in our part of the world, and you have succeeded,” Peres said.

The mutual admiration was widely noted here.

“It’s as if each one is running a campaign for the other,” said Rosalie Zalis, a senior policy adviser to California Gov. Pete Wilson. “It’s a tango that works for both of them.”

The session irked Likud supporters who criticized AIPAC for not inviting Netanyahu.

“AIPAC is inserting itself into the pre-Israeli election by providing Shimon Peres a podium not available to Likud and [Netanyahu] at this critical time,” said Yoram Ettinger, who served as congressional liaison at the Israeli Embassy during the government of Yitzhak Shamir and has continued to lobby for Likud policies on Capitol Hill during the Labor government.

AIPAC officials responded to the criticism, saying that the group’s policy is to invite the sitting prime minister and not to expand the podium to the Israeli opposition.

Although Peres received a warm welcome from the AIPAC delegates, sessions throughout the conference revealed a clear split in loyalty among American Jews to Israeli political factions.

On the domestic political front, Clinton used the occasion to try to solidify the Jewish voting bloc, a key to his re-election strategy.

Even Republican activists said Clinton shined in the Jewish spotlight.

“The president knows that this is his constituency. He has been a great president for the Jewish community,” Zalis said, adding that “this year’s conference is the most political in recent memory.”

As Republicans and Democrats lined up and Labor and Likud supporters faced off, partisans from all sides of the American and Israeli political spectrums agreed that Israel has been enjoying a period of exceptionally warm relations with the White House.

In addition, the 104th Republican-controlled Congress has positioned itself squarely in the pro-Israel camp.

The congressional elections in November were clearly on the mind of AIPAC staff members as they prepared delegates for a day of Capitol Hill lobbying on issues such as foreign aid and sanctions against Iran.

“There’s going to be an awful lot of new faces on Capitol Hill next year,” an AIPAC official said, referring to the potential for a record turnover in Congress.

“We can’t have complacency in our community,” the official said.

Throughout the conference, Democrats and Republicans took the podium, some more partisan in their remarks than others.

The keynote speakers at the annual banquet were Sens. Joseph Lieberman (D- Conn.) and Trent Lott (R-Miss.), the Senate majority whip.

Rep. Dick Armey (R-Texas), the House majority leader, delivered a sharply partisan speech at a luncheon session in which he vowed to use his power as majority leader to protect Israel’s interests.

He also claimed Republican credit for the recently passed anti-terrorism legislation.

Lynn Lyss, former chairwoman of the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council, said she was “surprised and somewhat dismayed” by the partisan tone of Armey’s speech.

“AIPAC is not the place to split along partisan lines,” she said.

Meanwhile, the AIPAC executive committee got so bogged down in debate over a resolution concerning the Palestine National Council’s decision to amend its covenant that time ran out before the policy-making body could adopt other positions.

In the end, the executive committee adopted a resolution praising the PNC’s vote as an “important and positive step.”

AIPAC deferred to the U.S. and Israeli government to rule on whether the vote satisfies the Palestine Liberation Organization’s agreements with Israel.

“The governments of the United States and Israel have stated that this effectively nullifies the articles of the covenant calling for Israel’s destruction,” the policy statement says.

“We welcome this PNC decision and look forward to its timely and faithful implementation.”

For all the partisan sniping in the halls and sessions of the conference, most AIPAC delegates sought to carry out the lobby’s mission.

Taking up AIPAC President Melvin Dow’s call for “productive diversity” within the organization, Weiss of Phoenix said, “I’m here to support AIPAC.”

“This year we disagree on policy and we disagree on substance and we disagree on strategy,” he said, “but I’m here to change it from within.”