Halls of Power: On the ground at AIPAC with Gershon Burstyn and Omri Nahmias
Photos: AFP/Imagebank, Flash 90
T
he AIPAC Policy Conference is nothing if not a spectacle. It is rare to have so many Jews congregate in one place, and when it does happen, it is truly a sight to behold.
Such was the scene inside the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in the nation’s capital. A vast convention center filled to capacity with Jews from all walks of life: from chareidi to secular, young to old, men and women. Non-Jews, too, were a visible minority as the Israel lobby attempts to recruit new members to its cause.
The theme this year was “Connected for Good” and the mood was spitting mad. When AIPAC president Mort Friedman took the stage on Sunday night to offer his welcoming remarks, it became immediately clear that the anti-Semitic comments of Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota would be a rallying point.
“This conference feels different,” he said, before a crowd of 18,000 in a hall the size of about six football fields. “We have been attacked. Our loyalty to the United States has been questioned. People are waiting to see what happens next.” And then, pausing for effect, Friedman delivered AIPAC’s response: “None of us are willing to be silenced or intimidated.”
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