Episodes
Wednesday Mar 09, 2022
Wednesday Mar 09, 2022
The following is a presentation made at the 2022 Transcending the Israel lobby at Home & Abroad conference held on March 4 at the National Press Club.
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. See https://www.IsraelLobbyCon.org for more information.
IsraelLobbyCon 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).
Monday Mar 07, 2022
Walter L. Hixson: ”What’s so important about the lobby?” IsraelLobbyCon 2022
Monday Mar 07, 2022
Monday Mar 07, 2022
The following is a presentation made at the 2022 Transcending the Israel lobby at Home & Abroad conference held on March 4 at the National Press Club
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. See https://www.IsraelLobbyCon.org for more information.
IsraelLobbyCon 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).
Friday Jan 21, 2022
Can America’s “Special Relationship” with Israel Endure? Dr. Walter Hixson
Friday Jan 21, 2022
Friday Jan 21, 2022
The distinguished historian and WRMEA columnist Dr. Walter L. Hixson discussed the unique and distinctive aspects of the US-Israel "special relationship." What assumptions underpinning the “special relationship” traditionally fit neatly into America's own history and national identity, such as "manifest destiny," "chosen" peoplehood, vanquishing the "savage" and settler colonialism? How did the rise of the formidable Israel lobby--by far the most powerful lobby representing a foreign nation in American history—exploit that identity to win the tiny nation of Israel more US military assistance and unconditional diplomatic support than any other country in the world? Now that Americans are grappling with their founding mythologies, can Israel's and its lobby's grip on the American psyche and body politic endure? Copies of Hixson's latest two books are available from Middle East Books and More.
Imperialism and War: The History Americans Need to Own https://www.middleeastbooks.com/products/imperialism-and-war-the-history-americans-need-to-own-by-walter-l-hixson
Architects of Repression: How Israel and Its Lobby Put Racism, Violence and Injustice at the Center of US Middle East Policy https://www.middleeastbooks.com/products/architects-of-repression-how-israel-and-its-lobby-put-racism-violence-and-injustice-at-the-center-of-us-middle-east-policy-by-walter-l-hixson?_pos=1&_sid=86a622183&_ss=r
Thursday Dec 23, 2021
Thursday Dec 23, 2021
Expert analysis of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's (AIPAC) interaction with political action committees (PACs). We also explored what factors may be driving AIPAC to be more interested in tightly coordinating campaign spending. We also discussed what impact this may have on Americans and took questions from participants.
Janet McMahon, former Founding Managing Editor at the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs
Dr. Walter L. Hixson, Distinguished Historian, Author, and Columnist, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs and author of the new book Architects of Repression: How Israel and Its Lobby Put Racism, Violence and Injustice at the Center of US Middle East Policy
Grant F. Smith, Director of Research at IRmep and author of numerous books about AIPAC and the Israel lobby.
Related links: https://www.wrmea.org/web-exclusives/aipac-forming-political-action-committees-to-tighten-grip-on-u.s.-elections.html
Middle East Books & More
https://www.middleeastbooks.com/products/stealth-pacs-how-israels-american-lobby-seeks-to-control-u-s-middle-east-policy-by-richard-h-curtiss
https://www.middleeastbooks.com/products/architects-of-repression-how-israel-and-its-lobby-put-racism-violence-and-injustice-at-the-center-of-us-middle-east-policy-by-walter-l-hixson?_pos=1&_sid=7a8cbf993&_ss=r
Audible https://www.audible.com/pd/Architects-of-Repression-Audiobook/B09158G699
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs: https://WRMEA.org
Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy: htts://IRmep.org
Tuesday Oct 05, 2021
Tuesday Oct 05, 2021
Extended interview with distinguished historian and author Walter L. Hixson focusing on Chapter 7, "AIPAC in Command" of his book "Architects of Repression: How Israel and Its Lobby Put Racism, Violence and Injustice at the Center of US Middle East Policy."
Grant F. Smith of IRmep asks Hixson about his research background, when he started looking into the Israel lobby and books published by elite academic publishers.
They then turn to a single chapter from the book to explore the role and function of the Israel lobby in the United States.
Related links:
YouTube: "The Israel Lobby: What Everyone Needs to Know." https://youtu.be/GPhMT_c8M20
YouTube: "Israel’s Armor: The Israel Lobby and the First Generation of the Palestine Conflict" https://youtu.be/5frVOAuW6Gg
YouTube: "Settler Colonialism from America to Palestine" https://youtu.be/H38MYjCcX3U
Middle East Books & More https://www.middleeastbooks.com/products/architects-of-repression-how-israel-and-its-lobby-put-racism-violence-and-injustice-at-the-center-of-us-middle-east-policy-by-walter-l-hixson?_pos=1&_sid=24ef9d5c9&_ss=r
Audible https://www.audible.com/pd/Architects-of-Repression-Audiobook/B09158G699
Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Architects-Repression-Israel-Violence-Injustice/dp/0982775776
Saturday Aug 21, 2021
Best of: Col. Lawrence Wilkerson "Israeli influence on U.S. foreign policy"
Saturday Aug 21, 2021
Saturday Aug 21, 2021
The following is the full March 18, 2016 presentation given by Col. Lawrence Wilkerson. His last positions in government were as Secretary of State Colin Powell's Chief of Staff (2002-05), Associate Director of the State Department's Policy Planning staff under the directorship of Ambassador Richard N. Haass, and member of that staff responsible for East Asia and the Pacific, political-military and legislative affairs (2001-02).
Before serving at the State Department, Wilkerson served 31 years in the U.S. Army. During that time, he was a member of the faculty of the U.S. Naval War College (1987-1989), Special Assistant to General Powell when he was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1989-93), and Director and Deputy Director of the U.S. Marine Corps War College at Quantico, Virginia (1993-97). Wilkerson retired from active service in 1997 as a colonel, and began work as an adviser to General Powell. He has also taught national security affairs in the Honors Program at George Washington University. He is currently working on a book about the first George W. Bush administration. He currently is Distinguished Visiting Professor of Government and Public Policy at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.
Transcript: https://www.israelsinfluence.org/transcripts/lawrence_wilkerson.html
Video: https://youtu.be/Sox6MoiiMic
IsraelLobbyCon 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).
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs website: https://WRMEA.org
Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy: https://IRmep.org
Monday Aug 09, 2021
Best of: Ilan Pappé "Decolonizing Israel"
Monday Aug 09, 2021
Monday Aug 09, 2021
The following is the full March 24, 2017 presentation given by Ilan Pappé at IsraelLobbyCon at the National Press Club. Pappe is a Professor of History and Director of the European Centre for Palestine Studies at the University of Exeter in the UK
Best of: Ilan Pappé "Decolonizing Israel"
The following is the full March 24, 2017 presentation given by Ilan Pappé at IsraelLobbyCon at the National Press Club.
Ilan Pappé is Professor of History and Director of the European Centre for Palestine Studies at the University of Exeter in the UK. His research focuses on the modern Middle East, particularly on the history of Israel and Palestine. He is the author of the books The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine (2007), Israel and South Africa: the Many Faces of Apartheid (2015) and The Idea of Israel: A History of Power and Knowledge (2016), among others. He will discuss the value of viewing Israel-Palestine through the lens of settler-colonialism, how Zionist myths have been shaped and/or perpetuated by the Israel lobby, and what framework is necessary to overcome these myths and ensure that efforts to resolve the "conflict" are grounded in reality.
Transcript: https://2017.israellobbyandamericanpolicy.org/Transcripts/Ilan_Pappe.html
Video: https://youtu.be/x_1uWD86Mv4
IsraelLobbyCon 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).
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs website: https://WRMEA.org
Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy: https://IRmep.org
Wednesday Jul 21, 2021
Resisting Israel’s Lobby on Campus and in the Community - Robin D.G. Kelley
Wednesday Jul 21, 2021
Wednesday Jul 21, 2021
On April 24, 2021 Robin D.G. Kelley discussed the current state of resisting Israel and its lobby’s efforts on campus. He gave an overview of the parallels between South Africa and the movement toward Palestinian liberation, and addressed the questions: How are Black Lives Matter and the Palestinian grassroots movements working together, and are they natural allies? Was the much-vaunted Black-Jewish civil rights alliance ever based on anything more than oppression? What is the basis of a Black-Palestinian alliance? What lessons are there for today’s activists?
Robin D.G. Kelley's research has explored, among other topics, the history of social movements in the U.S., the African Diaspora and Africa; black intellectuals; music and visual culture; and Surrealism and Marxism. His essays have appeared in a wide variety of professional journals as well as general publications, including the Journal of American History, American Historical Review, The Nation, Monthly Review, New York Times, Color Lines, Counterpunch, Souls, Black Renaissance/Renaissance Noir, Social Text, The Black Scholar, Journal of Palestine Studies, and Boston Review, for which he also serves as contributing editor.
Kelley's books include Africa Speaks, America Answers: Modern Jazz in Revolutionary Times (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2012); Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original (The Free Press, 2009); Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination (Beacon Press, 2002); with Howard Zinn and Dana Frank, Three Strikes: The Fighting Spirit of Labor's Last Century (Beacon Press, 2001); Yo’ Mama’s Disfunktional!: Fighting the Culture Wars in Urban America (Boston: Beacon Press, 1997); Race Rebels: Culture, Politics, and the Black Working Class (New York: The Free Press, 1994); Into the Fire: African Americans Since 1970 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996) [Vol. 10 of the Young Oxford History of African Americans series]; and Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists During the Great Depression (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1990).
Transcript and Video at https://www.wrmea.org/end-u.s.-support-for-israeli-apartheid/robin-d.g.-kelley-resisting-israels-lobby-on-campus-and-in-the-community.html
IsraelApartheidCon 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).
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs website: https://WRMEA.org Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy: https://IRmep.org
Monday Jul 12, 2021
From an Israel-Centric to a Rights-Based Approach - Zaha Hassan
Monday Jul 12, 2021
Monday Jul 12, 2021
Zaha Hassan outlines how the Biden administration can break the Middle East peace impasse by adopting a rights-based—rather than an Israel and its lobby based—approach as the center of its strategy. Why has the current one-sided approach favoring Israel produced only serial failures? How would a rights-based approach transcend violence, dispossession, discrimination and occupation? What are the policy options? Why is a rights-based approach a far better look for the United States?
Zaha Hassan is a human rights lawyer and visiting fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Her research focus is on Palestine-Israel peace, the use of international legal mechanisms by political movements, and U.S. foreign policy in the region. Previously, she was the coordinator and senior legal adviser to the Palestinian negotiating team during Palestine’s bid for UN membership, and was a member of the Palestinian delegation to Quartet-sponsored exploratory talks between 2011 and 2012.
She regularly participates in track II peace efforts and is a contributor to The Hill and Haaretz. Her commentaries have appeared in the New York Times, Salon, Al Jazeera English, CNN, and others.
Transcript and Video at: https://www.wrmea.org/end-u.s.-support-for-israeli-apartheid/zaha-hassan-from-an-israel-centric-to-a-rights-based-approach.html
IsraelApartheidCon 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).
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs website: https://WRMEA.org
Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy: https://IRmep.org
Wednesday Jun 30, 2021
Palestinians Confronting the Giant of Christian Zionism - Alex Awad
Wednesday Jun 30, 2021
Wednesday Jun 30, 2021
Rev. Alex Awad describes the efforts of Palestinian Evangelicals and other church leaders to confront the “Goliath” of Christian Zionism. What are they doing to stop the spread of Christian Zionism in many U.S. churches? How is Christian Zionism impacting Christians actually living under Israel’s apartheid regime? Rev. Awad describes the work of PCAP, Sabeel and other Christian organizations, and their efforts to halt Israeli actions endorsed by Zionist Christians, such as the confiscation of Palestinian land, the demolition of homes and the construction of segregated Jewish settlements.
Rev. Dr. Alex Awad is a retired United Methodist Missionary. He and his wife, Brenda, served in Jerusalem and in Bethlehem for more than 25 years. Rev. Awad served as pastor of East Jerusalem Baptist Church, dean of students at Bethlehem Bible College, and director of the Shepherd Society.
Transcript and Video at https://www.wrmea.org/end-u.s.-support-for-israeli-apartheid/rev.-alex-awad-palestinians-confronting-the-giant-of-christian-zionism.html
IsraelApartheidCon 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). See http://www.IsraelApartheidCon.org for more information about this conference.
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs website: https://WRMEA.org Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy: https://IRmep.org