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INSIDE AIPAC: The Bowels Of Convention |
President Bush addressed AIPAC conference attendees, the Tuesday morning of May 18th.
He arrived at 8:58am. Spoke until 9:28am. His remarks hit newswires by 9:32am. His message was consistent to speeches from the past. The President reminded AIPAC he renewed his commitment from Auschwitz, "mankind must come together to fight such dark impulses," anti-semitism.
The president spoke about blood left on the streets of Jerusalem, and other cities; Leon Klinghoffer, the wheelchair bound elderly jew executed rolled off a cruise ship into the sea; Daniel Pearl, the jewish journalist beheaded in editorial pursuit; and most recently, Nicholas Berg, the jewish Pennsylvanian raised on American ideals different from tribal cultures.
The President made no mention in his speech of Bus 19 standing floors beneath him.
The President's speech writers, contacted before National Day of Prayer, were advised ZAKA and Christians For Israel had joined together in historic unity. Chris Michel, in the speech writer's office, who fielded the call, said "Call me with details the week prior to the event."
The follow up call was made. The requested email was sent, detailing the event, Bus 19's sponsors, ZAKA, the volunteer orthodox corps retrieving body bits at terrorist sites for burial, Christians For Israel supporting Israel's right to exist peacefully in the Holy Land. The writers were made aware the bombed bus shell , detonated in political fratricide, January 29th, 8:38am, was one block from where the President's envoy on the roadmap to peace, John Wolf, met with Sharon. Two graphic photos of Bus 19's murdered were sent along to make the point a thousand words could not.
The President's National Day of Prayer official remarks were sent out hours after the President's joint remarks with His Majesty King Abdullah II of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. There was no mention of Bus 19 standing a few miles east of the White House. The President thanked Abdullah for advice explaining America's position on the roadmap to peace to Palestinian Prime Minister Mr. Queria. President Bush said the world must recognize the possibility of a Palestinian state "attuned to the cultures and to the Palestinian people."
AIPAC was looming. A third call was placed to the President's speech writers. They remembered the little bus from Israel with a Big Picture message about terrorism in Israel, a lesson for America. They remembered the murdered. They could not forget the photos making the point AIPAC convened to fight, terrorism murdering Israeli Jews. One photo showed a woman's body on the road. Her right leg was ripped off mid thigh. The second photo was of a man. Nicholas Berg's decapitation has become almost Hollywood. The body of a man, cut in half, is horrifying. The writer, referencing the President's slide in polls, ended the call, "thank you for looking out for the President."
The President's speech writers, focusing on Jews dying outside of Israel, ignored three days of AIPAC attendees filed in silence, past Bus 19, AIPAC's "Strategic Terrorism Tour" in the bowels of the DC convention center. Banners they marched past named the murderer, the murdered. Thin black lettering, elegant on white backing prophesized a memorial wall may be chiselled in marble stone, someday. Bus 19 showed 850 young future leaders of America, and maturing attendees, what Palestinian hate looks like after a bomb murderer detonates himself next to a man reading Psalms.
Two floors above, it was as if Egged Bus 19 was all but forgotten as AIPAC attendees rushed to shake the President's hand and digitally memorialize themselves with him. There was no chant of "Bus 19."
The newswire transcripts notated applause rang throughout the President's remarks. "Our nation is stronger and safer because we have a true and dependable ally in Israel." Applause. "By defending the freedom and prosperity and security of Israel, you're also serving the cause of America." Applause. The President told AIPAC attendees the message to pass on at their 500 meetings scheduled at the Senate and House, "A free, prosperous and secure Israel is in this nation's national interest," He manifested his vision of a "Middle East where young Israelis and Palestinians can play and learn and grow without living in the shadow of death." Concluding, "May God bless Israel."
National Day of Prayer came and went. As did AIPAC. Dogma came before God. Maimonides said, "Accept the truth regardless of its source ". Jews, a mom once said, "actions speak louder than words." Her son was one of the murdered commuters of Egged Bus 19.
Bio: Carrie Devorah is a DC based investigative photojournalist. Her brother, Yechezkel Chezi Scotty Goldberg, is the first Canadian murdered in the bus bombings in Jerusalem. Bus 19 stood at the Hague in front of the International World Court of Justice prior to arriving in America for May 6th. Devorah says "My brother is one of eleven commuters on this bus who bought One Way Tickets to their death. January 29th terrorism murdered 11 jews in Israel. The world has failed to acknowledge this tragedy is not a Jew problem but a problem of good people defending against bad people. Maybe prayer will succeed where politics is failing."
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