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Sorry, I'm late.
I had to stop by the wax museum again and get the finger to FDR.
We know Al Qaeda Zawahiri is supporting the opposition in Syria.
Are we supporting Al Qaeda in Syria?
It's a proud day for America.
And by God, we've kicked Vietnam syndrome once and for all.
Thank you very, very much.
I say and I say it again.
You've been had.
These witnesses are trying to simply deny things that just about everybody else accepts as a fact.
He came, he saw, he died.
We ain't killing they army, but we killing them.
We be on CNN like Say Our Name been saying, say it three times.
The meeting of the largest armies in the history of the world.
Then there's going to be an invasion.
All right, you guys introducing Grant F. Smith from the Institute for Research Middle Eastern Policy.
That's IRMEP, I-R-M-E-P, IRMEP.org.
And he's the author of the book, Big Israel.
And before that divert about Israel stealing weapons grade uranium from the US.
Welcome back to the show.
How you doing, Grant?
Hey, Scott, great to be back.
All right, good deal, man.
Happy to have you here.
So big news.
A couple of things.
First of all, the lobby, the documentary about the Israel lobby in Washington, DC, there's a big question of whether it's going to air on Al Jazeera, the American part of their documentary, I should say they already put their one out about the lobby in the UK.
And whether that's going to happen before the big Israel lobby meeting that's coming up in early March, which brings us to the other big news, which is your annual Israel lobby conference, which is sort of the opposite of AIPAC.
It's the one all about the importance of AIPAC and what it means to the rest of us.
And this year, it's called the Israel lobby and American policy conference.
And it's taking place March 2, Friday, March the second at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.
Exactly.
So tell us all about it.
Yeah, they're all three coming together.
I'll start with where were you started, though.
And that is that Al Jazeera did a undercover investigation of various organizations in Washington, DC, in 2016.
And there's a looks like a 5050 chance that that'll be coming out in the next couple of weeks when it would be relevant because the annual gathering of 10s of 1000s of pro Israel lobbyists, citizen lobbyists at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee will be happening at the beginning of March.
So there's a piece of anti war.com today called Al Jazeera air the lobby before AIPAC meets.
And the articles really about how organizations and individuals that I identify as advocacy organizations are out in the open, trying to kill the expose.
After they aired an edition about UK lobbying, that had an incredible expose of how the Israeli embassy was working with supposedly grassroots groups to target MPs and brand people as anti Semites and the Labour Party.
There's a huge flap and people lost their jobs and made a real impact.
But they haven't released the US version yet, which apparently got into the Israel project, which is a large nonprofit, but it's really more of a quasi Israeli public relations firm that really has a hold on various speakers and experts and uses that power to kind of leverage itself into getting better coverage and demanding who the opposition will be on major television programs.
So it could be a really fascinating expose.
At our last conference, you mentioned it, the America, the Israel lobby and American policy, we had Clayton Swisher, who is the investigative director at Al Jazeera come and answer questions about it.
So but but the interesting thing that you see with the pressure campaign is many people have heard about this giant diplomatic crisis with Qatar right now where all of the Gulf Arab countries are ganging up on Qatar and saying you're supporting terrorism, you're with Hamas, you're with the Taliban.
Well, there are a lot of Israel lobby organizations like the AJC, and people like Alan Dershowitz and Morton Klein of the Zionist Organization of America who have been shuttling over to Qatar, demanding that they shut down Al Jazeera altogether.
They've been lobbying to cancel landing rights of Qatar's National Airlines, which is a gigantic corporation, you know, $10.6 billion with landing rights in the US, they want those canceled, they want Al Jazeera registered as a foreign agent.
So a lot of these media tactics, which are oftentimes behind the scenes, are right out in the open.
And so I encourage people to read that, that article and just think about what's happening here.
A major, you know, it is government funded, obviously, the Qataris funded the operations of Al Jazeera, but a major expose potentially won't be aired.
Because these organizations which have a great deal of influence in the United States, and particularly over media, don't want it to happen.
And so I won't use any excuse.
Yeah.
Yeah, well, this is so it must be, must be pretty damaging.
I think it would be healthy if they just let it go and let it come out.
But so so that's an interesting piece of of journalism that either whatever happens, it's going to happen in the next couple of weeks.
If it doesn't come out, it may well be because of this, this boycott attempt.
If it does come out, there'll be a lot to talk about.
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, and the one about the UK, which you linked to in your article today on nr.com, and sorry, I didn't mention that at the beginning again, everybody's will Al Jazeera air the lobby before AIPAC meets.
And then you have the the link in there to their series that they did for the UK on the Israel lobby in the UK.
So yeah, now.
All right, well, hell, let's talk about the conference.
Yeah, let's see.
This is this is a major effort to have an open and honest discussion about what the Israel lobby agenda is.
In the United States, have a number of people who have different viewpoints, talk about various aspects of it.
And have a lot of people who are concerned about this issue come to Washington, and have an entire day at the National Press Club plus a two hour reception after hours to to really get to know what's going on and think about all of the consequences of this.
So just to go through the speaker lineup this year, we have Virginia Tilley coming Dr. Virginia Tilley, who's, who is co author of a report at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, which made a legal argument that apartheid was occurring in Israel.
Now she did that with Richard Falk, who was co author of that report.
And she's basically coming in to give a brief overview of why that report was shut down under intense pressure by Israel and the United States and many of the groups, NGOs active at the UN, so that it couldn't even really be discussed.
It's another case of not being able to look at human rights violations with without running into this sort of brick wall.
We have Jefferson Morley coming in.
He's a scholar of the Central Intelligence Agency.
He's just written a book called the ghost the secret life of CIA spy master James Jesus Angleton.
Jefferson Morley has been talking about his book, but he hasn't gotten into the the part which really kind of forms the connective tissue between what Angleton who was a counter intelligence chief at the CIA, the relationship he formed with the Mossad and various Israelis, and his theories and declassified information about looking the other way while the Israelis were spiriting weapons grade uranium out of the US, looking out the other way, over the USS Liberty incident, and what sort of impact that early and ongoing collusion between the CIA and Israeli intelligence has meant for the United States.
Barry Trachtenberg is a professor at Wake Forest University.
He's just written a new book called the United States and the Nazi Holocaust.
He's a Holocaust scholar.
He's extremely well versed in what is occurring and what is not occurring on US campuses.
So, so much so that he was invited to testify in Congress about whether it's a good idea to have a law called the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act, which would make criticism and protest activities on campuses, essentially, more difficult to conduct by opposition groups.
He was testifying against representatives from AIPAC, the Anti-Defamation League, the AJC and others, with an extremely informed view of what's going on today and how it is not a crisis, but rather, more of an attempt to limit debate on these topics on college campuses.
So he's an extremely interesting guy.
This will be the first time he speaks.
Of course, there's another expert who's coming who has spoken before and that's Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, who helped Colin Powell prepare the argument for attacking Iraq before that invasion for the Bush administration, who's been writing a lot lately about how US actions in Syria, which has been a topic on quite a few of your podcasts, I've noticed, make it look like the US is going alongside the Israeli strategy and is, in fact, already agreed secretly on December 12, to be in opposition to Iranian activities in Syria and confront them head on over this assertion that they have a nuclear weapons program and under this drive to essentially ignore or transcend the JCPOA.
So he'll be talking about whether the US is going to attack Iran for Israel, which again, not something you hear in too many other venues at this point.
We've got Thomas Getman, who's an expert, former World Vision chief and experts on Christian evangelicals.
He comes with an inside perspective of what's going on with these mega churches and mass movements that have been corralled into unconditional support for Israel on the political front.
That's the first time we've ever really covered that topic.
But we had a lot of feedback from surveys that people were hearing about this wanted to know more about it.
And it's a force multiplier at the voting booth.
Ian Williams, a UN expert is going to discuss Israel lobby NGOs at the UN.
Some of them have been there at since the creation in San Francisco, and are extremely active in promoting as almost an extension of the Israeli diplomatic representation, all sorts of things, whether it's support for overturning UN resolutions like 242, or the organization's general idea that there shouldn't be any resolution of final status issues until negotiations have been fully fleshed out.
He's been there for a long time.
So Ian Williams will be talking all about that.
Professor Rabab Abdul Hadi will be talking about what it's like to be at the center of campaign legal suits lawfare against Palestinian scholarship and the University of California system, including attempts to legally ban students for justice in Palestine, she'll be talking about prevailing in a lawsuit that was filed against her firsthand experience and what it's like to be teaching in this sort of toxic environment.
We're also going to have a discussion by Ali Abu Nima, who's the co founder of the electronic intifada, talking about his view on the difference between Israeli and Russian media influence for somebody who's on the front line.
As a an alternative journalist.
He's had several expressions that the Russian media influence pales in comparison to what the Israelis are able to do in this country, but of course, they're not being forced to register as foreign agents or anything like that.
One of the most prominent dissident journalists from Israel is also coming and that would be Gideon Levy of Haaretz.
He's going to be talking about kind of how the concept that there's any real difference between the Israeli rights and the Israeli left and progressives, and that you can actually choose one and it would make a fundamental difference in looking at better opportunities for a peaceful solution.
He's pretty skeptical about that.
But he always comes up with something interesting from the perspective of somebody who is on the ground.
He takes a lot of flack for understanding the Palestinian side of the conflict and what's going on there in terms of nighttime abductions, administrative detentions, child prisoners, and has a quite a following worldwide now as a journalist.
So it's this will be his third appearance at the conference.
And we're excited to welcome him back.
Not to forget Nora Erekat, Georgetown assistant professor legal whiz is going to be talking about some of these new chain or new.
Well, she thinks of them as continuities.
Doesn't really see, which I found very interesting, talking to her about participating doesn't really see this Jerusalem declaration and, and move of the embassy and all of these things in the work from the Trump administration.
She sees them more as continuities than breaks in policy.
So we'll see.
We'll see what she has to say about how this puts the US onto the wrong side of history.
And should be on a panel along with Tillie and Williams.
So it's, you know, there's a lot of action right now on the UN front.
So last year, we had a couple of members of Congress, former members Congress come now because there's such an uproar over recent US actions at the UN, we thought it'd be good to have a full fledged panel with many more experts from that, from that point of view.
And there are a couple of surprise, a couple of surprises that we've got up our sleeves, the conference committee, the Washington report on Middle East affairs.
And of course, IRMEP, IRBEP, we've got a couple more things that we're just going to spring out in the next couple of weeks.
So people should really keep an eye.
You can just now I took your advice, Scott, Israel lobby and American policy.org is a mouthful.
So we've been using the shorthand Israel lobby con.
You can just you know, it's it's like it con.
It's like double entendre there.
Not at all.
It's we were looking for a word a couple years ago, and we had to have a Twitter Twitter hashtag.
And it was the easiest one we could think of.
Yeah, that's good.
It's conventional.
But if you put that into your address bar, you can certainly get to the website.
If you're a student enrolled, you can certainly ask for a free ticket and you're likely to get it at this point.
If you're coming in from out of town, get some hotel deals up there.
Still 8995 a very reasonable price for all day lunch and reception and an excellent program.
And if you're a member of the press, writing for some journalistic site or doing podcasts or whatever the the media credentialing site, part of the website is now up.
So we're we're certainly taking media requests.
Two weeks out.
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Okay, so again, it's the Israel lobby and American policy 2018 conference.
It's March the second 2018.
I just heard the great list of speakers there.
And in fact, if you guys just, you know, type in Israel lobby conference into YouTube, and go back and watch some of the previous speakers at these things, you'll get a taste for how great this is, and how important these speeches are.
And, and what a good deal it is.
I went in 2014.
And was really impressed by everybody.
And I got to meet Jim Loeb.
And it was awesome.
So I have to mention that the great Scott Horton himself will be at the conference this year.
And he will be there talking about his new book and answering questions.
And then of course, but you know me, I can't been silenced.
Yeah, no, it's gonna be great.
Yeah, no, I'm looking forward again to seeing everybody up there and, and having a chance to hear these speeches and all that.
There you go.
So it's a full package.
And we're looking forward to even better speeches.
These are like the TED talks of policy with some some very interesting views about what's really happening.
Yeah.
And hey, listen, as it says here, it's price ticket prices are between 50 bucks and 200 bucks.
Very affordable.
A bunch of great speakers and a bunch of, you know, great people in the audience to see there as well.
And yeah, well sign your book.
If you're going to be there.
I'll be there to sign books and sell them.
But yeah, so you know, Gideon Levy, I really want to see him speak.
Well, the great thing that we have going is that when we're inviting speakers, we tell them that this is not the type of conference where we just want you to show up, give your speech and leave.
We, we ask every single speaker to spend as much time as they possibly can at the conference so that they can talk.
And so, you know, that's the real thing is that this is a conference where you get to confer with these people.
There's an incredible lineup of exhibitors selling books, selling their media outlets, selling all sorts of exchanges in terms of chances to go and travel to the region in the Holman lounge adjacent to the ballroom.
You've got Middle East books and more, which is selling an incredible array of hard to find books about the region and us policy in the region, right outside the ballroom.
And then you have this incredible reception, which Scott, I don't think we had one when you were there in 2014, but we do now.
And it's a full two hours where you can talk to some of these greats and get to know people that maybe you've heard of, but get to actually match a face to a name.
And so it's, it's not like a conference where the speakers are distant.
They're up on a stage, they go backstage, you never see them again.
It's absolutely about access too, right?
Not just the speeches, but the panel discussions and all that.
Absolutely.
So there's interaction.
We've got a round table programmed with some surprise guests at the end.
So yeah, not boring, plenty of breaks to get out, stretch your legs and talk to people and visit the exhibitors.
And make sure to make plans to stay because, you know, through the weekend, you know, I don't know, go see some memorials to the great leaders or something, because on Sunday, I'm going to be giving two speeches in DC there too, which of course, with your help that you set up for me here at Middle East Books and More, as you mentioned, that's the bookstore of Wormia, the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, and then at the Tentleytown Library later that afternoon.
So I'll be giving two different talks there that Sunday.
And Saturday, for people, as long as we're at this here, Saturday, I'll be in Philadelphia at the Libertarian Party State Convention of Pennsylvania, and giving a talk there.
And that one's going to be on Book TV, C-SPAN Book TV.
So that's really cool.
Incredible, incredible.
I'll be in DC on Friday, hanging out with you at your awesome conference.
And then I'll be back on Sunday, doing Wormia's bookstore, and the Tentleytown Library.
And you guys can find out all about that on my websites and everything.
I've got blogs about it.
Yeah, they're gonna be incredible, incredible weekends.
Well worth staying through Sunday.
Yeah.
Yeah, man.
Good deal.
All right.
So let me think of any more great things.
I guess let me just point out, people can type in Eventbrite, you know, if you just want to Google this and go straight to the Eventbrite page for it, the Israel Lobby and American Policy Conference.
And then it's israellobbyandamericanpolicy.org.
And then also, you said Israel Lobby Con is the short one, right?
Exactly.
If you just go israellobbycon.org or .com, you'll definitely find the site as well.
And while you're in Eventbrite, if you put Author Lecture, Fool's Errands, then those signups are there as well.
So you can pretty much book your weekend through Eventbrite almost.
There you go.
All right.
So you hear that everybody?
We'll see you in early March.
Thanks, Grant.
Thank you, Scott.
All right, you guys, the great Grant F. Smith, author of Big Israel.
Get it like big tobacco and big pharma and big agriculture and big weapons.
Big Israel.
And before that a whole ton of books about Israel Lobby and their law breaking in our country.
And you know me, scotthorton.org, iTunes, Stitcher, YouTube, antiwar.com, libertarianinstitute.org, foolserrand.us for my book, Fool's Errand, Time Down the War in Afghanistan.
And follow me on Twitter at Scott Horton Show.
Thanks, guys.
