News Release

*Obama in Latin America* Assessing AIPAC

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President Obama is making his first trip south of the U.S. border since February of 2014. On April 9, he will be in Kingston, Jamaica for meetings with Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller and the leaders of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), an organization made up of 15 Caribbean governments. Then on April 10 and 11, he will be in Panama City, Panama where he’ll participate in the seventh Summit of the Americas alongside the leaders of every independent government in the hemisphere including — for the first time — the Republic of Cuba.

MARK WEISBROT, via Dan Beeton, beeton at cepr.net, @Dan_Beeton
Weisbrot is co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, which has just released a primer on Obama’s trip. Weisbrot also just wrote the pieces “Obama Should Put an End to Extreme Austerity in Jamaica” and “Obama Could Face Another Disastrous Summit Due to Sanctions Against Venezuela.”

There has been a great deal of discussion of the U.S.-Israeli relationship recently. On Friday, an all-day conference at the National Press Club examines “The Israel Lobby: Is It Good for the U.S.? Is It Good for Israel?

For more information on the conference or to arrange an interview with the organizers or participants, contact: Delinda C. Hanley, news_editor at wrmea.org or Grant F. Smith.

Participants include:

Miko Peled is an Israeli writer and activist living in the U.S.; he is author of The General’s Son: Journey of an Israeli in Palestine. Former congressman Paul Findley is the author of They Dare To Speak Out: People and Institutions Confront Israel’s LobbyNick Rahall is a former member of congress from West Virginia. Paul Pillar is a nonresident senior fellow at the Center for Security Studies at Georgetown University. M.J. Rosenberg is a writer, primarily on matters relating to Israel; he is former editor of AIPAC’s Near East Report and as senior adviser to then-Executive Director Thomas Dine. Seth Morrison has held leadership posts in various local, regional and national Jewish organizations, starting in college as a youth leader in Young Judea. He is currently active in Jewish Voice for Peace.

Amani Alkhatahtbeh is the founding editor-in-chief of MuslimGirl.net. Gideon Levy is a columnist for the Israeli daily Haaretz and a member of its editorial board.

Grant F. Smith is the director of the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy and is the author of two unofficial histories about the American Israel Public Affairs Committee: America’s Defense Line: The Justice Department’s Battle to Register the Israel Lobby as Agents of a Foreign Government and Foreign Agents: AIPAC from the 1963 Fulbright Hearings to the 2005 Espionage Scandal.

See the full list of speakers and other information on the conference.