Secretary of State Antony Blinken will address AIPAC Monday morning.
ABBA SOLOMON, abbasolomon@gmail.
Solomon is author of the just released book The Miasma of Unity: Jews and Israel.
Solomon’s book, with an introduction by Israeli conductor and musician Jonathan Ofir, reviews historical and contemporary contradictions between Jewish faith and identity, and Jewish nationalism.
Solomon said today: “Secretary of State Blinken, after speaking to more ‘liberal Zionist’ J Street last year, will be reassuring the most effective Zionist lobbying organization, AIPAC, this year.
“It will be interesting to see if Secretary Blinken continues what U.S. anti-Semitism envoy Deborah Lipstadt has done, condemning rock legend Roger Waters of Pink Floyd, by intentionally misunderstanding a performance drawing on the 1979 album ‘The Wall’ — claiming there was anti-Semitic intent.” (See from Chip Gibbons: “Roger Waters’s Critics Are Smearing Him as Antisemitic Because They Hate His Pro-Palestine Activism.”)
Solomon continued: “‘Tensions’ between the Biden administration and Israel on expansionist Israeli projects in the occupied West Bank cannot override the United States prime directive of decades — support for Israel’s right to do anything it sees fit to ensure its ‘security.’ An attack on Iran is often threatened by Israeli cabinet members.
“Blinken will be speaking to AIPAC at a time when increasing numbers of American Jews, especially the younger generation, do not share AIPAC’s reflexive protectiveness of Israeli interests over Palestinian rights.”
Solomon’s past books include The Speech, and Its Context: Jacob Blaustein’s Speech “The Meaning of Palestine Partition to American Jews.” See his writings at MondoWeiss, including “Why Jewish organizations reflexively defend Israel — even when not asked.”
