Otra vez Estados Unidos...

Sergio E. González Gálvez*

https://www.jornada.com.mx/2020/02/22/opinion/022a1mun

En otra situación entre México y Estados Unidos, que podría causar un desencuentro con posibles consecuencias negativas para nosotros, está el comentario sin sentido hecho por Hugo Rodríguez, subsecretario adjunto para asuntos del hemisferio occidental del Departamento de Estado de nuestros vecinos, en una sesión del subcomité correspondiente de la Cámara de Representantes, encargado de evaluar la eventual asistencia en materia de seguridad a México, ahora que prácticamente el Plan Mérida ha desaparecido, advirtiendo que si México compra helicópteros a Rusia, como se comentó durante la reciente visita a nuestro país del canciller ruso Serguei Lavrov, país con el que tenemos añejas relaciones, podemos ser objeto de sanciones bajo la Ley para contrarrestar a los adversarios mediante sanciones, aprobada en julio de 2017.

Califico dicha declaración de absurda, por varias razones: primero que nada por la ilegalidad de tratar de aplicar su ley en forma extraterritorial contra otro Estado soberano; segundo, por calificarnos como adversarios dado el complejo vínculo que nos une a ellos, excesivo si me preguntan mi opinión, incluyendo el plano militar con una serie de convenios que, según entendemos, no funcionan o ellos nos han impedido que funcionen normalmente.

Aunque eso no nos atañe, el comentario del citado señor Rodríguez, funcionario de bajo nivel en el Departamento de Estado –algo que sé por mis años como diplomático–, significa que hemos llegado tan bajo en el trato con los herederos de Lincoln, que ya cualquiera nos quiere tratar de asustar públicamente con sanciones, con una ley –oigan esto– que legalmente no nos aplica; el cuate ese al parecer no ha leído o no ha entendido las cláusulas o el sentido de la ley citada que específicamente habla de que su ámbito de aplicación es evitar que se proporcionen recursos a Rusia para la construcción o expansión de tuberías para exportar petróleo,o financiar diferentes productos a Siria.

En consecuencia, creemos que deben buscarse mejores fórmulas para convivir entre nosotros como vecinos y amigos, aunque sé que para una potencia es muy difícil ser comprensiva en su trato hacia otros países, pero la controvertida historia entre México y Estados Unidos, y el futuro y posibilidades de esa relación merecen una reflexión especial que cristalice en acciones que unan más a nuestros pueblos, respetando estrictamente el marco jurídico que nos rige como miembros de la comunidad internacional.

*Embajador emérito de México, quien escribe a título personal

The algorithm is watching you

Eyal Weizman

19 FEBRUARY 2020

LRB BLOG

https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2020/february/the-algorithm-is-watching-you?

Eyal Weizman is the founding director of Forensic Architecture, a research agency based at Goldsmiths, University of London, that undertakes advanced spatial and media investigations into cases of human rights violations. What follows is an edited version of a statement presented on his behalf in Miami this evening.

Today I was meant to be at the Museum of Art and Design in Miami to open Forensic Architecture’s first major survey exhibition in the United States, True to Scale. But last Wednesday, 12 February, two days before my scheduled flight to the US, I was informed in an email from the US embassy that my visa waiver had been revoked and I was not authorized to travel to the United States. The revocation notice gave no reason and no opportunity to appeal.

It was also a family trip. My wife, Ines Weizman was scheduled to give talks in the US herself. She and our two children traveled the day before I was supposed to go. On arrival at JFK, Ines was separated from the children and interrogated by immigration officials for two and a half hours before being allowed entry.

The following day I went to the US embassy in London to apply for a visa. In my interview, the officer informed me that my authorization to travel had been revoked because the ‘algorithm’ had identified a security threat. He said he did not know what had triggered the algorithm but suggested that it could be something I was involved in, people I am or was in contact with, places to which I had traveled (had I recently been in Syria, Iran, Iraq, Yemen, or Somalia or met their nationals?), hotels at which I stayed, or a certain pattern of relations among these things. I was asked to supply the embassy with additional information, including 15 years of travel history, in particular where I had gone and who had paid for it. The officer said that Homeland Security investigators could assess my case more promptly if I supplied the names of anyone in my network whom I believed might have triggered the algorithm. I declined to provide this information.

This much we know: we are being electronically monitored for a set of connections – the network of associations, people, places, calls, and transactions – that make up our lives. Such network analysis poses many problems, some of which are well known. Working in human rights means being in contact with vulnerable communities, activists and experts, and being entrusted with sensitive information. These networks are the lifeline of any investigative work. I am alarmed that relations among our colleagues, stakeholders, and staff are being targeted by the US government as security threats.

This incident exemplifies – in a far less intense manner and at a much less drastic scale – critical aspects of the ‘arbitrary logic of the border’ that the Forensic Architecture exhibition in Miami seeks to expose. The racialized violations of the rights of migrants at the US southern border are of course much more serious and brutal than the procedural difficulties a UK national may experience, and these migrants have very limited avenues for accountability when contesting the violence of the US border.

As I would have announced in today’s lecture, the exhibition is an occasion for Forensic Architecture to launch a joint investigation with local groups into human rights violations at the Homestead detention center in Florida, where migrant children have been held in what activists describe as ‘regimented, austere and inhumane conditions’.

In our practice, exhibitions are treated as alternative forums for accountability, ways of informing the public about serious human rights violations. They are also opportunities to share with local activists and community groups the methods and techniques we have assembled over years of work in the field.

True to The scale includes an investigation into a CIA drone strike in Pakistan that was presented by a UN Special Rapporteur in the General Assembly; an analysis of the Chicago police killing of a barber that lead to an investigation by the mayor and the city’s police department; and an inquiry into the Israeli bombing of Rafah in Gaza that informed the International Criminal Court’s recent decision to open an investigation into the possibility of Israeli war crimes in occupied Palestine. The exhibition presents other investigations with communities and human rights collaborators in Germany, Venezuela, the Mediterranean, and Syria.

Our work seeks to demonstrate that we can invert the forensic gaze and turn it against the actors – police, military, secret service, border agencies – that aim to monopolize information. But in employing the counter-forensic gaze one is also exposed to a higher level monitoring by the very state agencies investigated.

How Jewish American pedophiles hide from justice in Israel

Ian Lee

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/how-jewish-american-pedophiles-hide-from-justice-in-israel/ar-BB109TDl

Tel Aviv — It's a tense stakeout, waiting for Jimmy Julius Karow to appear. He is a wanted man and is considered dangerous. Accused of sexually assaulting a 9-year-old girl in Oregon in 2000, he fled to Israel before authorities in the U.S. could apprehend him or figure out where he went. Karow has been running from U.S. law enforcement ever since. Currently INTERPOL, an inter-governmental policing organization that works with 194 countries, has a Red Notice to alert police worldwide that he's a fugitive.

Two years after he fled the U.S., Karow was convicted by an Israeli court of child molestation in a separate case. He served time and was released. Now another alleged Israeli victim has come forward, saying he began abusing her when she was 5-years-old and continued for years.

Karow has successfully evaded authorities by moving between communities in Israel for almost two decades, and he is not alone. 

A widespread problem

A CBS News investigation has found that many accused American pedophiles flee to Israel, and bringing them to justice can be difficult. 

Jewish Community Watch (JCW), an American organization that tracks accused pedophiles, has been trying for years to find Karow and help bring him to justice. 

JCW says Karow and other wanted men and women have been able to exploit a right is known as the Law of Return, whereby any Jewish person can move to Israel and automatically gain citizenship.

Since the small organization started tracking accused pedophiles in 2014, it says more than 60 have fled from the U.S. to Israel. Given its limited resources to identify these individuals, JCW says the actual number is likely much larger.

"The same thing that is going on in the Catholic Church right now around the world, the exact same thing is happening in our community," JCW's founder Meyer Seewald told CBS News. "The cover-ups are the same, the stigma, the shame."

Seewald says tightly-knit Jewish communities across the U.S. will sometimes meet accusations against a member with incredulity, and that can have a chilling effect. 

"Everyone goes and surrounds this individual and supports him because they can't believe a person can do such a crime. They take the abuser's side and the abuse continues," Seewald says. "They put him in another community. A few years later, he's done the same thing and we hear more allegations that the person is abusing children. Victims don't want to come forward when they see that."

JCW says the majority of its cases originate from modern Orthodox to Ultra-orthodox Jewish enclaves in the U.S., but that it happens across the wider Jewish community. Because perpetrators can't be held accountable unless victims come forward, many cases are believed to go unreported. To try to get them out into the light, JCW holds awareness events across the U.S. and offers victims of sexual abuse advice and emotional support.  

Mendy Hauck decided to come forward after receiving support from JCW. The father of two says he was just 8-years-old when he was molested by a teacher at his Orthodox Jewish School in Los Angeles. Hauck says the abuse started one day when a friend brought in cookies for his birthday. 

"I actually went ahead and reached for the biggest cookie and he said, 'Put it back and you could come back by recess and get your cookie,'" Hauck said. "So after he handed out the rest of the cookies to the other classmates, I had to stay behind if I wanted my cookie, and I did. He called me up to his desk... and that's when he started... rubbing me."

His alleged abuser is Mordechai Yomtov, a then-35-year-old Hebrew teacher. 

"I jumped backward like a step or two and he grabbed my hair and said, 'it's fine, you can come close. I won't hurt you. There is nothing wrong,' and he did it again," Hauck recalls. 

Hauck says the abuse continued over the course of the year. He says he felt trapped, with nowhere to turn.

When the year finished, Hauck moved on to the next grade. That's when Yomtov's crimes caught up to him. In 2001, police arrested and charged him with committing lewd acts with three of his other students, ranging in age from 8 to 10. But Hauck never told anyone about his ordeal until years later.

Yomtov eventually pled guilty, served time in jail and was released on probation. But once free, he violated his probation by fleeing to Israel via Mexico.

JCW tracked him down and confronted him in Jerusalem with a hidden camera. Yomtov admitted that he violated his probation and illegally fled the United States, with help. He also said that in Mexico he obtained a fake passport in order to travel to Israel, where he lives illegally. 

Yomtov denied abusing Hauck, but offered a general apology to his victims, saying: "I'm very, very sorry. I hope that God will help every single person who went through this. Please forgive me."

It wasn't until 2016, when another alleged victim of Yomtov and friend of Hauck's came forward, that Hauck felt compelled to tell his story. He filed a police report hoping to get justice but says the processes has been slow. For him, justice is twofold.

"I want the (LA County District Attorney) to step up their game — you know, actually fight to get him back here and give him what he deserves," he says. "And also, I want the communities to make sure this doesn't happen again."

The district attorney's office told CBS News there has been no request to extradite Yomtov back to the United States and declined any further comment. 

Red flags, more victims

Help from the community is a reoccurring theme. Rabbi Yehuda Oppenheimer knows first-hand how a pedophile is able to flee to Israel. In 2000, he unwittingly helped Karow escape.

The two met when Karow expressed interest in converting to Judaism. One day, Karow suddenly said he wanted to move to Israel. 

When asked whether there was nothing at all that raised red flags up to the point when Karow said he wanted to move to Israel, Rabbi Oppenheimer responded: "I wish I could say that [it didn't raise any red flags], but unfortunately, I can't… He [Karow] said, 'I plan to go to Israel, I need to go much more quickly than I thought I needed to go."

"He said that there was something in the past that happened when he was young but nothing had ever happened since. I felt that I could trust him. So I wrote him a letter, he bought a ticket and he left."

Oppenheimer gave Karow the contact information of family and friends in Israel to help him settle. Then one day a close friend called the rabbi. 

"I'll never know exactly what happened but something severely sexual… something happened with their daughter, and [Karow] was arrested." Oppenheimer says it felt like "a punch to the gut. It was very painful."

He says he carries that guilt to this day, and that's why he came forward with his story. He has a message for other rabbis and community leaders:

"When somebody has offended in this way, the odds are that they will do so again, no matter how kind and pious and wise and nice and charismatic they are," Oppenheimer says. "You simply can't trust them. You have to take steps to prevent, you cannot have them around youngsters, you cannot have them in your home."

One of the girls Karow allegedly abused in Israel is "Amoona." She asked us not to use her real name, to protect her family. 

"I was 5, 4 or 5 years old. My mother was on bed rest. My father is a rabbi so he wasn't home. (Karow) used to come to our house. We used to play games and then it became sexual." 

The alleged abuse took place over the course of more than two years.  A July 2019, Israeli indictment against him details allegations of severe sexual abuse, including rape and sodomy.  She says he would threaten and manipulate her to keep her quiet. 

"' I'm going to give you a cookie because you do it so nicely.' It's all about the cookie it's all about lying and it's all about being so evil to a little child," Amoona recalls him telling her. "He also threatened and to kill my parents. He would choke me. He would hold me."

Inaction, even protection? 

Amoona is angry that Karow was allowed to enter Israel in the first place, but JCW's chief operating officer Shana Aaronson says the failure begins in the United States. She says there are elements of the Jewish community in the U.S. that are willing to help pedophiles escape.

"Oftentimes there's some sort of community incentive, either somebody owes them a favor or someone in the community, let's say an institution, has covered up for them in the past and they know that if this goes to court there's a lot of civil liability coming down the line," she says.

While Aaronson puts blame on Jewish communities in the U.S. and the U.S. government for not aggressively pursuing extraditions, she says Israeli authorities have also failed to prioritize the hunt for suspects. 

She tells CBS News it would be easier for the police to locate and arrest Karow, for instance, but it has fallen instead on the JCW to track him down. 

Israel is known as a nation on the cutting edge of technology, but Shana says that it doesn't trickle down to local law enforcement. Shana says police don't request background checks of perpetrators arrested in Israel who have recently moved there from other countries. They don't even do a Google search, she says.

"The general standards and protocols for investigations by local police are poor," she says. 

JCW says the problem reaches into the upper echelons of Israeli politics as well. They note that Yaakov Litzman, leader of an ultra-orthodox alliance in Israel's legislature and the current Minister of Health has been accused of preventing the deportation of a Malka Leifer, a former headteacher at a Jewish school in Australia, where she is wanted on multiple charges of child sexual abuse.

CBS News obtained an Israeli police recommendation that says there is enough evidence against Litzman to recommend he be charged himself with fraud and breach of trust for protecting Leifer. Litzman's office told CBS News there was not any wrongdoing. It's now up to Israel's attorney general to decide whether to indict the lawmaker.

"It's a good example of the lengths the community will go," JCW's Aaronson says. "It's really disappointing and disgusting." 

Israeli police wouldn't comment on specific cases but insist they take the cases seriously, and that they coordinate "closely with the Ministry of Justice and worldwide police organizations in order to find suspects overseas."

The U.S. Department of Justice declined to comment on specific cases too but praised their relationship with Israel's law enforcement, adding sex offenders have been successfully extradited in the past. 

The stakeout

On the day of the stakeout, JCW received its best tip in months — that Karow was going to be at a clinic in Tel Aviv. They know he is 6'2" and over 200 pounds, but he could have changed his appearance, and previous attempts to capture him have failed. 

"Obviously the fear is that he'll figure out that someone is looking for him and he'll bolt," Aaronson says, clutching an old photo of JCW's target. 

An ambulance pulls up and a man steps out with a bandaged right arm. He fits the description of Karow. Aaronson's team confirms his identity and calls the police. 

Within five minutes a police officer on a motorcycle arrives and they move in to make the arrest. 

Karow is brought out by two officers. He doesn't look surprised to be in custody. We ask him if he assaulted a girl in the United States. 

"No," he replies. He denies fleeing to Israel but doesn't answer when asked if he assaulted girls in that country. He says he knows he's wanted under an international arrest warrant. 

Karow now faces charges in both Israel and the U.S. 

The District Attorney's office in Clackamas County, Oregon, told CBS News it was "working with federal authorities to secure his extradition."

Outside the clinic, Aaronson calls Amoona to share the news of Karow's capture. In Israel, victims are allowed to confront alleged offenders before trial. Amoona brought a box of the same cookies Karow used to manipulate her, to throw back at him.  

"It was good to confront him," she says. "To have that closure in my life."

Meanwhile, Mordechai Yomtov remains at large. 

El llamado Tren Maya y la ingeniería de conflictos

Magdalena Gómez

https://www.jornada.com.mx/2020/02/18/opinion/013a1pol

El próximo día 20 se cumplirá un año del artero y no investigado asesinato de Samir Flores. Este crimen marcará al actual gobierno pese a que parece no dar cuenta de ello. Numerosos pueblos están realizando acciones en todo el país y algunas en otros países, como parte de las Jornadas en Defensa del Territorio y la Madre Tierra, Samir Somos Todas y Todos, que culminará en Amilcingo, Morelos. Este movimiento es un telón de fondo, ahora que está en curso la estrategia gubernamental del llamado Tren Maya sí o sí, o va porque va, o su traducción más reciente y absurda como es la declaración del titular de Semarnat, Víctor Toledo, en el foro Naturaleza, derechos indígenas y soberanía nacional en el Istmo de Tehuantepec, en el sentido de que la consulta indígena fue totalmente legítima, a pesar de reconocer que no fue técnicamente adecuada, como marcan los estándares internacionales. Agregó: La respuesta general fue un sí condicionado.

Ya se ha escrito mucho respecto al principio de validez. Habermas, en especial, destaca que éste es la suma de los principios de legalidad y legitimidad. No uno u otro, ambos y en este caso ambos están ausentes, de donde resulta inválida la consulta oficial.

Cuando hablo de estrategia me refiero a la que evidentemente está en curso para defender la seudoconsulta a través de voces que interpelan a quienes hemos denunciado la invalidez de la misma. Mientras, el proyecto avanza y la gran mayoría de las comunidades que resultarán afectadas desconocen su impacto ambiental y cultural, y en lo inmediato, en el incremento del mercado de tierras para los polos de desarrollo que se proyectan a partir de las estaciones del llamado Tren Maya.

No es sólo con indispensables debates mediáticos como se resolverá este diferendo, ni a través de ellos las comunidades que no fueron consultadas tendrán condiciones para aceptar o rechazar el referido megaproyecto. El daño ya está hecho; la simulación de consulta ha sido consumada. Habrá que ver la postura resolutiva del juzgado primero de distrito con sede en Campeche (12/2020) el próximo 3 de marzo, respecto del amparo promovido por el Consejo Regional Indígena y Popular de Xpujil (Cripx), que cuenta con suspensión provisional. Al que seguramente le seguirán otros, impugnando justamente la validez de un proyecto que no se decidió con y desde los pueblos indígenas. Por lo pronto, de parte oficial la respuesta ha sido la descalificación y amenazas a los promotores del amparo, a través de quienes están alineados con el proyecto. Tarea que se asemeja mucho a la llamada ingeniería de conflictos, que consiste en el método clásico para mantener el control de un grupo, aumentar la visibilidad de sus diferencias internas, resaltar sus contradicciones, a fin de amplificar sus divisiones latentes y paralizar su organización. El desafío no es menor y las consecuencias de esa promoción serán responsabilidad estatal.

Sin embargo, lo determinante será la resistencia de las comunidades indígenas que han sido desplazadas en la llamada consulta y suplantadas por autoridades ejidales y municipales en las cinco entidades por las que cruzará el llamado Tren Maya, que como se ha insistido es más que un tren y aun cuando fue enunciado como plan de reordenamiento territorial ya se ha optado por no mencionar esta dimensión. El referido funcionario llamó a los opositores a no caer en el negacionismo simple y no ser inmaduros. Un día después, en un comunicado (016/20), se anunció la continuidad del esquema de tomar decisiones sin consulta: “La Semarnat está organizando la formación de comités en los 84 municipios involucrados en los proyectos, en los que se van a generar ordenamientos ecológicos participativos para desencadenar procesos de diálogo permanente con el propósito de no repetir ‘el modelo Cancún’, que es presa de enormes corporaciones turísticas”.

¿Van a formar comités sin que las comunidades indígenas den su voz? ¿Seguirán con la interlocución ejidal y municipal? ¿Cómo harán para explicar que esos comités son un mecanismo supuestamente paliativo de un daño de origen sobre una decisión viciada en torno a un proyecto que no ha sido analizado en la integralidad de sus impactos y que ante todo nunca fue consultado previamente?

De Semarnat se esperaba firmeza frente a la ausencia de estudios de impacto ambiental, ante lo cual no es suficiente con señalar que no se tumbará ningún árbol, pues el daño ya se hizo cuando se construyeron las antiguas vías del ferrocarril. Es evidente que todo el gobierno federal se ha sumado con Fonatur a la defensa del llamado Tren Maya. Mientras tanto, organizaciones, como la Asamblea de Defensores del Territorio Maya Múuch ‘Xíinbal, pese a las amenazas contra Pedro Uc Be, continúan su labor con las comunidades opositoras a éste y a otros megaproyectos devastadores de su territorio.

Samir Vive es una siembra, esperen la cosecha.

Pues sí había otros datos…

Actualización 17/02/2020

Enrique Quintana

https://www.elfinanciero.com.mx/opinion/enrique-quintana/pues-si-habia-otros-datos

Pues sí, en el caso del crecimiento de los ingresos de los sectores de menores ingresos… sí había otros datos, y estos son ofrecidos por el Inegi y el Coneval.

En diversas ocasiones he escrito en este espacio que los datos ofrecidos por el IMSS muestran un crecimiento de los ingresos reales.

Las cifras al mes de enero indican un alza de 3.1 por ciento de los salarios reales y de 1.6 por ciento en el empleo total. Es decir, la masa salarial real tuvo un crecimiento anual real de 4.7 por ciento en el primer mes de este año.

Sin embargo, hay quienes cuestionan, con justa razón, que estas cifras corresponden solo al sector formal de la economía. Se trata de 20.5 millones de trabajadores, que representan solo 37 por ciento de la población ocupada.

A partir de la semana pasada, que el Inegi publicó la Encuesta Nacional de Ocupación y Empleo (ENOE) correspondiente al cuarto trimestre de 2019, ya podemos obtener una aproximación del ingreso promedio de la población ocupada total, independientemente de que sean asalariados o no asalariados y de que estén en la formalidad o sean informales.

De acuerdo con los datos de la ENOE, se puede estimar en el cuarto trimestre del año pasado un ingreso promedio de 7 mil 337 pesos mensuales para los 55.7 millones de ocupados en México, mientras que 12 meses antes era de 6 mil 963 pesos. Esto significa un crecimiento real de 2.5 por ciento el año pasado.

Si consideramos el aumento de 2.7 por ciento en la población ocupada total, se puede estimar que hubo un incremento real del ingreso de los hogares en México de 5.2 por ciento.

Estas cifras son consistentes con los datos que la semana pasada dio a conocer el Coneval, que reportó un incremento de 5.9 por ciento en el ingreso laboral real per cápita en el último año.

Muchos no perciben este incremento porque se concentró en los sectores de menores ingresos. Los mismos datos del Coneval reportan que en el último trimestre del año pasado, 20 por ciento de la población más pobre tuvo un incremento real de sus ingresos de 18.3 por ciento.

En contraste, si vemos lo que ocurrió con otros segmentos, en el llamado tercer quintil, que corresponde a una parte de la clase media, hubo una baja de 0.1 por ciento; en el cuarto, un alza de solo 0.4 por ciento y en el 20 por ciento de más ingresos, un incremento de 1.2 por ciento.

Dudo mucho que estos sean los “otros datos” a los que se refiere el presidente López Obrador cuando señala que sabe que la economía va mejor de lo que dicen las cifras macroeconómicas… entre otras cosas, porque las cifras acaban de publicarse la semana pasada.

Sin embargo, el cuadro que le describo es una parte de la realidad económica y social del país que no hemos visto con suficiente atención y que probablemente tenga que ver con la, para algunos, inexplicable popularidad del presidente López Obrador.

Será el próximo año cuando se den a conocer los resultados de la Encuesta Nacional de Ingreso y Gasto de los Hogares, cuando tendremos suficientes elementos para valorar el impacto que las políticas públicas tuvieron en la distribución del ingreso.

Sin embargo, algunos resultados parciales, como los que se dieron a conocer la semana pasada, indican que, por lo pronto en 2019, hubo una mejoría.

How AIPAC is losing bipartisan support in Washington

It was once described as the 'most effective' lobbying group in Washington, but AIPAC is beginning to lose support as it turns against its critics - most of whom are Democrats

https://www.middleeasteye.net/big-story/how-aipac-losing-bipartisan-support-washington

By 

Ali Harb

 in 

Washington

Published date: 14 February 2020

"A true friend of Israel." These were the words Barack Obama used when describing himself to AIPAC, a day after he secured the Democratic party nomination in 2008.

Standing in front of thousands of attendees in Washington, Obama, who was only 47 at the time, went on to thank the pro-Israel lobby for helping advance "bipartisan consensus to support and defend our ally - Israel".

Those comments were a far cry from the latter stages of his presidency when the interest group rebuked America's first black president and spearheaded efforts to derail his signature foreign policy accomplishment - the Iran nuclear deal. 

AIPAC, short for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, has always presented itself as a bipartisan organization aiming to maintain support for Israel from across the US political spectrum.

Republican and Democratic presidents have praised the group and some of the measures it has pushed have gained unanimous bipartisan support in Congress.

But times are changing. Once dubbed "the most effective general-interest group" by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, AIPAC was called a "hate group" by a senior Democratic congresswoman on Wednesday.

"Hate is used as a weapon to incite and silence dissent. Unfortunately, this is my recent experience with AIPAC – the American Israel Public Affairs Committee," Congresswoman Betty McCollum said in a blistering statement. 

Her photo had been featured - along with fellow House members Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar - in AIPAC ads accusing "radicals in the Democratic Party" of pushing antisemitic and anti-Israel policies "down the throats of the American people".

The posts, which have since been deleted, went as far as likening Congress members critical of Israel to the Islamic State (IS) group, also known as ISIS.

McCollum, who had introduced a bill aiming to prevent US assistance to Israel from contributing to the imprisonment and abuse of Palestinian children, was having none of it.

"AIPAC wants its followers to believe that my bill, H.R. 2407, to protect Palestinian children from being interrogated, abused, and even tortured in Israeli military prisons is a threat more sinister than ISIS," she said. 

"This is not empty political rhetoric. It is hate speech."

The response came days after AIPAC took down the ads and half-heartedly apologized for them. But the episode highlighted the erosion of that bipartisan consensus over Israel that Obama cited in 2008.

AIPAC's conundrum

Three months after Democrats assumed the majority in the US House of Representatives last year, their top leaders appeared at the annual conference of AIPAC, assuring the group that Congress will maintain its steadfast support for Israel.

There had been warning signs that the bipartisan consensus in favor of Israel may be eroding. Left-wing progressives had been increasing their clout in Democratic politics, shifting the conversation about Israel and Palestine amongst Democrats in the process.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer have kept their word to AIPAC in pushing pro-Israel measures in the congressional chambers that they control - including a resolution condemning the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

But with President Donald Trump giving the Israeli government everything that it wants and then some, top Democrats have found it difficult to fully back the White House's policies. 

In fact, many of them forcefully rejected the president's AIPAC-backed plan to end the conflict, which would allow Israel to annex all of its illegal settlements in the West Bank. Meanwhile, progressives' criticism of Israel grew more vocal.

That has created a conundrum for AIPAC: how to favor the policies of one political party without alienating the other?

"AIPAC is dealing with a fundamental contradiction. They are promoting a policy of no accountability for Israel - a carte blanche for whatever Israel does; and they want to be bipartisan," said Omar Baddar, deputy director of the Arab American Institute, a Washington-based advocacy group.

"There's a problem here. The reality of our political discourse is that no accountability for Israel is not a bipartisan issue."

The ads against Democrats and McCollum's forceful condemnation of the group exposes that contradiction, he added.

"I really suspect it's really a matter of time before we see the next outburst," Baddar told MEE.

Beth Miller, government affairs manager at JVP Action, a political advocacy group linked to Jewish Voice for Peace, echoed Baddar's comments, saying that American progressives are adopting the Palestinian cause as a core issue in their agenda. 

"It used to be true that AIPAC had bipartisan support, but that is strongly waning… As the left progressive flank of the Democratic Party grows, which it clearly is, that means that there's also going to be less support for groups like AIPAC," Miller said.

She added that advocacy for Palestinian human rights is becoming a "natural part" of the push against Trump's agenda.

"The more we as Americans learn about what is happening in Israel, the more people are supporting Palestinian human rights," Miller told MEE.

"And so, we are in a moment where groups like AIPAC that are strongly trying to push anti-Palestinian policies and anti-Palestinian rhetoric are finding themselves in an increasingly partisan space."

The presidential race

With Democrats moving to pick their nominee who will try to unseat Trump, that schism between the pro-Israel lobby and the party is likely to become wider. 

AIPAC will not merely be torn between unconditionally supportive Republicans and Democrats more critical of Israel. Trump himself will be on the ballot, facing an opponent who will likely draw distinctions with him on foreign policy.

Moreover, Bernie Sanders, the frontrunner in the Democratic race, has called for an even-handed approach to the Middle East conflict, where US policy would not only be pro-Israel but also "pro-Palestinian". The Vermont senator is also proposing conditioning US aid to Israel if it does not work to end the occupation and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. 

"I imagine that relationship is going to become more and more antagonistic," Baddar said. 

"As time goes on, that contrast will be sharpened. I do envision a scenario in which AIPAC is going all out in attack against candidate Bernie Sanders if his lead continues."

In fact, an AIPAC-linked group has been running negative ads against Sanders, centering on his health and electability - not foreign policy. 

Columnist Jonathan Tobin argued earlier this week that it was no longer feasible for AIPAC in 2020 to deliver on its mission of defending Israel in a bipartisan way.

"At a time of unprecedented hyper-partisanship, and with the possibility that support for Israel will be a point of partisan contention in the fall presidential campaign - especially if the Democrats nominate Bernie Sanders, it’s hard to see how AIPAC can continue to navigate between the parties," he wrote in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. 

"It just isn’t possible to attack Democrats who are anti-Israel without sounding pro-Trump."

Vile attacks'

The rise of Sanders in the polls and the AIPAC ads attacking Democratic Congress members point to an indisputable shift in support of Palestinians within the party.

Yet, many - if not most - Democrats in Congress have maintained their strong commitment to the US relationship with Israel and ties with AIPAC.

In fact on Thursday, the pro-Israel lobby posted several tweets thanking top Democratic legislators for denouncing the UN Human Rights Council over publishing a list of businesses with ties to West Bank settlements considered illegal by most of the international community.

Still, the attacks on Democratic Congress members put some of AIPAC's allies in the party in an uncomfortable position - between defending their colleagues and maintaining the bipartisan support that the pro-Israel lobby enjoys.

Hoyer, the number two Democrat in the House and a staunch supporter of Israel said he was not pleased with AIPAC's recent ads.

"I strongly disagreed with the ads and it was appropriate that AIPAC apologized," Hoyer told MEE in a statement.

"The Democratic Party continues to be a party that is strongly supportive of Israel. Support for Israel should never be made into a partisan issue."

McCollum had called on the Democratic Party to "take a stand" in support of human rights.

"AIPAC's language is intended to demonize, not elevate a policy debate. Vile attacks such as this may be commonplace in the Trump era, but they should never be normalized."

In her statement, McCollum challenged AIPAC's claims of being a bipartisan group.

"AIPAC claims to be a bipartisan organization, but its use of the hate speech actually makes it a hate group," the congresswoman said.

"By weaponizing antisemitism and hate to silence debate, AIPAC is taunting Democrats and mocking our core values. 

"I hope Democrats understand what is at stake and take a stand because working to advance peace, human rights, and justice is not sinister - it is righteous."

For her part, Congresswoman Tlaib, who is Palestinian American, praised McCollum for calling out AIPAC.

"I commend the courage and leadership of my colleague, Congresswoman Betty McCollum. She's right- hate speech incites violence and seeks to silence dissent," Tlaib told MEE in an email.

"In the fight for peace, equality, dignity and human rights, we must push back and call out any attempt to stop us on the path toward justice for Palestinians, Israelis, and people across the world."

AIPAC did not return MEE's request for comment.