For anyone in the US who has family in Israel, who visits Israel, who has visitors from Israel or who studies in Israel, the following scenario is a day-to-day reality this summer: making plans to travel to or from Israel, and making it happen, adjusting day-by-day to the changing rules, and fitting in between the cracks. Making it happen.
Yet, AIPAC delays. Its sponsorship of visits by US Congressmen to Israel is arguably far more important than the others who travel to or from Israel in these uncertain times. Yet, AIPAC has delayed these organized congressional trips to Israel until early 2022. Mind you, this delay comes on the heels of the Congressional trips that AIPAC already cancelled during the pandemic.
All the while, Congressional support for Israel reveals growing cracks and holes.
It is hardly a secret, least of all to AIPAC and to those US Congresspeople who have already visited Israel, that no argument on behalf of Israel, no recitation of its history, no invocation of the irrational hostility of Hamas, no news of terrorists incidents, no celebration of Israel’s technological achievements, can even come close to seeing Israel in person.
Seeing the Golan Heights and “getting it” from the Israel security point of view.
Seeing Jerusalem and the daily, peaceful interactions between Arabs and Israelis.
Seeing drip irrigation make the desert bloom.
Seeing the kids traumatized by the run to the shelter mentality created by Hamas rockets fired at civilians in Sderot
Seeing the startup nation at work.
The list goes on.
Do not count us among the anti-vaxxers or deniers of the COVID threat. This is being written with full awareness of the dangers of COVID, the rising number of cases and the variants. However, by all accounts and governmental actions, the situation now is dramatically improved. The country is opening up. The economy is coming back. Now is the time for these long delayed Congressional trips. Keep in mind, there is absolutely no guarantee that this window of opportunity will remain open — that AIPAC’s rescheduled time of next January will be safe — so why delay the Congresspeople’s trips to Israel?
AIPAC has already suffered in credibility and visibility from the cancellation of its 2021 policy conference. That was understandable, given the pandemic. Yet, AIPAC cancels again for 2022, presumably because hotels, caterers and others need to be locked down far in advance, and no one knows what will be next spring. Given the increasingly precarious position of Israel in the public eye — including, recent polls show, the Jewish public eye — it would be vital to risk the losses triggered by a last minute cancellation of a policy conference next spring, and to make the statement that AIPAC is still a massive, public, loud voice for Israel.
That voice has been radically diminished. Its loss has been felt.
We do not discount or underestimate the vital work that AIPAC continues to do, now and throughout the pandemic, in its communications with members of Congress and the press. But when all is said and done, “out of sight, out of mind.” AIPAC: We need you! We need to see you and hear you. It is a critical moment for Israel. Act now.
Copyright © 2021 by the Intermountain Jewish News
