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The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is a controversial American special interest group that lobbies the United States Congress and White House in favor of maintaining a close U.S.-Israel relationship. Describing itself as "America's Pro-Israel Lobby," it is a mass-membership organization including Democrats, Republicans, and independents. AIPAC was formed during the Eisenhower administration, and since then has helped secure American aid and support to Israel. In 1997, Fortune magazine asked Congressmen to rank the "25 most powerful" lobbying organizations in DC. In 2005, the National Journal did the same. Both times, AIPAC came in 2nd - ahead of, for instance, the AFL-CIO and the NRA, but behind the AARP. In 2001, it came in 4th on the Fortune list.

History

Founded in 1953 by Isaiah L. "Si" Kenen, AIPAC's original name was the American Zionist Committee for Public Affairs. According to UCLA political science professor and author, Steven Spiegel, "the tension between the Eisenhower administration and Israeli supporters was so acute that there were rumors (unfounded as it turned out) that the administration would investigate the American Zionist Council. Therefore, an independent lobbying committee was formed, which years later was renamed ." . AIPAC's web site states that it "has grown into a 100,000-member national grassroots movement."

Aims and activities

AIPAC's stated purpose is to lobby the Congress of the United States on issues and legislation including:

• Pressuring the Palestinian government (especially Hamas) to adhere to Israeli demands through embargoes and UN resolutions.
• Strengthening the bond between Washington and Israel through shared intelligence and foreign military and economic aid (totaling $2.52 billion in 2006).
• Condemning the actions of Iran for pursuing nuclear status and questioning the Holocaust (also levying financial restrictions to hinder nuclear development).
• Additional actions against countries and groups hostile towards Israel's continued existence, including Libya, Lebanon, Hizballah (as well as their associated television broadcasts), and Syria.

AIPAC is not a political action committee, and does not directly donate to campaign contributions. As a lobbyist, it regularly meets with members of Congress and holds events where it can share its views. Nevertheless, according to The Washington Post, "money is an important part of the equation.". AIPAC provides analyses of the voting records of U.S. federal representatives and senators with regard to how they voted on legislation related to Israel. The Washington Post states that AIPAC's "web site, which details how members of Congress voted on AIPAC's key issues, and the AIPAC Insider, a glossy periodical that handicaps close political races, are scrutinized by thousands of potential donors. Pro-Israel interests have contributed $56.8 million in individual, group and soft money donations to federal candidates and party committees since 1990, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. ... Between the 2000 and the 2004 elections, the 50 members of AIPAC's board donated an average of $72,000 each to campaigns and political action committees."

The New York Times described AIPAC on July 6, 1987 as "a major force in shaping United States policy in the Middle East." The article also stated that: "The organization has gained power to influence a presidential candidate's choice of staff, to block practically any arms sale to an Arab country, and to serve as a catalyst for intimate military relations between The Pentagon and the Israeli army. Its leading officials are consulted by State Department and White House policy makers, by senators and generals."

AIPAC took no official position on the merits of going to war in Iraq. According to the Jewish News Weekly, "AIPAC never explicitly supported or lobbied for the Iraq war, but some in the pro-Israel community once saw the war as an effort that would more closely align the United States and Israel against a common enemy: Arab and Muslim radicalism. Additionally, it was considered churlish to deny support to the Middle East policy of a president who is so profoundly pro-Israel. Those views are now unraveling with the ongoing violence in Iraq." According to the Washington Post, "Once it was clear that the Bush administration was determined to go to war , AIPAC cheered from the sidelines"

AIPAC's co-director of policy and government affairs Brad Gordon stated in July 2006 that AIPAC is not pressing for military action against Iran. According to Gordon, AIPAC's goal is a strong diplomatic and economic response coordinated among the United States, its European allies, Russia and China. But AIPAC has repeatedly lobbied to levy economic embargos and increase sanctions against Iran. And recently AIPAC lobbied successfully for the removal of a provision in an Iraq war funding bill that would have required the president to get congressional approval for war against Iran.

AIPAC's views of its strengths and achievements

AIPAC claims its strengths lie in its national membership base and great research capacity to understand both Israel's interest and the interests of other countries affecting U.S.-Israel relationship around the world. Some of AIPAC's achievements, quoted below from its web site, include:

• Reiterating standards for the Palestinian government through letters signed by 259 House members and 79 senators urging the EU and United States not to provide aid or grant recognition to any Palestinian government until it fulfills internationally backed requirements.
• Strengthening U.S.-Israel homeland security cooperation by passing landmark legislation creating an office within the Department of Homeland Security to support joint research and development projects between the United States and key allies such as Israel.
• Securing critical foreign aid to Israel, which totaled $2.52 billion in 2006 and will provide military and economic assistance.
• Prohibiting U.S. aid and contacts with the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority (PA) until its leaders recognize Israel's right to exist, renounce violence and ratify previous Israeli-Palestinian peace agreements.
• Extending U.S.-backed loan guarantees to Israel until 2011 and renewing the authority to transfer U.S. military equipment to be stored in Israel for use in a potential crisis.
• Ratifying an agreement that led to the Israeli medical service Magen David Adom's admission to the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (IRC).
• Condemning Iran for holding a conference casting doubt on whether the Holocaust happened. The resolutions reproached the anti-Semitic statements made by Iranian leaders and asserted the United States' commitment to preventing a nuclear Iran.
• Passing the Iran Freedom and Support Act, which renews and strengthens sanctions aimed at curtailing funds and international cooperation necessary for Iran to pursue nuclear weapons.
• Passing the Iran Libya Sanctions Act, which seeks to reduce funds for Iran's nuclear weapons program by allowing sanctions against foreign companies investing in Iran's energy sector.
• Reauthorizing the Iran Nonproliferation Act to include sanctions against entities providing technology to the missile and weapons of mass destruction programs of both Iran and Syria.
• Fostering U.S.-Israel homeland security cooperation by supporting the countries' efforts to sign a landmark Memorandum of Understading and taking U.S. homeland security professionals on trips to Israel to meet with their Israeli counterparts.
• Passing congressional resolutions that demonstrate overwhelming support for Israel's right to self -defense in the face of attacks by Hizballah and Hamas.
• Designating Hizballah's TV station as a terrorist entity through legislative language as well as support of a letter to President Bush signed by 51 senators.
• Passing the Syrian Accountability Act, which allows the president to sanction Syria for its continued involvement in Lebanon and support of terrorism.
• Increasing military aid to Israel by working for $1 billion in government grants that will help cover the escalating costs of the war on terrorism.
• Keeping world pressure on Hamas, by working to pass a House Resolution before PA elections that warned of serious policy implications for U.S.-Palestinian relations should Hamas be part of the Palestinian government.

Successes

AIPAC advises members of Congress about the issues that face today's Middle East, including the dangers of extremism and terrorism. It was an early supporter of the Counter-Terrorism Act of 1995, which resulted in increased FBI resources being committed to fight terrorism, as well as expanded federal jurisdiction in prosecuting criminal activities related to terrorism.

AIPAC also supported the funding of a number of Israeli military projects that have resulted in many new additions to the arsenal of the United States Armed Forces. The Arrow anti-missile system is now the most advanced working anti-ballistic missile system in the world.

AIPAC lobbies for financial aid from the United States to Israel, helping to procure about three billion in aid yearly with total aid since 1949 estimated at about $108 billion.

Controversies

AIPAC has been connected to some controversial events.

In 1992, AIPAC president David Steiner had to resign when he was tape recorded boasting about his political influence in obtaining aid for Israel. Steiner claimed that he had "met with (then Bush U.S. Secretary of State) Jim Baker and I cut a deal with him. I got, besides the $3 billion, you know they're looking for the Jewish votes, and I'll tell him whatever he wants to hear... Besides the $10 billion in loan guarantees which was a fabulous thing, $3 billion in foreign, in military aid, and I got almost a billion dollars in other goodies that people don't even know about." Steiner also claimed to be "negotiating" with the incoming Clinton administration over who Clinton would appoint as Secretary of State and Secretary of the National Security Agency. Steiner stated that AIPAC had "a dozen people in campaign, in the headquarters ... in Little Rock, and they're all going to get big jobs."

Haim Katz told the Washington Times that he taped the conversation because "as someone Jewish, I am concerned when a small group has a disproportionate power. I think that hurts everyone, including Jews. If David Steiner wants to talk about the incredible, disproportionate clout AIPAC has, the public should know about it."

A Zogby poll conducted in 2004 found that 61% of respondents "strongly or somewhat agree" that AIPAC should be asked to register as a foreign agent and lose its tax exempt status, while only 12% strongly or somewhat disagree that it should.

Espionage allegations

• In May 2005, the Justice Department announced that Lawrence Anthony Franklin, a U.S. Air Force Reserves colonel working as a Department of Defense analyst at the Pentagon in the office of Douglas Feith, had been arrested and charged by the FBI with providing classified national defense information to Israel. The six-count criminal complaint did not identify AIPAC by name, but described a luncheon meeting in which, allegedly, Franklin disclosed top-secret information to two AIPAC officials.
• In April 2005, AIPAC policy director Steven Rosen and AIPAC senior Iran analyst Keith Weissman were fired by AIPAC amid an FBI investigation into whether they passed classified U.S. information received from Franklin on to the government of Israel. They were later indicted for illegally conspiring to gather and disclose classified national security information to Israel.
• In May, 2007 AIPAC agreed to pay the legal fees for Weissman's defense through appeal if necessary.
• Lawrence Anthony Franklin pleaded guilty to passing government secrets to Rosen and Weissman and revealed for the first time that he also gave classified information directly to an Israeli government official in Washington. On January 20, 2006, he was sentenced to 151 months (almost 13 years) in prison and fined $10,000. As part of the plea agreement, Franklin agreed to cooperate in the larger federal investigation.
• Rosen and Weissman are still awaiting trial. Trial had been scheduled for June 4, 2007, but was postponed until January 14, 2008. Several high ranking Bush administration figures who have been subpoenaed about the matter include Condoleezza Rice, Richard Armitage, and William Burns amongst others.

Supporters

AIPAC has a wide base of supporters both in and outside of Congress. Support among congressional members includes a majority of members of both the Democratic and Republican Parties. According to American Prospect magazine, "AIPAC’s 2002 annual conference included 50 senators, 190 representatives, and more than a dozen senior administration officials." One supporter, Pennsylvania State Representative Mark B. Cohen of Philadelphia (a delegate to the 2004 AIPAC national convention in Washington, D.C.) said: "AIPAC plays valuable roles in expanding the pro-Israel communities in the United States, and in putting them in touch with those who influence the direction of American foreign policy. AIPAC is a diverse, broad-based organization which seeks to synthesize the views of its backers with objective information to pursue the advocacy of policies that benefit both the United States and Israel. No organization can better articulate the American interests in a strong U.S.-Israel military alliance than AIPAC can."

President George W. Bush, addressing AIPAC members in Washington on May 18, 2004, stated: "AIPAC is doing important work. ... In Washington and beyond, AIPAC is calling attention to the great security challenges of our time. You're educating Congress and the American people on the growing dangers of proliferation. You've spoken out on the threat posed by Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons. You've always understood and warned against the evil ambition of terrorism and their networks. In a dangerous new century, your work is more vital than ever. ... These ties have made us natural allies, and these ties will never be broken."

Vice President Dick Cheney addressed AIPAC members in Washington on March 12, 2007, stating: "We find unity and strength in the values of liberty and equality and our belief in democracy and the rule of law and in our devotion to the security of America's friend, the state of Israel. As members of AIPAC, you play a vital role in making the strategic and moral case for America's friendship with Israel. I commend AIPAC for the fine work you do ... I stand here today as a strong supporter of Israel and Israel has never had a better friend in the White House than George Bush."

AIPAC has attracted many political leaders to address their conferences. Among them are Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, Vice President Dick Cheney, Senators John McCain, Evan Bayh, Susan Collins, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Former Senator John Edwards, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, House Minority Leader John Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Republican Whip Roy Blunt, former speakers of the House Dennis Hastert and Newt Gingrich. It has also included former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, current Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Several other Congressmen and politicians, such as Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer, have attended conferences hosted by AIPAC.

In a 2007 bestseller, "Power, Faith, and Fantasy", historian Michael Oren argued that strong American support for a Jewish state derives from Puritan-Republican roots of the United States itself. In May, 2002 BBC News wrote: "Congressman Robert Wexler (D-FL) ridicules suggestions that Israel's supporters control American policy in the Middle East. Instead, he says, America supports Israel because they share fundamental values. 'Americans are just solid, rock-solid with the people of Israel. It is a democratic nation and a freedom-loving people and a very decent people and they deserve to have a free and secure state.'" Nancy Pelosi similarly stated that "America and Israel share an unbreakable bond: in peace and war; and in prosperity and in hardship."

Criticism

• When asked in a October 2007 PBS interview about confronting Iran by passing sanctions on the Republican Guard, Presidential candidate, Senator Mike Gravel answered, "Sanctions on the Republican Guard? They already have sanctions. The U.N. passed them in March, Resolution 1747. What is the game they're playing right now to have sanctions? I mean, this was AIPAC that put Lieberman up to do this. This is disaster..." In blaming AIPAC, Gravel subsequently indicated that the resolution was passed in contravention to the will of the American people.

• In September of 2007, Congressmen Jim Moran of Virginia stated that AIPAC played a strong role in promoting the war in Iraq. Moran noted that AIPAC is "the most powerful lobby and has pushed this war from the beginning. I don't think they represent the mainstream of American Jewish thinking at all, but because they are so well organized, and their members are extraordinarily powerful -- most of them are quite wealthy -- they have been able to exert power."

• In 2006, the New York Review of Books published a letter from Representative Betty McCollum to AIPAC executive director Howard Kohr. In the letter, McCollum demanded an apology from AIPAC. She stated that in a recent phone conversation with her chief of staff, an AIPAC representative told him that "Congresswoman McCollum's support for terrorists will not be tolerated," after Representative McCollum voted against H.R. 4681 (Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act of 2006). McCollum states that AIPAC representatives will not be allowed in her office until she receives a written apology for the comment. The AIPAC rep denied the accusation and would not issue an apology. Kohr requested a meeting to talk it over. McCollum's voting had shown support for Israel and senior activists in Minnesota’s Jewish community and congressional staffers who know her well describe her as a supporter. McCollum, a Catholic Democrat, represents a largely Catholic, liberal district, and referred in her statement to a letter sent to her committee’s chairman, Illinois Republican Henry Hyde, by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. The letter strongly opposed the bill. McCollum eventually declared the incident over. McCollum recently invited a prominent Minnesota pulpit rabbi, Morris Allen of Mendota Heights, to be her personal guest for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s address to a joint session of Congress on May 24, 2006.

• The Washington Post reported that Representative Dave Obey, the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, stated that AIPAC has "'pushed the Likud Party line and in the process has crowded out other voices in the Jewish community, especially those pressing for withdrawal from West Bank settlements as a concession in the peace process."

• The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), requires those who receive funds or act on behalf of a foreign government to register. AIPAC is a registered American lobbying group, and maintains that no funds or directions are received from the State of Israel. Past critics, such as former Senator William Fulbright and former senior CIA official Victor Marchetti, contended that AIPAC should have registered. The recent Lawrence Franklin espionage scandal has increased attention to FARA's possible applicability to AIPAC.

• Hedrick Smith noted in his book The Power Game: How Washington Works that AIPAC had become a superlobby: " gained so much political muscle that by 1985 AIPAC and its allies could force President Reagan to renege on an arms deal he had promised to King Hussein. By 1986, the pro-Israel lobby could stop Reagan from making another jet fighter deal with Saudi Arabia, and Secretary of State George Shultz had to sit down with AIPAC's executive director -- not Congressional leaders -- to find out what level of arms sales to the Saudis AIPAC would tolerate".

• In their 2006 working paper The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, University of Chicago professor John Mearsheimer and Harvard University Kennedy School of Government professor Stephen Walt accuse AIPAC of being "the most powerful and best known" component of a larger pro-Israel lobby that, they say, distorts American foreign policy. They write: "AIPAC's success is due to its ability to reward legislators and congressional candidates who support its agenda, and to punish those who challenge it. ... AIPAC makes sure that its friends get strong financial support from the myriad pro-Israel PACs. Those seen as hostile to Israel, on the other hand, can be sure that AIPAC will direct campaign contributions to their political opponents. ... The bottom line is that AIPAC, which is a de facto agent for a foreign government, has a stranglehold on the U.S. Congress. Open debate about U.S. policy towards Israel does not occur there, even though that policy has important consequences for the entire world." Michael Massing discusses the controversy over Mearsheimer and Walt's paper in his essay "The Storm over the Israel Lobby" in The New York Review of Books. Former United States Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said the article was "highly overstated", and U.S. ambassador/chief Middle East peace negotiator Dennis Ross stated: "Mearsheimer and Walt should know better."

• The Economist magazine stated that AIPAC's political power is one of the main reasons for America's support of Israel. "Why is America so much more pro-Israeli than Europe? The most obvious answer lies in the power of two very visible political forces: the Israeli lobby (AIPAC) and the religious right." The Economist also says that AIPAC's claim to represent Jewish opinion in the U.S. is not without question, and that AIPAC is often too willing to "close down the debate with explosive charges of anti-Israel bias" when people question whether AIPAC's "passing more than a hundred bits of pro-Israel legislation a year... is a good thing."

• Philip Weiss wrote about what he calls the "Great Jewish Hope" in the April 23, 2007, edition of The Nation. Drawing on an interview with Mitchel Plitnick of Jewish Voice for Peace and two articles by George Soros and Nicholas Kristof, respectively, Weiss hypothesizes the founding of an alternative to AIPAC to represent the growing number of "left wing Jews feel alienated from Jewish organizations that supported two disasters—The Iraq War and Israel's war on Lebanon." Soros has been quoted as stating:

  I believe that a much-needed self-examination of American policy in the Middle East has started in this country; but it can't make much headway as long as AIPAC retains powerful influence in both the Democratic and Republican parties.

• Journalist Alexander Cockburn of CounterPunch and former congressperson Cynthia McKinney maintain that AIPAC was instrumental in helping to defeat Congressional candidates that AIPAC deemed unfriendly to Israel, including McKinney (after her first term as a Representative) and Earl F. Hilliard of Alabama.

• Author Grant Smith wrote that the organization has morphed into a “secretive political intelligence-gathering and covert operations powerhouse...and Israeli-controlled entity in America.”

Further reading

• Michael Oren (2007). Power, Faith, and Fantasy: The United States in the Middle East, 1776 to 2006. ISBN 0393058263.
• Grant F. Smith (2007). Foreign Agents: The American Israel Public Affairs Committee from the 1963 Fulbright Hearings to the 2005 Espionage Scandal. ISBN 0976443775.
• John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt (2007). The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy. ISBN 0374177724.

References

1. http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=35138
2. http://www.washington-report.org/archives/December_2004/0412022.html
3. Foreign Agents, by William Hughes
4. Mearsheimer, J & Walt, S 2006, "The Israel Lobby", The London Review of Books. Accessed 23rd September 2007.
5. AIPAC Web Site Accessed April 18, 2007
6. ^ A Beautiful Friendship?The Washington Post, July 16, 2006
7. Shipler, David K. (1987-07-06). "On Middle East Policy, A Major Influence". New York Times. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
8. ^ AIPAC meeting wasn't supposed to be partisan, but ..., Jewish News Weekly of Northern California, March 16, 2007.
9. ^
10. A Conservative Estimate of Total Direct U.S. Aid to Israel: $108 Billion, Shirl McArthur. Washington Report, July 2006, pages 16-17.
11. Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, Dec/Jan 1992/1993
12. AIPAC President Resigns, Sheldon L. Richman, December/January 1992/93, Page 69.
13. http://www.cnionline.org/learn/polls/aipac/
14. ^ Rozen, Laura and Vest, Jason. Cloak and Swagger, The American Prospect, November 2, 2004. Accessed March 27, 2006.
15. "2 Senior AIPAC Employees Ousted", Washington Post, April 21, 2005
16. Ticker, Bruce. AIPAC Charges Offer Opportunity, Philadelphia Jewish Voice, September 2005. Accessed March 27, 2006.
17. AIPAC to pay Weissman's legal fees Jerusalem Post, May 14, 2007.
18. "Defense Analyst Guilty in Israeli Espionage Case", Washington Post, Oct. 6, 2005
19. Barakat, Matthew. "Ex-Pentagon Analyst Sentenced to 12 Years", Associated Press, January 21, 2006 Accessed May 18, 2007
20. Trial Date Set In Aipac Case, New York Sun, August 2, 2007.
21. http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070830/D8RBID2G0.html
22. White House Press Release, May 2004
23. White House Press Release, March 12, 2007
24. BBC News. "Analysis: America's new Christian Zionists". May 7, 2002
25. "REP. PELOSI DELIVERS REMARKS AT THE AMERICAN ISRAEL PUBLIC AFFAIRS" (PDF). AIPAC. March 13th, 2007. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
26. http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2007/10/sen-gravel-say-.html
27. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/politics/july-dec07/gravel_10-01.html
28. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsP-YdOLAu4
29. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/politics/july-dec07/gravel_10-01.html
30. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/14/AR2007091402171.html
31. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/14/AR2007091402171.html
32. For reference, this is a link to H. R. 4681:
33. Betty McCollum, A Letter to AIPAC, "New York Review of Books", Volume 53, Number 10 · 8 June 2006, with an introduction by Michael Massing.
34. Frankel, Glenn, A Beautiful Friendship?, The Washington Post, 16 July, 2006. Accessed May 19, 2007.
36. Frankel, Glenn, A Beautiful Friendship?, The Washington Post, 16 July, 2006. Accessed May 19, 2007.
37. Edsall, Thomas B. and Moore, Molly. Pro-Israel Lobby Has Strong Voice. The Washington Post, September 5, 2004. Accessed March 26, 2006.
38. Foreign Agents Registration Unit (FARA) Counterespionage Section, Department of Justice, Criminal Division. Accessed March 28, 2006.
39. Nir, Ori. Leaders Fear Probe Will Force Pro-Israel Lobby To File as ‘Foreign Agent' Could Fuel Dual Loyalty Talk. The Forward. December 21, 2004. Accessed January 2, 2005.
40. John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt. "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy", March, 2006
41. Massing, Michael, "The Storm over the Israel Lobby", The New York Review of Books, Volume 53, Number 10 · June 8, 2006.
44. "To Israel with love". The Economist. Aug 3rd, 2006. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
45. "Taming Leviathan". The Economist. Mar 15th, 2007. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
46. Philip Weiss (April 23, 2007). "AIPAC Alternative?". The Nation.
47. http://www.turkishweekly.net/news.php?id=44310
48. Cockburn, Alexander. From Cynthia McKinney to Katha Pollitt, to the ILWU to Paul Krugman, CounterPunch, August 21, 2002. Accessed March 26, 2006.
49. Muwakkil, Salim. The warp factor of the Israeli lobby, Chicago Tribune, July 1, 2002. Accessed on http://www.obermayer.us/, March 26, 2006.
50. Nigut, Bill. Deconstructing Cynthia McKinney, Atlanta Jewish Times, November 5, 1999. Accessed March 26, 2006.
51. McKinney. Cynthia Ann McKinney: The Voice of the Voiceless, Campaign Web Site. Accessed March 26, 2006.
52. Hughes, William. McKinney's Defeat: Undue Meddling, CounterPunch, September 5, 2002. Accessed March 26, 2006.
53. Madsen, Wayne. Crushing Congressional Dissent: The Fall of Hilliard, Barr and McKinney, CounterPunch, August 22, 2002. Accessed March 26, 2006.
54. Bill Nigut Cynthia McKinney relationship with AIPAC, Atlanta Jewish Times, November 5, 1999. Accessed May 18 2007
55. http://baltimore.indymedia.org/newswire/display/15521/index.php

See also

• Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations
• Israel lobby in the United States
• Lawrence Franklin espionage scandal
• List of AIPAC officers
• JINSA
• Christian Zionism
• Labour Friends of Israel
• Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs
• Martin Indyk
• The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy
• Naor Gilon
• European Friends of Israel
• Zionist Organization of America
• Bernice Manocherian

External links

Profiles

• AIPAC:The American Israel Public Affairs Committee
  • AIPAC Press Releases
• Mitchell Bard "The Israeli and Arab Lobbies"
• President Bush's address to the AIPAC policy conference, May 18, 2004
• Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom to the AIPAC Policy Conference, March 30, 2003
• Senator John McCain, AIPAC Summer Seminar series, June 20, 2001
• AIPAC Definition on Ynet News, Online news and definitions of common Jewish and Israeli terms

News articles

• Arnaud de Borchgrave. "AIPAC's annual conference, attended by 5000 activists", Washington Times, June 12, 2005.*Dorf, Matthew, After Barak win, AIPAC reverses opposition to a Palestinian state, The Jewish News Weekly of Northern California, May 28, 1999. Accessed March 27, 2006
• Dreyfuss, Robert. "Agents of Influence", The Nation, September 16, 2004
• Robert Dreyfuss. "Bigger Than AIPAC", August 09, 2005.
• Edsall, Thomas B. & Moore, Molly. "Pro-Israel Lobby Has Strong Voice: AIPAC Is Embroiled in Investigation of Pentagon Leaks", The Washington Post, September 5, 2004
• Goldberg, Jeffrey. "Real Insiders", New Yorker, July 4, 2005
• Kampeas, Ron. Steven Rosen indictment, The Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA), December 8, 2005.
• Massing, Michael. "The Israel Lobby", The Nation, May 23, 2002
• Ori Nir, "Scandal Stymies Israeli Effort to Pressure Tehran", Forward, April 29, 2005.
• Ori Nir, "Indicted Officials Consider Suing Pro-Israel Lobby", Forward, December 23, 2005.
• Michael Massing, The Storm over the Israel Lobby, New York Review of Books, Volume 53, Number 10 · June 8, 2006.
• The myth of the "Jewish lobby" in the Frontline (India's National Magazine) Volume 20 - Issue 20, September 27 - October 10, 2003.

Criticism

• Stop AIPAC website
• Ari Berman. AIPAC's Hold The Nation
• Kathleen Christison & Bill Christison (former CIA analysts), The Power of the Israel Lobby: Its Origins and Growth, CounterPunch, June 16, 2006.
• Frank, Joshua. "Entrenched Hypocrisy: Hillary Clinton, AIPAC and Iran", Dissident Voice, January 3, 2006.
• Rob Lipton. AIPAC, Congress and the US Peace movement, MuzzleWatch blog (Jewish Voice for Peace)
• George Soros. On Israel, America and AIPAC. New York Review of Books. April 12 2007.
• Grant Smith. Is It Time To Rein in AIPAC?
• "The Israel Lobby", J Mearsheimer and S Walt, The London Review of Books, March 2006.

• American Israel Public Affairs Committee
• Zionism in the United States
• Foreign policy political advocacy groups in the United States
• United States-Israeli relations
• Zionist organizations