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Leaders from Samaria have 20 meetings on Capitol Hill and the AIPAC Lobby - Bill Koenig

I had the honor and privilege to accompany four leaders from Samaria to Capitol Hill for their meetings with 20 senators, congressmen and congresswomen on Tuesday, July 23 and Wednesday, July 24.

This was the first time that any leader or group of leaders representing Samaria and/or Judea has had such extensive meetings on Capitol Hill.

Tommy Waller of HaYovel Ministries and his staff coordinated the trip along with the . His son Joshua and Aaron Murphy did an excellent job in scheduling the meetings and coordinating the visits. God's favor was obvious in all aspects of preparation and in the success of the meetings.

HaYovel brings 150 to 200 volunteers in late summer and early fall every year to harvest the vineyards of Samaria.

The Shomron Regional Council represents approximately 30,000 Israeli citizens across 33 communities in the Shomron (Samaria). They also have a significant influence with the larger communities in Samaria and Judea.

I was present for 18 of the 20 meetings. I worked closely with the men in strategizing prior to the meetings, assisted in getting their message out as effectively as possible, added comments during some of the meetings, helped analyze how the meetings went, and suggested how to best handle the media messages with so many sensitivities internally and externally to Israel.

I look forward to working on the follow-up to the meetings, assisting in preparation of Congressional resolutions (mentioned below), and helping to coordinate future meetings and visits to Israel.

The leaders from Israel were:

• Gershon Mesika, director of the Shomron Regional Council • Yossi Dagan, assistant director of the Shomron Regional Council • Shay Attias, director of public diplomacy for the Shomron Regional Council • David Ha'ivri, the liaison director for the Shomron Regional Council

Putting this important week in perspective, it took Gershon Mesika three years to get a visa to the United States through the American Consulate in Jerusalem. Despite numerous requests for a reason for the delay, they did not respond (or have to do so by law). But the reason is obvious.

It tool five Congressmen’s influence to get Yossi Dagan his visa so he could join the group.

We met with:

Congressman John Fleming (R-LA) Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-MN) Congressman Pete Sessions (R-TX) Congressman Louie Gohmert (R-TX) Congressman Mike McCaul (R-TX) Congressman Steve Stockman (R-TX) Congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH) Congressman Steve King (R-IA) Congressman Doug Lamborn (R-CO) Congressman Trent Franks (R-AZ) Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) Congresswoman Cynthia Lumis (R-WY) Congressman Leonard Lance (R-NJ) Congressman Eliot Engel (R-NY) Congressman Mike Pompeo (R-KS) Congressman Randy Forbes (R-VA) Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) Senator Michael Enzi (R-WY)

All of the leaders are Christians accept Congressman Engel (D-NY) — who is Jewish and a long-time strong supporter of Israel. The Christians' faith leads to their deep convictions on Israel.

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The Shomron leaders emphasized:

• The biblical history of the land of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their Jewish fathers.

• 750,000 Jews live in Samaria and Judea.

• Samaria has the fastest-growing population in Israel, with a 10 percent annual growth rate.

• University has 12,500 students — both Jews and Arabs.

• The Industrial park has 140 factories and businesses with 3000 Palestinian employees.

• Palestinians receive the same salaries and benefits as the Jews.

• There is quality work for the Palestinians.

• The European Union’s total boycott of activity with Israel beyond the Green Line will hurt the Palestinians working in Samaria even more than Israelis.

• The mountains of Samaria are crucial to Israel's security.

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• The danger of a Palestinian state was emphasized.

• To give up Samaria would put western Samaria just over 14 kilometers (9 miles) from the Mediterranean Sea.

• Ben Gurion Airport, and Jerusalem would be vulnerable to rocket or missile attacks.

• The leaders were invited to tour the hills of Samaria to visit the communities and the strategic importance.

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Comments from leaders:

A few members of Congress stated that they don't want to oppose the official two-state position of the state of Israel. Even though we may not like it, it is their position — and it's not for the United States to interfere.

AIPAC is very formidable and has greatly influenced the two-state narrative. Their Congressional tours to Israel do not include Judea, Samaria or East Jerusalem.

One leader stated that AIPAC's actions are becoming more and more supportive and helpful to the Palestinians than to Israel.

Pressure by the U.S. government has led to the two-state position and major expectations by the Palestinians, Arabs, the Europeans and world community.

Benefits of the relationship between the US and Israel

Congressman Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) discussed the significant level of Congressional cooperation with Israel on military equipment, missile defense such as the Iron Dome and David's Sling, and aircraft.

He said Israel provided 300 suggestions on how to improve the F-16, which is now a much better jet due to the input. The United States is in joint cooperation on the Arrow 3 missile defense system.

The U.S. has worked closely with Israel to help it prepare to defend against an Electro Magnetic Pulse (EMP) attack.

The United States and Israel have mutually benefited from this important strategic relationship.

Congressional resolutions that were discussed:

1. A resolution that specifically addresses the importance of Samaria, Judea and East Jerusalem to Israel's security.

2. A resolution that emphasizes that many nations have obtained land through conflict and have not returned it, so why should Israel be obligated to return Samaria, Judea, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, land that they received in a war of self-defense in 1967. There are legal grounds for this position.

3. A resolution that states Congressional support of one state in Israel.

4. A resolution stating Israel's biblical right to the land of Israel.

All of these are plausible, especially the one regarding Israel’s security. The challenge will be to gain the necessary support to pass any one of these despite Congress’s strong support of Israel. AIPAC would no doubt try to stop these (more details below) from proceeding.

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Up against the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) lobby

How is its powerful and well-meaning influence endangering Israel?

I deeply respect AIPAC's focus and support for Israel. They are a very well-funded political machine — one that is an extremely effective lobby for Israel. They have helped obtain significant Congressional financial support for Israel over the years. But their policies have also helped lead Israel to one of its most challenging and threatening times in history.

AIPAC has taken many U.S. senators and congressional representatives to Israel over the years. It is also very supportive of pro-Israel candidates for the Senate and House of Representatives and has helped fund their political races.

During its annual AIPAC Policy Conference, it is not unusual to have two-thirds of Congress attend the Monday night dinner that honors them. The members' are individually recognized during the evening's activities to the 13,000-plus conference attendees.

Connecting the dots: The influence

• AIPAC representatives told Congressmen 20 years ago that the Golan Heights needed to be given to Syria during their lobbying activities. Congressmen told them that land is crucial to Israel's defense.

• Just before the vote was taken on a 1995 resolution that called on the U.S. to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, AIPAC suggested that a clause should be inserted stipulating that the U.S. President review the idea every six months to determine if the timing was right.

Interestingly, Dan Shapiro, an aide to Senator Diane Feinstein who is now the United States ambassador to Israel, was directly responsible for adding the clause to the resolution in coordination with AIPAC's leadership.

• AIPAC tours consist of visits to Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and top political leaders. They do not include any parts of Judea-Samaria or East Jerusalem.

• The former President of AIPAC, Lee "Rosie" Rosenberg, was the national finance co-chairman of the 2008 Obama presidential campaign and one of his Middle East advisors.

JTA wrote: "Chicago-based businessman who was close to Obama, Lee 'Rosie' Rosenberg, became president-elect of AIPAC in May 2009. Another Obama funder who became the chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Alan Solow, appealed to the crowd to embrace a vision of Israel that 'can live in peace with its neighbors.'"

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• AIPAC had a major influence in the Republican Party's acceptance of the two-state policy in 2012. The Republican National Committee voted in favor of the one-state resolution in January 2012 in a meeting in New Orleans. But in late August 2012, Congressman Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and AIPAC pressured and convinced the Republican National Platform Committee to add the two-state plan to the Republican Platform for the 2012 Republican Convention in order to be in step with the Netanyahu government's two-state position.

As a reminder, on Aug. 21, the day the resolution was approved, was when a tropical depression formed in the Caribbean that became Tropical Storm Isaac — which totally disrupted the opening of the Republican Convention in Tampa and the media focus, caused the first day to be cancelled and disrupted the convention's schedule.

• AIPAC, with the help of Shimon Peres, was behind the two-state plan push in Israel.

• President George W. Bush officially birthed the two-state plan in June 2002 (after the 9-11 terror events postponed his two-state plan introduction to the U.N. General Assembly on Sept. 24, 2001 — which was confirmed by the Secretary of State Colin Powell in November 2002 speech).

• In a meeting in February 2012, an AIPAC leader was asked why their organization wouldn’t speak of the strategic importance of Judea-Samaria to Israel. The speaker, caught off guard by the question, said, "We don't want to conflict with the Israeli government's two-state position." The other associate said after the presentation, "We don't want to jeopardize Congress's financial commitments to Israel."

• AIPAC's actions and influence in Israel are more helpful to the Palestinians than Israel.

• It appears that another motive of AIPAC and other major Jewish organization’s pressure on Israel’s leadership to make peace with the Palestinians and the Arabs is so Jews will be less threatened in the United States and Europe as they watch the de-legitimization efforts in Europe rapidly pick up momentum.

Summary. The extremely well-funded AIPAC has been and continues to be a very influential force within Israel and in the halls of Congress.

Additionally, I very much appreciate the informative breakout sessions at their policy conferences on the serious threats and the politics on Egypt, Syria, Iran, Lebanon, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the Islamic terror groups, Russia, the European Union agenda and other areas of concern to Jewish people worldwide.

However, despite AIPAC's good intentions, their “push for peace” has led to unrealistic expectations of Israel by Arabs, Europeans, Russians, the Chinese and the United States and are leading Israel into great danger.

Additionally, AIPAC does not place any value to Israel's biblical right to the land of Israel. The idea of giving Judea, Samaria and East Jerusalem for an Arab state does not matter to them. It apparently is just land to them.

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