Politics in D.C.? No Way!
Sivan Livnat
“We stand with Israel because her cause is our cause, her values are our values, and her fight is our fight,” Vice President Mike Pence declared during his keynote speech at AIPAC Policy Conference. With over 18,000 attendees, AIPAC held the rapt attention of the participants throughout the conference. Of those 18,000 something people, five of them were AJA students. Hannah Solon, Matthew Minsk, and Sivan Livnat went with the NCSY Southern Region program led by AJA AIPAC faculty advisor Rabbi Uri Pilichowski, while David Feit Mann and Aden Dori went with separate programs.
“I was very impressed by the high quality of speakers, which included [Evangelical Christian Pro-Israel pastor] Victor Styrsky, Michael Bloomberg’s campaign manager Jarrod Bernstein, and Dalia al-Aqidi [an Iraqi refugee challenging Rep. Ilhan Omar],” Matthew said. The NCSY programming was characterized by high-profile speakers brought by Rabbi Pilichowski to speak to the dozens of teens. With all the speakers, Matthew commented that “we were jam-packed with speakers, which I felt kind of took away from the experience of policy conference.”
“This unique opportunity showed politicians how passionate students are about the US-Israel relationship and gave the students an opportunity to lobby in a small setting.”
The other facet of Policy Conference that everyone was a part of was the General Sessions. Aden commented, “What I enjoyed the most was that every person that spoke it would be from different backgrounds, a Republican, a Democrat, a Jew, a non-Jew, but they would all have a similar message of supporting AIPAC.” The list of speakers at AIPAC was long and filled with many famous names, including notably, Chuck Schumer, Mitch McConnell, Benny Gantz, Michael Bloomberg, Benyamin Netanyahu, Cory Booker, David Friedman, and many, many more. “Phenomenal and inspiring speakers,” each of them spoke passionately about AIPAC and the importance and necessity of a strong US-Israel relationship, Hannah said.
The highlight of the NCSY portion of the trip was definitely lobbying Monday night. Matthew said, “But by far though, my favorite and the coolest part was being able to shake the hand of and personally talk to and lobby nationally known congressmen such as Hakeem Jeffries, Jerry Nadler, and Jim Jordan.” The NCSY Southern group lobbied congresspeople as they walked into the AIPAC conference center for a dinner for congresspeople and donors. With three central lobbying points — promoting the military aid for Israel, extending the Iranian arms embargo, and standing with Israel against discrimination in the ICC and other international forums — the students lobbied every congressperson who entered and had the opportunity to speak to well-known politicians such as Ted Cruz and Dan Crenshaw. This unique opportunity showed politicians how passionate students are about the US-Israel relationship and gave the students an opportunity to lobby in a small setting.
“The special bond between America and Israel is vital and worth advocating and fighting for.”
“It just made me realize how many people support AIPAC,” Aden commented after the conference. She emphasized, “It’s really empowering to realize that all these people who really have no connection to Israel and they’re still supporting AIPAC.” Hannah reaffirmed that one of the most impactful moments for her was hearing “from such high-profile legislators on both sides of the aisle who all care so deeply about the US-Israel relationship.”
Representative Kevin McCarthy statements sum up the message of AIPAC and of Policy Conference: “America is grateful for our friendship with Israel. We are a better nation because of it. And we must never shy away from defending it.” The special bond between America and Israel is vital and worth advocating and fighting for, and AIPAC Policy Conference proves just that.
Be First to Comment