Justin Amash, Israel and AIPAC
November 29, 2010
tags: AIPAC, Arab American Institute, Justin Amash
by Jeff Smith (GRIID)
Yesterday, the Grand Rapids Press ran a short blurb mentioning that the Arab American Institute (AAI) considers Justin Amash’s election to Congress as a victory, since Amash himself is an Arab American.
The Press coverage of the 3rd Congressional race did not make the ethnicity of Amash an issue during the election campaign and did not mention that some of his largest donors were Arab American business owners such as the owner of Martha’s Vineyard in Grand Rapids.
The AAI considers the election of Amash as a victory since it increases the number of Arab Americans in Congress. One can certainly argue that increasing the racial diversity of Congress is an improvement, but racial diversity alone does not mean that there will be an improvement with major policy decisions.
For instance, the AAI also supports a more progressive or liberal position when it comes to US foreign policy with countries such as Iraq, Lebanon and with Palestine. Amash himself did not have a well-developed position on Israel/Palestine on his website during the campaign, but what content he did have, was not terribly consistent with what the AAI advocates. More important was a position paper that Amash wrote concerning US/Israeli relations.
The position paper is written with language that emphasizes the need for Israel to have security and it condemns the use of violence and terrorism to achieve political gains for Palestinians. The position paper goes on to criticize Iran’s desire to develop any nuclear capability, but fails to mention that Israel already possesses nuclear weapons.
In many ways the position paper by Amash reads like it was written by the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). In fact, AIPAC may have played a role in writing the position paper by Justin Amash, since it is mentioned as part of an announcement about an AIPAC event in Grand Rapids that will include comments from Rep. Amash.
The announcement appears on Facebook and states “Representative-elect Amash worked closely with AIPAC throughout his campaign.†The announcement also states, “In addition to regularly speaking with AIPAC’s leaders in West Michigan and meeting with AIPAC’s professional staff, Representative-elect Amash traveled to Detroit to attend both the annual AIPAC Michigan Community Event in May and the AIPAC Michigan Annual Brunch in October. We value Representative-elect Amash’s friendship and look forward to continuing to work closely with him.â€
The AIPAC meeting with Rep. Justin Amash will be held at Temple Emanuel in Grand Rapids and is open to the public at 7pm on December 13. GRIID plans on being there to report on what happens during the AIPAC-sponsored public forum, but it already seems clear that despite his Arab heritage, Amash is clearly in the pro-Israeli camp.
https://griid.org/2010/11/29/justin-amash-israel-and-aipac/ 
