Policy Conference Shows Strength of U.S.-Israel Ties
Policy Conference proved the U.S.-Israel relationship is Built to Last.
More than 7,000 activists, students and scholars from all 50 states traveled to the nation's capital on June 2-4, for the pro-Israel community's premier annual event: the AIPAC Policy Conference. The conference—AIPAC's largest ever—featured addresses from top U.S. policymakers, including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, (D-CA), Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the bipartisan leadership of the House and Senate. Both the Democratic and Republican presumptive nominees for president—Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)—spoke to the record crowd, as did Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY). Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert addressed the Gala Banquet, which was attended by nearly half of Congress.
Click here for full videos and transcripts from Policy Conference speeches.
AIPAC Briefs Hill Staff on Aid to Israel
Ester Kurz
AIPAC's top expert on foreign aid to Israel briefed 40 congressional staffers and interns on June 19 about the importance of foreign assistance to the Jewish state in light of the unprecedented array of shared threats that America and Israel face in the region. Ester Kurz, AIPAC’s director of legislative policy and strategy, highlighted the cost-effectiveness of the president’s request of $2.55 billion in security assistance for Israel for fiscal year 2009, which would advance American national security interests by deterring potential adversaries and helping Israel defend itself from terrorism. Despite its strong economy, said Kurz, Israel is forced to spend proportionately greater sums of money on defense than any country in the industrialized world, making U.S. security assistance that much more vital. Kurz also explained how the president’s request marks the first year of a 10-year plan between the U.S. and Israel to gradually increase American security assistance to the Jewish state over the next decade.
