Kesher Talk

AIPAC tries to reach out to the Black left: The kooky black newspaper The Final Call reports that "the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is making special overtures toward influential Black leaders, including the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC)."

As part of its annual Washington convention activities, AIPAC "honored" CBC chair Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) and the rest of the Caucus at a special dinner March 30, attended by roughly 1,000 AIPAC donors from around the country," JTA Global News Service of the Jewish People reported May 13.

Then, on April 24 in New York, hip hop music producer Russell Simmons attended a luncheon with AIPAC Executive Director Howard Kohr and other Jewish leaders.

The various meetings grew out of Black concerns about the Jewish community’s roles in the 2002 primary election defeats of Reps. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.) and Earl Hilliard (D-Ala.), both of whom were vocal critics of U.S. policies favoring Israel before they were defeated by candidates who received strong financial backing from AIPAC members living outside of the contested districts.

See Kesher Talk's Subject Index for more on those two episodes (filed under "Defeating Anti-Israelis in Congress").

posted by William @ 6/16/2003 08:46:49 AM