FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 7, 2020

CONTACT:

IfNotNow: Yonah Lieberman, press@ifnotnowmovement.org 

MoveOn: Anna Zuccaro, press@moveon.org 

Working Families Party: Rob Duffey, rduffey@workingfamilies.org

Last night, Senator Elizabeth Warren became the first candidate vying for the Democratic nomination to firmly commit to skip AIPAC’s annual conference this coming March. The commitment was made in response to a question by IfNotNow member, Sarah O’Connor, at a town hall in Derry, New Hampshire. The question was the first move in the newly announced #SkipAIPAC campaign, anchored by a number of progressive groups including IfNotNow, MoveOn, and Working Families Party. Last year, MoveOn waged a similar campaign that was successful in getting candidates to skip the organization’s annual conference. 

AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee) is a right-wing lobby group that gives platforms to antisemites like Pastor John Hagee, who said God sent Hitler, Islamophobes like Steve Emerson, who has spent decades spreading anti-Muslim misinformation, and white nationalists like Rep. Steve King. AIPAC also promotes fringe Middle East policies that put it squarely out of touch with the majority of Democratic primary voters, such as promoting Trump’s “peace” plan which greenlights Israel’s annexation policy, spending tens of millions of dollars opposing the successful diplomatic initiative with Iran culminating in the JCPOA, and excusing Israel’s illegal settlements on Palestinian land.

“Israel’s decades-long occupation has eroded the bipartisan consensus on Israel and AIPAC, in a last-ditch effort to maintain influence, now anchors an unholy alliance with antisemites, Islamophobes and white nationalists,” said IfNotNow co-founder, Emily Mayer, “This unholy alliance shields the Israeli government from any consequences for its actions and pushes for a blank check that has had disastrous effects for both Palestinians and Israelis. No Democrat should give AIPAC political cover with their presence.”

“We urged presidential candidates to skip the AIPAC conference in 2019 and they agreed because of the Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, militarism, and right-wing partisan politics AIPAC has come to represent,” said MoveOn Senior Political Advisor Dan Kalik. “MoveOn’s millions of members expect a Democratic candidate who will lay out a diplomacy-first foreign policy that prioritizes human rights and racial justice over partisan fights—and who, just like last year, will skip conferences opposed to those values.”

"This is a test of moral leadership for the presidential field,” said Working Families Party National Director Maurice Mitchell. “AIPAC has given a platform to toxic bigotry and provided cover for right-wing nationalists like Donald Trump and Benjamin Netenyahu. We call on presidential candidates to skip AIPAC's conference and to embrace a progressive vision where all people, including Palestinians and Israelis, can thrive."

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IfNotNow Movement is organizing in key states to expose the occupation as a moral crisis within the American Jewish community, end the weaponization of antisemitism in the political debate over Israel, and create political space for leaders who will stand up for the freedom and dignity for all Israelis and Palestinians. Find out more at www.ifnotnowmovement.org