Expert Speakers to Discuss Israel, its U.S. Lobby and Apartheid April 17 & 24

WASHINGTON, April 12, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Experts will speak and take questions at the only annual national conference challenging the Israel lobby's repressive agenda while proposing better alternatives for America.

IsraelApartheidCon is solely sponsored by the American Educational Trust, publisher of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, and the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy (IRmep).

Celebrated Palestinian author Susan Abulhawa reveals how U.S. taxpayers and readers are beginning to understand that their tax dollars are supporting ethnic cleansing and apartheid.

Palestinian writer and analyst Sumaya Awad warns of the danger of Facebook's effort to suppress criticisms of Zionism by deeming it equivalent to hate speech or anti-Semitism, and her successful campaign against censorship.

Rev. Alex Awad describes how Palestinian evangelicals are successfully working to stop the spread of Christian Zionist biblical misinterpretations in many U.S. churches.

Congressman Brian Baird (1999-2011) describes how Israel and its U.S. lobby assert authority over Congress, Israel's use of U.S. weapons and equipment in Gaza?including the 2003 killing of his constituent Rachel Corrie?and proposes critical actions voters can take to help elect leaders who will approach these issues in an open-minded way.

South African professor John Dugard provides insight into the international community's disparity in its treatment of South Africa and Israel for applying substantially similar policies, and the prospects and best approaches for ending Israeli apartheid.

Richard Falk, former U.N. Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Occupied Palestine (2008-2014), will comment on B'Tselem's apartheid report and Israel's 2018 Basic Law that gives preferential status to Jews.

Zaha Hassan, a human rights lawyer and visiting fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, outlines how the Biden administration can break the Middle East peace impasse by adopting a rights-based?rather than an Israel and its lobby based?approach as the center of its strategy.

Historian and author Walter Hixson explains why until the monolithic Israel lobby is neutralized, there will never be peace in the Middle East, drawing on insights from his new book, Architects of Repression.

Radio host and Antiwar.com editorial director Scott Horton details how Israel and its U.S. lobby were key proponents of the disastrous 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq and today are virtually alone in supporting a U.S. war on Iran, drawing on research from his new book, Enough Already.

Professor Robin D.G. Kelley will discuss the current state of resisting Israel and its lobby's efforts on campus, the parallels between South Africa and the movement toward Palestinian liberation, and how the Black Lives Matter and the Palestinian grassroots movements work together.

Tom Suárez, author of the 2016 book State of Terror: How Terrorism Created Modern Israel, will discuss the recently issued Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism (JDA).

Journalist and Mondoweiss.net co-founder Philip Weiss delivers a roundup on J Street and his key reflections about the effectiveness of liberal Zionism as revealed in its most significant annual policy conference.

UN correspondent Ian Williams provides a brief history of both Republican and Democratic administrations' sycophantic relations with Israel and how this relationship affects U.S. policies toward the UN and international law.

Investigative journalist Asa Winstanley explores the similarities and differences between Labour Friends of Israel in the U.K. and the Democratic Majority for Israel in the U.S., the purpose they serve, and the recent sabotage and purge of major progressive leaders like Jeremy Corbyn who have spoken out in support of Palestinian human rights.

Get more information at www.IsraelApartheidCon.org and register online at Eventbrite. 

SOURCE Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy