While Congress wrangled over modest emergency pandemic relief for Americans, the nation of Israel receives $3.8 billion annually—and even more covert aid—with barely a whisper of debate. Any member of Congress who might question the annual U.S. subsidy for Israeli militarization knows that he or she will incur the wrath of AIPAC and other Israel lobby groups. The lobby patrols the Congress to ensure that Israel, a small country of some nine million people, remains by far the largest recipient of U.S. foreign assistance since World War II., U.S,. aid enables Israeli apartheid, new settlements in illegally occupied territories and ongoing violent repression of Palestinians. Meanwhile, American citizens who question illegal Israeli policies and engage in nonviolent protest movements such as BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) are accused of being anti-Semites, and their free speech rights threatened.

This web-based conference considers whether the United States should cut off aid to Israel or make any such assistance conditional on negotiation of a genuine peace settlement, respect for Palestinian human rights, and adherence to international law. Wrapping around the annual meeting of the Israel lobby group J Street, the webinar will address U.S. financial support of Israel, the strengths and weaknesses of “liberal” lobby groups like J Street, prospects for a one- or two-state solution, and the progress of free speech organizations, the BDS movement and other forms of resistance, including solidarity between Palestinian activism and the Black Lives Matter movement.

Topics: Experts will address the following questions: How has the Israel lobby further captured key nodes of U.S. government policymaking? Why is U.S. policy so expensive, destructive and unrepresentative of the will of the American people? How are a handful of politicians now successfully running against previously unquestioned, longstanding Israel lobby platforms? What rules do reporters follow when they tell the truth about U.S. policy and the lobby? Why do U.S. presidents sign secret letters promising not to publicly discuss Israel’s clandestine nuclear weapons program? Why does the U.S. give more foreign aid to Israel than to any other country, and how is the makeup of that aid changing? What, if anything, does the U.S. get out of its so-called “special relationship” with Israel? How are human rights groups working to “de-Israelize” state and local governments? What is the Israel lobby doing to provoke an armed U.S. confrontation with Iran? What else is the lobby doing to improve Israel’s strategic position in the region? Why are assertions that Israel and the U.S. have “shared values” made, and are these assertions accurate?

Theme: Expert speakers addressed the Israel lobby’s agenda, whether the U.S. is supporting an apartheid state, how supporting Israeli violations of international law impacts the U.S., the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act, Israel lobby suppression of free speech and academic freedom on campus, how and when Christian evangelicals became Zionists, Israeli societal trends, the Palestinian BDS campaign, the impact of Russian vs Israeli media and electoral influence, the trajectory of the CIA/Mossad relationship and whether the U.S. can be persuaded to attack Iran to advance Israel’s strategic position.

Theme: Experts spoke about US foreign aid to Israel, what has changed, legislation against BDS, overcoming the Israel lobby in Congress, a Palestinian perspective on the "peace process," the documentary film "Two Blue Lines," "strategies to push back on Hollywood stereotypes," Israel lobby funding Islamophobia, "fake" peace processing, viewing the Israel-Palestine conflict through the lens of "settler colonialism," and an undercover investigative journalism series on covert Israel/lobby operations in the UK.

Theme: Expert panelists and keynote speakers analyzed the enormous impact Israel’s influence has on Congress, establishment media, academia and other major institutions.

Theme: This unprecedented gathering focused on the Israel lobby in America. How big is it? How fast has it grown? How interconnected are the organizations and individuals? How much revenue does it raise and where does the money go? What are the common objectives of the lobby? What laws apply to lobbying to benefit a foreign government, and are they vigorously enforced? Do coordinated campaign contributions cause American policymakers to act more on behalf of Israel than the United States? What fallacies underlie the assertions that U.S. and Israeli interests are the same? What are the Israel lobby’s public and private, short-and-medium-term policy objectives? And what can Americans who do not believe pro-Israel slogans, activities and policy objectives do?