Buerkle Making Visit to Israel Paid For By Lobbying Group

(...scratch that town hall meeting...)

Analysis-free news of Ann Marie Buerkle's questionably ethical trip to Israel via syracuse.com:

U.S. Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle to take congressional trip to Israel

by Mark Weiner, Post Standard, Thursday, August 18, 2011, syracuse.com

Washington -- U.S. Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle plans to travel to Israel on Saturday, where she will spend a week meeting Israeli and Palestinian leaders and touring the region with other members of Congress.

Buerkle, R-Onondaga Hill, will be making her first foreign trip as a member of Congress, but taxpayers will not have to pick up the bill.

All of the expenses for travel and lodging will be paid by the American Israel Education Foundation, said Liza Lowery, a spokeswoman for Buerkle. The nonprofit group is affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, a powerful lobbying group in Washington.

...

“Israel is a vital ally and strategic partner of the United States.” Buerkle said in a statement today. “As a member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, I am looking forward to having a comprehensive dialogue with senior officials about how America can continue to play a constructive role in helping address the challenges of the region.”

Analysis syracuse.com should have offered:

from Desertpeace [desertpeace.wordpress.com]

by Saed Bannoura, August 14, 2011 

One fifth of Congress on tour of Israel as America's economy falters

81 US lawmakers in Israel on ‘tour’ sponsored by Zionist lobbying group                                                                                                                
One-fifth of the US Congress is currently in Israel on a free trip sponsored by the American Israel Educational Foundation, an affiliate of the largest Zionist lobby in the US: the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. 

Although accepting free trips from lobbyists is illegal for Congress members under US anti-graft and corruption laws, the trips to Israel have been granted a special exception by the Congress.

The Congress members, led by Representative Steny Hoyer, will receive briefings from Israeli government officials, tour historic religious sites and receive a guided tour around Israel by Israeli tour guides intent on promoting Israeli policies in the region.

Critics of the trips argue that in addition to the issue of graft, the tours are extremely one-sided and may even provide the Congressmembers with factually false information and history, thereby misinforming their perception of the Israel-Palestine conflict.

There is no part of the tour that allows the Congressmembers to travel to the Palestinian side of the Israeli-constructed Wall independently to meet with refugees and others living under Israeli military occupation since 1967. They will, however, meet with the US-supported Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose term of office ran out two years ago, but who has thus far refused to hold new elections.

Medea Benjamin, of Code Pink for Peace, one of the groups organizing against the Congressional trips to Israel, wrote, “Going on an AIPAC-sponsored trip to Israel is the moral equivalent of using an Anglo-Boer travel company to visit apartheid-era South Africa.” [emphasis added by Blueskygirl]

She says the tour is extremely biased and one-sided, despite the claim that the Congressmembers will visit leaders ‘across the political spectrum’. Benjamin adds, “They won’t spend time with grieving Palestinians whose homes have been demolished to make way for more Jewish-only housing. They won’t spend a few hours at a checkpoint to witness how Palestinians are detained, abused and humiliated, or how this ‘thriving democracy’ forbids Palestinians from driving on Jewish-only roads. They won’t go to Gaza, where 1.5 million people are suffering under an unbearable siege, unable to travel freely, conduct business transactions across borders or even rebuild their homes destroyed by the Israeli invasion. “

Many Americans have argued that the $3 billion in direct aid and $3 billion in indirect aid provided to Israel each year by the US Congress would be better spent reviving the declining US economy.

In-depth analysis of Israel trips by former US Senator, from 2007 and still appropriate for 2011 trips:

The hidden cost of free congressional trips to Israel

Christian Science Monitor, by Jim Abourezk, January 26, 2007

SIOUX FALL, S.D.

Democrats in Congress have moved quickly – and commendably – to strengthen ethics rules. But truly groundbreaking reform was prevented, in part, because of the efforts of the pro-Israel lobby to preserve one of its most critical functions: taking members of Congress on free "educational" trips to Israel.

The pro-Israel lobby does most of its work without publicity. But every member of Congress and every would-be candidate for Congress comes to quickly understand a basic lesson. Money needed to run for office can come with great ease from supporters of Israel, provided that the candidate makes certain promises, in writing, to vote favorably on issues considered important to Israel. What drives much of congressional support for Israel is fear – fear that the pro-Israel lobby will either withhold campaign contributions or give money to one's opponent. In my own experience as a US senator in the 1970s, I saw how the lobby tries to humiliate or embarrass members who do not toe the line.

Pro-Israel groups worked vigorously to ensure that the new reforms would allow them to keep hosting members of Congress on trips to Israel. According to the Jewish Daily Forward newspaper, congressional filings show Israel as the top foreign destination for privately sponsored trips. Nearly 10 percent of overseas congressional trips taken between 2000 and 2005 were to Israel. Most are paid for by the American Israel Education Foundation, a sister organization of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the major pro-Israel lobby group.

New rules require all trips to be pre-approved by the House Ethics Committee, but Rep. Barney Frank (D) of Massachusetts says this setup will guarantee that tours of Israel continue. Ron Kampeas of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported consensus among Jewish groups that "the new legislation would be an inconvenience, but wouldn't seriously hamper the trips to Israel that are considered a critical component of congressional support for Israel."

These trips are defended as "educational." In reality, as I know from my many colleagues in the House and Senate who participated in them, they offer Israeli propagandists an opportunity to expose members of Congress to only their side of the story. The Israeli narrative of how the nation was created, and Israeli justifications for its brutal policies omit important truths about the Israeli takeover and occupation of the Palestinian territories. What the pro-Israel lobby reaps for its investment in these tours is congressional support for Israeli desires. For years, Israel has relied on billions of dollars in US taxpayer money. Shutting off this government funding would seriously impair Israel's harsh occupation.

One wonders what policies Congress might support toward Israel and the Palestinians absent the distorting influence of these Israel trips – or if more members toured Palestinian lands. America sent troops to Europe to prevent the killing of civilians in the former Yugoslavia. But when it comes to flagrant human rights violations committed by Israel, the US sends more money and shields Israel from criticism.

Congress regularly passes resolutions lauding Israel, even when its actions are deplorable, providing it political cover. Meanwhile, polls suggest most Americans want the Bush administration to steer a middle course in working for peace between Israelis and the Palestinians.

Consider, too, how the Israel lobby twists US foreign policy into a dangerous double standard regarding nuclear issues. The US rattles its sabers at Iran for its nuclear energy ambitions – and alleged pursuit of nuclear arms – while remaining silent about Israel's nuclear-weapons arsenal.

Members of Congress may not be aware just how damaging their automatic support for Israel is to America's interest. At a minimum, US policies toward Israel have cost it valuable allies in the Middle East and other parts of the Muslim world.

If Congress is serious about ethics reform, it should not protect the Israel lobby from the consequences. A totally taxpayer-funded travel budget for members to take foreign fact-finding trips, with authorization to be made by committee heads, would be an important first step toward a foreign policy that genuinely serves America.

• Jim Abourezk is a former Democratic senator from South Dakota.

Another brief analysis:

LegiStorm Blog

Record number of House members to visit Israel this August

posted by LegiStorm, Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Nearly 20 percent of all members of the House of Representatives will travel to Israel this month courtesy of the American Israel Education Foundation (AIEF), according to the Washington Post.

AIEF is the non-profit arm of the pro-Israel lobby group American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC. Although House ethics rules forbid most congressional travel paid for by lobbyists, AIPAC gets around the ban by having AIEF pay for the trips, as LegiStorm highlighted after AIEF sent a large congressional contingent to Israel in 2009.

The group has been sponsoring such trips for large groups of members in non-election years for about two decades, the Post said. This year's group of 81 House members seems to be the largest-ever contingent. There are two separate groups traveling to Israel, as the Democratic and Republican members tour the country separately. A group of 26 Democrats is currenly in Israel, and 55 Republicans will follow later this month. About 47 of the Republican members are freshman, the Post said.