FAX MEMORANDUM
May 21, 2005
U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham
Clinton
780 Third Avenue, Suite 2601
New York, New York 10017
Fax: (212) 688-7444
Re: AIPAC Annual Meeting, May 22-24, 2005
Dear Senator Clinton:
Last summer, some members of our organization, Jews Against the Occupation (JATO), met in Washington, D.C. with your legislative correspondent, Joshua Albert, as representatives of the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation. We are very glad to have had the opportunity to present our views to Mr. Albert regarding issues pertaining to the Israeli Separation Wall. We are also glad to have had the opportunity to discuss with him the International Studies in Higher Education Act of 2004 (H.R. 3077 RFS), which we are pleased to learn did not finally pass the Senate. We are now writing to share our concerns about a current matter.
Members of JATO are disappointed to learn that you have agreed not only to attend but to serve as a featured speaker at the annual meeting of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). AIPAC’s position on the Palestine-Israel conflict is entirely supportive of many disreputable and abusive policies which we cannot believe you and the Democratic Party support in good conscience. AIPAC actively supports Israeli settlement building and expansion, illegal demolition of Palestinian homes and farmland, assassinations, excessive use of force against civilians, and approval of Israeli breaches of international law. Members of AIPAC also favored H.R. 3077, which threatened to undermine U.S. academic freedom. By participating in the AIPAC meeting, you lend support and credence to such policies and thereby call into question the integrity of your office and its platform.
As you may recall, JATO is a non-sectarian group of progressive, secular and religious Jews of all ages and backgrounds who live throughout metropolitan New York City and advocate for peace through justice for both Palestinians and Israelis. We continue to contact your offices because we believe you share cherished values with us, such as concern for the basic human rights of all persons regardless of race, gender, creed, sexual orientation, religion, or nationality.
We certainly acknowledge your probable concern that taking a stand against an organization such as AIPAC would mean loss of electoral support, especially amongst Jewish voters. Let us point out, however, that U.S. Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York City refused an invitation to make a previously scheduled speaking appearance at the recent Academic Freedom in Middle East Studies Conference at Columbia University concurrent with pressure from his constituency, which as you know comprises a significant Jewish demographic. Indeed growing numbers of New York Jews and Jewish groups are expressing disapproval of Israeli separationist policies, and many of them have contacted your offices about that. By the same token, you yourself know that AIPAC is a lobbying group, the policies of which do not express the popular will but instead result from meetings among individuals not responsive to an electorate. AIPAC propagates myths about Middle East realities and misrepresents as unified U.S. Jewish support for the positions it takes on those realities, regardless of their actual impact on Jews or Palestinians either in the U.S. or abroad.
Members of JATO are happy to meet with you to discuss this matter. We would request no more than a short period in which to elaborate our concerns and those of many of your constituents. You may reach our voicemail at (212) 539-6683 or the undersigned at (212) 580-8081. In any event, we urge you to reconsider your participation in the AIPAC annual meeting next week. It is still not too late for you to decline AIPAC’s invitation. By doing so, you would be taking a strong lead in helping end the unconscionable crimes of Israeli occupation in the Palestinian Territories.
We look forward to the possibility of speaking with you and thank you in advance for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Jews Against the Occupation