Former AIPAC employee MJ Rosenberg: Is it all about the money?

The following is a presentation made at the 2015 Israel Lobby Con held at the National Press Club.

M.J. Rosenberg is a writer, primarily on matters relating to Israel. He is a regular contributor to The Nation and Huffington Post, with his writing widely reprinted throughout the world. He has special expertise on the Israel Lobby, having been employed by several pro-Israel organizations between 1973 and 1975 and 1982 and 1986. His last post was as editor of AIPAC’s Near East Report and as senior adviser to then-Executive Director Thomas Dine.

He also worked on Capitol Hill for a total of 15 years as legislative assistant to Rep. Jonathan Bingham (D-NY) and as Appropriations Committee staffer for Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY), specifically handling her work on the Foreign Operations Subcommittee, where she was a leading advocate of the Israel aid package. He also served as chief-of-staff for Edward Feighan (D-OH) and as speechwriter for Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI). Rosenberg also spent three years as a Clinton political appointee at USAID.

Following Rosenberg’s years of government service, he went to work as Washington director of the Israel Policy Forum for 9 years, then as a Middle East writer at Media Matters For America.

Rosenberg’s opposition to AIPAC, which followed a successful tenure there, stems from his strong support for the “two-state solution” and his belief that it is the Lobby and the government of Israel that is responsible for its failure to be adopted. He is also, in his words, “appalled” by Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians, as most recently evidenced by the “indefensible and horrific” Israel war on Gaza in the summer of 2014.

Since 2015 the annual IsraelLobbyCon conference series at the National Press Club explores the latest research, innovations and tactics for countering the Israel lobby’s damaging policies in the U.S. and around the globe.

 

The conference is solely sponsored by the American Educational Trust, publisher of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, and the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy (IRmep).