THE ISRAEL LOBBY AND AMERICAN POLICY
Program
8:00-9:00 AM
Registration and “Two Blue Lines”:
A documentary film screening in the Ballroom. Exhibition hall opens
in adjacent Holeman Lounge.
9:00 AM
Conference Organizer Welcoming Remarks
9:10 AM Grant Smith:
The series of stunning—but underreported—polls revealing true
American attitudes about U.S. aid to
Israel
and other top
American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) programs.
9:40 AM Keynote—Professor
John Mearsheimer:
What
has changed in the decade since his book
The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy
was published.
Subsequent findings, foreign policy choices the U.S. makes that it
otherwise would not—if not for Israel—and what the new
administration could do differently in the future that would better
serve broader American interests.
10:30 AM
Maria LaHood:
Recent
legislation that threatens the First Amendment rights of Palestinian
solidarity activists in the U.S. and the legal challenges thereto.
11:00 AM Morning Break
11:15 AM Former Congressman
Jim Moran
(D-VA):
What it takes to beat the Israel lobby in Congress.
11:40 AM Former Congressman
Nick Rahall
(D-WV):
How to support the members of Congress who are beginning to listen
to their constituents
on
Middle East
policy issues.
12:15 PM Lunch Break & Screening of selections from the four-part Al
Jazeera six-month undercover investigative series “The Lobby.”
Jack Shaheen and John Mearsheimer book signings.
1:00 PM Keynote—Hanan
Ashrawi:
The Israel lobby and the “peace process" from a Palestinian
perspective.
1:40 PM
Tom Hayes:
Challenges and changes in 25 years working on Israel-Palestine
issues and advice for independent filmmakers. The documentary
producer screens and comments on selections from his latest film,
“Two Blue Lines.”
2:10 PM
Jack Shaheen:
Strategies to successfully push back against harmful
Hollywood
stereotypes about Arabs and Muslims, and the work new
generations must now take on.
2:40 PM
Wajahat Ali:
The
intersection of pro-Israel
organizations & donors and Islamophobia uncovered as the lead
author and researcher of the report "Fear, Inc: The Roots of the
Islamophobia Network in America."
3:15 PM Afternoon Break
3:30 PM
Khalil Jahshan:
The Israel lobby and “fake peace processing.”
4:00 PM Conference organizer remarks
4:15 PM Keynote—Professor
Ilan Pappé:
The
value of viewing
Israel-Palestine
through the lens of settler-colonialism, how Zionist myths
have been shaped and/or perpetuated by the
Israel
lobby, and what framework is necessary to overcome these
myths and ensure that efforts to resolve the "conflict" are grounded
in reality.
5:00 PM
Clayton Swisher:
The director of investigative journalism for Al Jazeera Media
Network screens and comments on selections from “The Lobby," the
four-part series about the Israeli Embassy’s covert influence
campaign in Britain. This undercover investigation reveals how the
Israeli Embassy sought to establish supposedly "independent”
pro-Israel groups in England, AIPAC's efforts to establish itself in
London, unfounded accusations of anti-Semitism lodged against Labour
Party members, and discussions by disgraced former Israeli diplomat
Shai Masot to "take down" UK lawmakers deemed hostile to Israel.