The Move Over AIPAC conference, taking place in Washington, DC during AIPAC's annual policy conference, describes itself thusly:
CODEPINK: Women for Peace, Global Exchange, and the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, together with over 50 peace and justice groups, are organizing a gathering in Washington DC from May 21-24, 2011, called “Move Over AIPAC: Building a New US Middle East Policy,” and we would like to invite you to be a part of this important national happening! Timed to coincide with the annual policy meeting of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), we will bring activists and concerned citizens from around the country to learn about the extraordinary influence AIPAC has on U.S. policy and how to strengthen an alternative that respects the rights of all people in the region.
Sounds good, right? Well, let's dig a little deeper.
The mission statement continues:
More generally, Move Over AIPAC is a campaign that aims to wean U.S. policy away from AIPAC’s grip towards an even-handed position that respects international law and the human rights of all people in the region.
We are concerned that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) has a dangerous stranglehold over U.S. foreign policy towards the Middle East. AIPAC’s unrelenting support for the illegal policies of the Israeli government—separation walls, settlements, the siege of Gaza—in addition to its bellicose policies across the region, especially Iran, has been devastating for Palestinians and the Middle East, including Israel. It also harms our reputation around the world and squanders $3 billion a year subsidizing the powerful Israeli military when we need that money to rebuild the United States.
What I have bolded is a meme that floats around the anti-Israel movement, that AIPAC has some kind of strangehold on politicians and American foreign policy.
And to further promote this theme, the conference, supported and endorsed by leading Palestinian solidarity activists and organizations such as Ali Abunimah, CODEPINK, and the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, is set to honor notorious Jew hater Helen Thomas for her "courage" in speaking out against Jews:
We’re delighted to announce that Helen Thomas, who spent her career questioning the powerful and speaking out against war and injustice, will be joining us in DC as a keynote speaker at the Move Over AIPAC Summit on Saturday, May 21. Register today to hear Helen speak!
You can send a message to Helen online that we will hand deliver along with a pink badge of courage to her at the Summit.
Helen Thomas, who was fired from her opinion column after calling on Holocaust survivors to leave Israel and go to Germany and Poland, has had a tumultuous past few years.
She was dropped by her public speaking agency, denounced by the White House Correspondents' Association, denounced by President Obama as "offensive" and "out of line."
But this did not stop Thomas. As with many other bigots and racists, as soon as their cover is blown, they end up going full throttle:
Wayne State University in Detroit has decided to stop giving the Helen Thomas Spirit of Diversity in Media Award, citing what it calls her anti-Semitic remarks.
At a diversity conference Thursday in Dearborn, Mich., Thomas, the daughter of Lebanese immigrants, said she stood by what she had said earlier, The Detroit News reported. And she added to it.
"Congress, the White House and Hollywood, Wall Street are owned by Zionists," she said. "No question, in my opinion."
And in a Playboy interview from earlier this year:
Helen Thomas is not sorry, nor were the comments that ended her career accidental.
“I knew exactly what I was doing – I was going for broke,” she told Playboy in the magazine’s April interview. “I had reached the point of no return. You finally get fed up … I finally wanted to speak the truth.”
But her most controversial comments echoed ones she’s made before about the influence of Jews in American life, which have contributed to her name being stripped from journalism awards.
"[The Jews are] using their power, and they have power in every direction,” she told Playboy. “Power over the White House, power over Congress … Everybody is in the pocket of the Israeli lobbies, which are funded by wealthy supporters, including those from Hollywood. Same thing with the financial markets. There's total control … It isn't the 2 percent. It's real power when you own the White House, when you own these other places in terms of your political persuasion. Of course they have power. [To the interviewer] You don't deny that. You're Jewish, aren't you?"
And this is who is being honored by the leading anti-Israel/Palestinian solidarity activists? An out Jew Hater, who spouts antisemitic themes at will, is being honored for her "courage" in speaking out against Jewish control? Is this supposed to be a liberal meeting or a Klan rally?