EMET Expresses its Profound Disappointment in AIPAC’s Abandonment of their Mission

EMET EXPRESSES ITS PROFOUND DISAPPOINTMENT IN AIPAC’S ABANDONMENT OF THEIR MISSION

(Washington, D.C., June 12, 2020) EMET expresses profound disappointment to hear of reports that AIPAC has given its blessing to members of Congress to criticize the Israeli government’s consideration of applying sovereignty to 30 percent of Judea and Samaria, as well as the Jordan Valley. That 30 percent represents the heartland of Israel, and the topographical high ground of the Jordan Valley affords Israel an indispensable strategic vantage point. These are areas critical to Israel in order for it to maintain defensible borders, a long agreed upon goal among supporters of the Jewish State and the international community.

Reports of AIPAC’s position, if true, reflect a policy counterproductive to the Trump Administration’s historic Peace to Prosperity plan and, perhaps most regrettably, a betrayal of the organization’s own mission to “protect and promote the US-Israel relationship” and to “educate decision makers about the bonds that unite the United States and Israel.”

As a pro-America, pro-Israel organization that shares many of AIPAC’s traditional goals and whose supporters have often been members of AIPAC, EMET speaks for many in the pro-Israel community who are disturbed to hear of AIPAC’s break from longstanding tradition to respect the Israeli government’s autonomy in deciding how to secure its own future.

It is the people of Israel who have gone to the polls and voted for a Likud government, and their leaders know best how to protect and defend the state of Israel from its many existential threats. It is the people of Israel who have to live with the consequences of any proposal on the table.

Israel has had to endure 27 years of failed promises from the Palestinians since the Oslo Accords were signed. The paradigm of “land for peace” has proven to be an abject failure. The incredibly generous offer made at Camp David in July of 2000 has been used as a baseline for even more generous subsequent offers. These have only been met with Palestinian intransigence and waves of violence.

The withdrawal from Gaza in 2005 only served to create a “Hamasastan,” from which the Israeli people have had to endure thousands of incendiary devices and missiles. This withdrawal has prompted three wars and the tragic loss of life on both sides has only served to sadly prove once again, that Israel does not have a true partner for peace.

We sincerely hope that AIPAC will return to its proud history of promoting Israel’s security interests as determined by the Israeli government and cease to appease far-left radical members of the Democratic caucus who have blatantly and proudly turned their backs on Israel. EMET will always stand for Israeli security, Jewish sovereignty, and American values.

Says Sarah Stern, Founder and President of EMET, “The state of Israel, with defensible borders, is the greatest strategic security asset for the United States in today’s volatile Middle East against our common enemies, principally Iran. The need for Israel to have defensible borders so it can protect itself, by itself, has never been greater than it is today, particularly during this period of the Iranian quest for hegemony and of American retrenchment. We hope that AIPAC will return to its original mission of defending the democratically elected government of the state of Israel.”