Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Seeking to build a bridge with New Delhi, a delegation of the powerful pro-Israel lobbying group at the Capitol Hill met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last evening. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s current agenda is to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, isolate the Hamas-led Palestinian government and seek greater security for Israel.
Led by former AIPAC president Amy Friedkin — who has a good rapport with US President George W Bush, Vice-President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, former president Bill Clinton — the entire management board made its first trip to India.
Ministry of External Affairs officials said that the group exchanged notes with Manmohan Singh.
Earlier, the AIPAC team met Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma — External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee was in Kabul yesterday — and was taken around Parliament House. The AIPAC, founded during the Eisenhower Administration, is known to have enormous clout at the Capitol Hill.
In fact, as Defence Minister, Pranab Mukherjee met the AIPAC delegation on the sidelines of the UNGA session in New York last year while Manmohan Singh was busy with the NAM summit.
Although the AIPAC was initially instrumental in injecting the Iran issue into the Indo-US nuclear deal, the 100,000-member strong lobby group later supported the deal. The group wants to act as a bridge between India and Israel to rule out any misunderstanding on global issues.
