Gaza.

How AIPAC Operates

How are we going to beat back the anti-Israel divestment resolution at Berkeley? We’re going to make certain that pro-Israel students take over the student government and reverse the vote. That is how AIPAC operates in our nation’s capitol. This is how AIPAC must operate on our nation’s campuses.

A controversial divestment resolution was passed by a vote of 16-4 at the ASUC senate in University of California at Berkeley, bit then vetoed by the ASUC President, Will Smelko, although his veto could still be overturned though this decision has been delayed after hours of debate:

What is fascinating about this entire soap opera is that it is in fact a microcosm of politics at large.  And this is why the comment by AIPAC’s own Jonathan Kessler (above) about how AIPAC operates (taking control of organisations in order to remove any critics of Israel) is so very telling.

On the divestment bill, Alan Dershowitz (a man who has had public disagreements with both Naom Chomsky and Norman Finkelstein!) said in a statement that smacks of desperation and bully tactics:

“Divesting from Israel is immoral, bigoted and if done by a state university illegal,” Dershowitz said. “It encourages terrorism and discourages peace. Any university that would actually divest from Israel will be subjected to countermeasures—financial, legal, academic and political. We will fight back against this selective bigotry that hurts the good name of the University of California. This misuse of the university’s name does not represent the views of students, faculty, alumni and other constituents of the greater Berkeley community. Instead it represents the hijacking of the university for improper ideological purposes. It must be rejected immediately and categorically.” 

By raising the possibility of financial, legal and political countermeasures, Dershowitz appears to be claiming that any boycott action against Israel is “immoral, bigoted [and] illegal” but that divestment action undertaken by Israel and its supporters is entirely reasonable.  A textbook case of the double standards of unwavering Zionism.