AOC reversal on Yitzhak Rabin event deals blow to Israel lobby
Lobby Watch 28 September 2020
This came after a massive outcry from Palestinians and supporters of Palestinian rights.
The liberal Zionist group said it was “sorry to hear” that Ocasio-Cortez would no longer be speaking at its memorial event, but offered absolutely no introspection as to why so many people would object to her participation in the first place.On Friday, I spoke to Aaron Maté of The Grayzone.
We talked about my article “Why is AOC honoring an Israeli war criminal?” which describes Rabin’s personal role in atrocities, including the 1948 ethnic cleansing of Palestine and the brutal crackdown against Palestinians protesting military occupation during the first intifada.
Watch the video above.
We discussed the history of the so-called peace process and how the effort to redeem Rabin as a martyred peacemaker is a gross distortion of reality.
The uproar about Ocasio-Cortez’s participation and her quick announcement that she was reconsidering – and ultimately withdrawing – is a sign of change within American politics.
We discussed how it shows that the Israel lobby is losing its influence among liberals and leftists.
Democratic Majority for Israel, a lobby group that aims to shore up support for Israel among liberals, on Sunday called Ocasio-Cortez’s decision to pull out of the Rabin memorial “wrong and deeply regrettable.”Ocasio-Cortez was also attacked by Zioness, a fake feminist group that purports to be progressive and pro-Israel.
Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, called it “sad” and “wrong” for Ocasio-Cortez to withdraw from the Rabin event honoring “a heroic Israeli leader.” Recently, some 100 anti-racist and social justice groups called on allies to end their relationships with the ADL because it is an Israel lobby group that masquerades as a civil rights organization while systematically undermining social justice movements and denouncing Black activists for expressing support for Palestinian liberation.Meanwhile, Batya Ungar-Sargon, the opinion editor of the liberal Jewish newspaper The Forward, drew a comparison between Ocasio-Cortez’s decision and last week’s actions by Zoom, YouTube and Facebook to ban San Francisco State University from using their platforms to host a seminar featuring Palestinian resistance icon Leila Khaled.
“A movement that idolizes Leila Khaled and cancels Yitzhak Rabin is no place for any American with a conscience,” Ungar-Sargon claimed.
Her effort to demonize Khaled and elevate Rabin belies the reality that while Khaled is notorious for taking part in two hijackings half a century ago, she never killed or injured anyone. The contrast with Rabin’s deadly record speaks for itself.
Ungar-Sargon has played a key role in inciting racial hatred against Congresswoman Ilhan Omar and has lied about anti-Semitism among supporters of Palestinian rights.Israel and its lobby believe that cultivating support on the left is especially valuable in their effort to fight the Palestine solidarity movement, particularly the call for BDS – boycott, divestment and sanctions.
The loss of Ocasio-Cortez is a significant political blow to Israel’s propagandists.