Program for the “Israel Lobby and American Policy” Conference
The March 24 all-day conference “The Israel Lobby and American Policy” at the National Press Club features the following 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 Professor Katherine Franke: 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.
5:30-7:30 PM Networking Reception & Book Signings: Wajahat Ali, Hanan Ashrawi, Ilan Pappé and Clayton Swisher.
This conference is dedicated to the memory of U.S. Ambassador Andrew I. Killgore, publisher of theWashington Report on Middle East Affairs.
View more information at the conference website and purchase tickets online atIsraelLobbyAndAmericanPolicy
Members of the news media can apply for press credentials online to enter and cover this event athttp://
All attendees receive a box lunch and a beverage ticket for the post-conference networking reception.
The Israel Lobby and American Policy conference is solely sponsored by the American Educational Trust, publisher of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, and the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy (IRmep).
