If, as I suggested yesterday, the
annual AIPAC Policy Conference is political theatre, then the Banquet is the
real show-stopper. It is the emotional high point, especially when, as this
year, the keynote speaker is the Prime Minister of Israel.
Last
night, just under 8,000 people sat down for dinner at the Washington Convention
Center to celebrate U.S./Israel relations and, not coincidently, AIPAC itself. Full
disclosure: For the first time in years, I skipped the dinner and watched the
speeches from the comfort of my couch. I know that I missed some of the impact,
but I did not have stand in line for security or to sit in a dark corner of the
hall, and I’m pretty sure the food was better at my house! Watching at home
also meant that I paid far more attention to the speeches than is normally the
case, and, I think it’s fair to say, than is the true for most in the room.
Before the
speeches, though, came the “roll call.” AIPAC’s welcoming of the elected
officials and other VIP’s in attendance at the Policy Conference. There is
something impressive, exciting, and a bit comical about the “roll call,” in
which AIPAC Executive Director Howard Kohr and two board members sprint through
hundreds of names, that, according to this great
report by Eric Fingerhut for JTA, included 59 Senators (just one short of the
elusive super-majority!) and 269 Representatives.
The major
speech was that of Prime Minister Netanyahu. It was, I thought, a bit of a
strange speech. (AIPAC
offers both a transcript and a video of the speech; I’d recommend the video, embedded
at the bottom of this post!)
The
section on Jerusalem got the most coverage, and it was powerful:The connection between the Jewish
people and the Land of Israel cannot be denied.The connection between the Jewish people and Jerusalem cannot be denied.
The Jewish people were building Jerusalem 3,000 year ago and the Jewish people
are building Jerusalem today.Jerusalem is not a settlement. It is our capital. In Jerusalem, my government
has maintained the policies of all Israeli governments since 1967, including
those led by Golda Meir, Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Rabin.
This
section of his speech received the loudest applause, as was the case when
Howard Kohr used a similar line earlier that day. But much of the speech was
rambling, and uncomfortably formal for the Prime Minister’s speaking style.
Although
he made no explicit mention of the current tensions, toward the end of his
remarks the Prime Minister focused on the nature of the U.S./Israel relationship:
For decades, Israel served as a
bulwark against Soviet expansionism. Today it is helping America stem the tide
of militant Islam.
Israel shares with America everything we know about fighting a new kind of
enemy.
We share intelligence. We cooperate in countless other ways that I am not at
liberty to divulge. This cooperation is important for Israel and is helping
save American lives.
Our soldiers and your soldiers fight against fanatic enemies that loathe our
common values.
In the eyes of these fanatics, we are you and you are us.
To them, the only difference is that you are big and we are small. You are the
Great Satan and we are the Little Satan.
This fanaticism’s hatred of Western civilization predates Israel’s
establishment by over one thousand years.
Militant Islam does not hate the West because of Israel. It hates Israel
because of the West –
Because it sees Israel as an outpost of freedom and democracy that prevents
them from overrunning the Middle East.
That is why when Israel stands against its enemies; it stands against America’s
enemies.
There is
much more to say about the 2010 AIPAC Policy conference, but fortunately, much
of it has already been said. JTA has great coverage on its Capital J blog, and I liked
this Jeffrey Goldberg critique of the narrowness of the AIPAC program, and NPR’s
coverage of Secretary Clinton’s speech. I also enjoyed Natasha Mozgovaya‘s
reports in Haaertz (here
and here),
and Allison Hoffman and Marc Tracy’s coverage
in Tablet.