Aipac Forum, Day 3: Your Refrigerators Are No Good Here
Before loading the buses en route to Capitol Hill, Aipac delegates got a dose of reality with Vice President Biden reminding the pro-Israel activists just what it is the administration believes in.
Biden, it turns out, doesn’t necessarily buy into the Peres–Netanyahu doctrine of moving forward with the peace process without mentioning the term “Palestinian state.” Speaking on the last day of the Aipac policy conference, Biden actually used the term “two-state solution” and went on to say: “You’re not going to like my saying this, but [do] not build more settlements.”
This message is coming not only from the administration. Senator John Kerry, speaking in advance of Biden’s address, made a similar point: “Settlements make it difficult for Israel to protect its own citizens,” said the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
But while differences might exist with the administration, one thing is clear: The Israelis felt perfectly at home. President Shimon Peres told the Israeli press that the atmosphere was so warm that “even all the refrigerators in the world could not chill it.”
Maybe it sounds better in Hebrew.
To watch video from the Aipac conference, or to read transcripts of the addresses given there, click here.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO