Why and How AIPAC Makes a Difference

Why and How AIPAC Makes a Difference:
By Rabbi Haskel Lookstein
March 10, 2012

The Book of Esther, which we have all just read, is unique in the Bible in that it addresses the perils, the pitfalls and the political intrigue that affect the Jewish people in exile where things are not in their control and where we are dependent on the halls of power to keep us safe. Yoram Hazony has written a book about this subject, entitled: "The Dawn". It is worth everyone's reading in order to understand what the Haman experience was really all about.

In a very real sense, AIPAC addresses the same issue that is presented in the Book of Esther. What can we do to assure that the government of the United States of America will stand by Israel to make her safe and to make the Jewish people safe in a dangerous world which is beyond our control? Seventy-five years ago in 1938 when the Holocaust began in earnest, there was no AIPAC. Jews actually had a very strong presence in the Roosevelt Administration. The President's inner circle of advisers included Felix Frankfurter, Bernard M. Baruch and Henry Morganthau, Jr. Among his most trusted aides and associates were Benjamin V. Cohen, Sidney Hillman, Herbert H. Lehman, David K. Niles and Samuel Rosenman. The Chairmen of the three major committees in Congress concerned with rescue and refugees were Jewish: Representatives Sol Bloom, Samuel Dickstein and Emanuel Celler.

The times were, of course, very different, but one of the major differences between then and now is that, then, there was nothing like AIPAC, a powerful organization that could bring 13,000 Jews and non-Jews to Washington for three days to urge the government of the United States to stand with Israel because of our shared vision and shared values. AIPAC is an organization that is prepared to speak truth to power. That did not exist seventy-five years ago.

As we members of the KJ and Ramaz delegation participated in this powerful conference, many of us thought to ourselves: ומי יודע אם לעת כזאת הגעת למלכות
"Who knows but that we have not come here except for the responsibility to make our voices heard in the halls of power in the United States?"

But what should our voices address? In the first place, they should address the Arab Spring which began fifteen months ago, when a Tunisian street vendor set himself on fire and set off a conflagration that has spread over the entire Middle East.

Egypt, along with a few other countries, has been taken over by Islamists bent on Israel's destruction. Syria is in the throes of a deadly revolution at the conclusion of which its President will probably be ousted and only God knows who will take his place. Jordan has, so far, been resistant to the Arab Spring but no one knows what tomorrow will bring in that country.

Israel is an innocent by-stander to all of this, hopeful that the Spring will bring true democracy but fearful that, at least, in its beginning stages, the democratic tide will bring to power forces that are inimical to the Jewish State.

As Howard Kohr, Executive Vice President of AIPAC, put it: the only thing certain in the Middle East is uncertainty.

At such a time, Israel, however strong she may be, must also rely on the strength of its strongest - and sometimes only - ally in the world: the United States. How will the President react? We really don't know. What we do know is that today Congress is the key and AIPAC's work is to cultivate strong support in the Senate and in the House, a Senate and House which will undergo a fifty percent turn-over in lawmakers in the election years of 2008, 2010 and 2012.

The first concern of our voices, therefore, is the Arab Spring and its consequences for Israel.

The second subject which our voices must address is, actually, the most important subject right now: Iran. Before I went to Washington, I was deeply troubled by the tension between Israel's need to respond to an emerging Iranian nuclear threat and the terrible consequences that could ensue from a military response should all else fail. That is the talk in the US media today.

After listening to political leaders from the right and left, Jews and non-Jews, and, of course, after listening to the Prime Minister of Israel, I am convinced that Israel is not the problem. The problem is a nuclear Iran. The question is not what Israel will do and what will be the consequences in rising gas prices, in closing the Straits of Hormuz and in potentially dragging America into a war that Americans do not want. The problem is what a nuclear Iran will mean, not just for Israel, but for the world. The problem is not what Israel will do but what will Iran do. Will it stop its effort to attain nuclear capability or will it follow the course it has followed for the last twenty years and move with the greatest speed toward realizing that capability.

The most reassuring development in the past few weeks was President Obama's statement at AIPAC that containment of a nuclear Iran is not an option; only stopping Iran from going nuclear is an option. That was actually the theme of the Conference and it was gratifying to hear the President of the United States express it. Iran is the most dangerous regime in the world and, as Bibi put it, you cannot allow the world's most dangerous regime to obtain the world's most dangerous weapon.

Everyone talks about the cost of stopping Iran. The Prime Minister said it is time to talk about the cost of not stopping Iran. What would that cost be? It would provide an umbrella for terrorists who could operate under the protection of a nuclear Iran. It would allow Iran to close the Straits of Hormuz under the threat of using a nuclear weapon. It would create a nuclear arms race in the Middle East with disastrous consequences in the proliferation of nuclear weapons. It would enable nuclear terrorism by placing devices on a ship or on a truck. It would embolden Hamas and Hezbollah which could operate under an Iranian nuclear umbrella. All of this is the cost of allowing the world's most dangerous regime to obtain the world's most dangerous weapon. Containing a nuclear Iran is almost an absurdity. As far as Israel is concerned, the Prime Minister said it very clearly, "I will never let my people live in the shadow of annihilation."

Without a nuclear weapon, Iran has dramatically supported Hamas and Hezbollah in the placement of thousands of missiles pointed at every corner of Israel. Without a nuclear weapon, Iran has bolstered Syria which is its main ally, a murderous regime. Without a nuclear weapon, Iran has threatened to close the Straits of Hormuz. Without a nuclear weapon, Iran tried to assassinate a Saudi diplomat on American soil. Iran is the most dangerous nation in the world without nuclear capability, "imagine, said Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican from Kentucky, how dangerous it would be with a nuclear capability. This is not a Jewish problem, nor an Israeli problem. This is a world problem.

Crippling sanctions are good. Preventing the use of Swift and Company in Belgium, which is the vehicle for transferring funds to and from Iran, is essential. Diplomacy is critical. But none of this has stopped Iran as yet. There must be a credible threat on the part of The United States to use force. Only such a threat which has to be credible, has a chance of stopping Iran from reaching the point of nuclear capability.

All of this brings me to the reason for this morning's address. It is not to give you information or to make a political statement. It is to state as clearly as I can that every one of us should plan to go to next year's AIPAC Conference, which will be held Sunday through Tuesday, March 3 - 5. Think to yourselves: do you really believe that President Obama would have made a clear statement that "containment of Iran is not an option" unless he was speaking to 13,000 attendees at an AIPAC Conference? Do you believe that Senator McConnell and Representative Nancy Pelosi would have made powerful statements in support of Israel and, in McConnell's case, would have laid out a program for when US military force will be used, without their appearing before 13,000 attendees at the AIPAC gala? This conference is an answer to the question I posed in the title of my book, "Were We Our Brothers' Keepers": The Public Response of American Jews to the Holocaust 1938-1944. The answer to that question was "no". The right answer for today is provided by AIPAC - not J Street and not the Occupy AIPAC protesters who assembled across the street from the Convention Center in Washington. The answer to "are we our brothers' keepers" is provided by AIPAC; and every one of us who was there was giving the right answer to that question.

Seven years ago, Howard Kohr, the Executive Director of AIPAC sat with twenty rabbis at the AIPAC Conference planning for a representation of synagogues at AIPAC. This past Monday, there were four-hundred rabbis and cantors at a special luncheon at AIPAC reflecting the tremendous influence of synagogue attendees at the AIPAC Conference. One-hundred came from the Young Israel of Scarsdale, a congregation which has about four hundred and fifty member families. KJ and Ramaz had over one-hundred and fifty people but we have over a thousand member families in KJ and Ramaz has close to eleven hundred students. We should have over two-hundred-and-fifty representatives at the AIPAC Conference and maybe we should have five-hundred. Audrey and I have already registered for next year because we feel that there is nothing we can do as Jews who love Israel and who understand Israel's importance to the Jewish people that is more important than attending the AIPAC Conference. Contributions are wonderful; pulpit speeches are sometimes wonderful; but just as our presence in the Solidarity Sunday marches for Soviet Jewry was essential in the 1970's and 80's, so is the presence of every one of us in Washington for the AIPAC Conference.

Prime Minister Netanyahu ended his address by telling the story about the effort of American Jews to get the United States to bomb Auschwitz in the Spring of 1944 when we knew that 10,000 Jews were being murdered every day in that Hell on earth. The answer that came back from Washington was that such a bombing would not be effective; it would divert planes from more important bombing missions and - get this - it might provoke worse action by Germany. Think about it as you read in the media about how if Israel attacks Iran, it will result in terrible consequences. The real answer to that charge is: if no one stops Iran, the consequences will be much more horrific. And only AIPAC is giving that answer.

Thank God, 2012 is not 1944. We live in a world with two major differences from that time. The first difference is that Israel can and will defend itself. The second difference is that we have an organization like AIPAC that galvanizes the efforts of thousands of Americans to encourage the United States to support the State of Israel.

That, dear friends, is not a responsibility of only one-hundred-and-fifty from KJ and Ramaz. That is the responsibility of every serious, feeling and passionate Jew in the KJ/Ramaz family who loves the Jewish people and who loves the State of Israel. That is why all of you should join with us at the next AIPAC Conference, March 3 - 5, 2013.

L'hitraot!

Addendum: In order to encourage parents to bring their children to next year's AIPAC Conference, I am going to ask the Ramaz Administration to declare Monday-Wednesday, March 4 - 6, 2013, homework free days, that no assignments be due on those days, and that no tests or quizzes be scheduled for the entire week of March 4 - 8. We must have our priorities straight and we must demonstrate our priorities clearly for students and parents to see. We must, quite literally, walk the walk!

Please accept my best wishes for a Chag kasher v'sameach.

Haskel Lookstein