The Israel Lobby Con EXTRA! Podcast

Dr. Alice Rothchild: Silencing voices that question Israeli actions.

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.

 

Alice Rothchild is a Boston-based physician, author and filmmaker who since 1997 has focused on human rights and social justice in the Israel/Palestine conflict. She graduated from Bryn Mawr College with a degree in psychology and studied medicine at Boston University, followed by a medical internship at Lincoln Hospital in the South Bronx, and an obstetrics and gynecology residency at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston. Her early political interests involved opposing the Vietnam War, and working for women’s reproductive rights and health care reform. She was involved in the first edition of Our Bodies Ourselves and practiced ob-gyn for over 30 years in the Boston area. Until her recent retirement she served as a Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology at Harvard University’s Faculty of Medicine.

In 2003 Dr. Rothchild began co-organizing health and human rights delegations to Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza. She writes and lectures widely and is the author of Broken Promises, Broken Dreams: Stories of Jewish and Palestinian Trauma and Resilience (Pluto Press, 2007, second edition 2010, translated into German and Hebrew), and On the Brink: Israel and Palestine on the Eve of the 2014 Gaza Invasion (Just World Books, 2014). She directed a powerful documentary film, “Voices Across the Divide,” which premiered at the 2013 Boston Palestine Film Festival.

Dr. Rothchild was named one of ten “Jewish Women to Watch” by Jewish Women International, and has won numerous awards. She is an active member of Jewish Voice for Peace, American Jews for a Just Peace, Workmen’s Circle Mideast Working Group, and the Gaza Mental Health Program.

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). 

Jeffrey Blankfort: The ADL: Covert action, censure, and courting law-enforcement.

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

 

Jeffrey Blankfort is a photojournalist and radio host. His articles have appeared in CounterPunch, Dissident Voice, Mondoweiss, Pulse Media, Left Curve, the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs and the Encyclopedia of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.

Since the 1960s his photographs have appeared in major publications in the U.S. and around the world. During this past Black History Month, an exhibit of his photos of the Black Panthers from 1968 and Palestinians taken from 1970 to 2004 was on display at the African American Art and Cultural Complex in San Francisco. It was his first trip to Lebanon and Jordan in 1970 to take photos for a book on the Palestinian struggle (Palestine: the Arab-Israeli Conflict, Ramparts Press, 1972) that led to his involvement in their cause.

Blankfort became a founding member of the November 29th Committee on Palestine and a co-founder of the Labor Committee on the Middle East, and was editor of its publication, The Middle East Labor Bulletin (1988-1995).

He currently hosts a twice-monthly program on international affairs for KZYX, the public radio station for Mendocino County in Northern California where he now lives.

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). 

Seth Morrison: From the Jewish National Fund to Jewish Voice for Peace and BDS.

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

 

Seth Morrison has held leadership posts in various local, regional and national Jewish organizations, starting in college as a youth leader in Young Judea. He is currently active in Jewish Voice for Peace, serving on the DC Metro Chapter Steering Committee and on the national Congressional Outreach Committee.

In 2011, Morrison resigned from the Washington, DC Board of the Jewish National Fund in protest over Israel’s repeated evictions of Palestinians from their homes in East Jerusalem.

He chaired the Washington, DC Metro Chapter of J Street in 2013 before becoming active in the BDS movement. His op-eds supporting Palestinian and Bedouin rights have been published in The Forward, The Jerusalem Post and +972 Magazine.

Professionally, Morrison is a consultant specializing in marketing and strategic planning for both for- and non-profit organizations. Previously he was the SVP & General Manager of CTAM, a trade association serving the cable television industry. As a marketer, Morrison has been responsible for major local and national marketing, PR and social media campaigns for the cable television industry and non-profit organizations.

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). 

 

Grant F. Smith: How big is the Lobby and what does it do? An overview of the 501(c) universe.

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

Grant F. Smith is the director of the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy (IRmep) in Washington, DC. He is the author of two unofficial histories about the American Israel Public Affairs Committee–America’s Defense Line: The Justice Department’s Battle to Register the Israel Lobby as Agents of a Foreign Government and Foreign Agents: AIPAC from the 1963 Fulbright Hearings to the 2005 Espionage Scandal.  Smith is also the author of the books Divert!, Spy Trade, Deadly Dogma and Visa Denied, and editor of the book Neocon Middle East Policy. 

Jeff Stein of The Washington Post designated Smith “a Washington, DC author who has made a career out of writing critical books on Israeli spying and lobbying.” Nathan Guttman of The Jewish Daily Forward recognizes Smith as leading a public effort to “call attention of the authorities to AIPAC’s activity and [demand] public scrutiny of the group’s legal status.”

Smith has initiated lawsuits against the Department of Defense and Central Intelligence Agency under the Freedom of Information Act for public release of files officially acknowledging Israel’s clandestine nuclear weapons program and unprosecuted weapons-grade uranium diversions from the United States.

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). 

Roger Waters: ”The positive impact of artist boycotts targeting Israel and how to educate fans.” IsraelLobbyCon 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.

Roger Waters is an English rock musician, singer-songwriter and composer best known for his work with the legendary rock band Pink Floyd. Over the last few years, he has emerged as one of the world’s most prominent advocates for Palestinian human rights and a cultural boycott of Israel.

In June 2009, Waters spoke against the wall Israel built on Palestinian land. Later that year he pledged his support to the Gaza Freedom March. In 2011, Waters announced that he had joined the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement in solidarity with Palestinians. He has said he is disillusioned with UK foreign policy toward Israel.

After accusations lodged by the Anti-Defamation League and other Israel advocacy organizations, Waters responded that, "I deplore the policies of the Israeli government in the occupied territories and Gaza. They are immoral, inhuman and illegal. I will continue my non-violent protests as long as the government of Israel continues with these policies. ...It is difficult to make arguments to defend the Israeli government's policies, so would-be defenders often use a diversionary tactic, they routinely drag the critic into a public arena and accuse them of being an anti-Semite.”

Waters has also long campaigned for five indigenous groups and 80 farmer communities in Ecuador fighting energy giant Chevron’s destruction of the environment.

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.

Sut Jhally: ”Are US news organizations getting better or worse in their Middle East reporting?” IsraelLobbyCon 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.

Sut Jhally is a professor of communication at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the founder and executive director of the Media Education Foundation. He has won the Distinguished Teacher Award at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where the student newspaper has also voted him "Best Professor." Jhally is the producer of over 40 documentaries on media literacy topics in cultural studies, advertising, media and consumption. 

Also the author of six books and numerous scholarly and popular articles, Jhally teaches both undergraduate and graduate level courses which focus on media, public relations and propaganda, as well as gender, sex and representation. His books include Social Communication in Advertising: Persons, Products and Images of Well-Being (1988) with co-authors Stephen Kline and William Weiss, and The Codes of Advertising: Fetishism and the Political Economy of Meaning in the Consumer Society (1987).

Jhally’s documentary “The Occupation of the American Mind”  focuses on pro-Israel public relations efforts within the U.S. Narrated by Roger Waters and featuring leading observers of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and U.S. media culture, the film explores how the Israeli government, the U.S. government, and the pro-Israel lobby have joined forces, often with very different motives, to shape American media coverage of the conflict in Israel's favor.   

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.

Radhika Sainath: ”The Israel lobby’s ongoing attacks on freedom of speech across the U.S. and successful legal challenges.” IsraelLobbyCon 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.

Radhika Sainath is a senior staff attorney at Palestine Legal. Her writing has appeared in Jacobin, The Nation and Huffington Post. She's working on her first novel, set in Palestine during the Second Intifada.

She discusses the Israel lobby's ongoing attacks on freedom of speech across the U.S. and successful legal challenges. 

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.

John Kiriakou: ”Israel’s negative, disproportionate and widespread influence on the U.S. national security state.” IsraelLobbyCon 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.

John Kiriakou is an author, journalist and former CIA officer specializing in the Middle East. He was the first U.S. government official to confirm in December 2007 that waterboarding and other forms of torture were used to interrogate prisoners captured overseas. He was also the first CIA officer to be convicted for passing classified information to a reporter and served a 30 month prison sentence.

He discusses Israel's negative, disproportionate and widespread influence on the U.S. national security state.

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.

Gideon Levy: ”The nature of democracy and human rights in Israel” IsraelLobbyCon 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.

Gideon Levy is a columnist for the Israeli daily Haaretz, which he joined in 1982. He spent four years as the newspaper’s deputy editor and is currently a member of its editorial board. He is widely considered the “dean” of Israeli journalism—as well as “the most hated man in Israel.” As Levy has written, “Treating the Palestinians as victims and the crimes perpetrated against them as crimes is considered treasonous.”

He discusses the nature of democracy and human rights in Israel.

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.

Rev. Don Wagner: ”The widespread influence of Christian Zionism and growing backlash inside American churches.” IsraelLobbyCon 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.

Rev. Dr. Don Wagner recently retired as national program director of Friends of Sabeel-North America. Prior to that he was a professor of Middle East studies at North Park University, where he was also the director of its Center for Middle Eastern Studies. During the 1980s he was the national director of the Palestine Human Rights Campaign. An ordained Presbyterian minister, Rev. Wagner has served churches in New Jersey and Evanston, IL. He is the author or co-author of five books dealing with Palestinian human rights, Christian Zionism, a theological critique of Zionism and a history of Christianity in Palestine-Israel. These include Anxious for Armageddon: A Call to Partnership for Middle Eastern and Western Christians (1995) , Zionism and the Quest for Justice in the Holy Land (2014) and Dying in the Land of Promise: Palestine and Palestinian Christianity from Pentecost to 2000 (2003).

The history and theology of Christian Zionism is a central topic of the book he is currently writing.

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.