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The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), sometimes dubbed in the U.S. press as the “Israel lobby,” is being courted this week by Ariel Sharon’s second-in-command, Ehud Olmert, to present Sharon’s Retreat Plan.
Olmert, Israel’s Minister of Trade and Communications, gave an interview on The Voice of Yisrael government radio early morning on May 13th.
He announced on air that he will address the AIPAC annual conference on Sunday, May 16th with the clear message that the Israeli government will indeed implement The Sharon Retreat Plan.
In answer to a question about whether he would honor the results of the May 2nd Likud referendum which rejected the Sharon Retreat Plan, Olmert candidly stated that he will inform AIPAC and the U.S. government that Sharon will ignore the results of the referendum, because he had “the better interests of the people of Israel in mind.”
Last week, the press spokesman of AIPAC announced that AIPAC would not issue a policy statement in support of the Sharon Retreat Plan, because the Sharon Retreat Plan was not ratified by the Likud referendum.
In other words, AIPAC respects Israel’s democratic principles while Israel’s Prime Minister does not.
This was why following AIPAC’s withdrawal of support of his plan, Prime Minister Sharon cancelled his scheduled policy address to AIPAC, and sent Ehud Olmert in his place.
So there you have it.
Sharon could not get his Retreat Plan approved by the Israeli government.
Sharon could not get his Retreat Plan approved by the Israeli Knesset.
Sharon could not get his Retreat Plan approved by the Likud Party Central Committee.
Sharon could not get his Retreat Plan approved by the Likud referendum.
Sharon could not get his Retreat Plan endorsed by AIPAC.
The next questions remain:
Since it is openly the policy of AIPAC to support the democratically elected government of Israel, and since Ehud Olmert does not represent the approved policy of the government of Israel, will AIPAC invite another senior Israeli government minister in the spirit of equal time in a democratic system of government who opposes the Sharon Plan?
