Tuesday, March 1, 2011

capitol hill

The culmination of the J Street conference was a day of lobbying. We were asking our representatives to sign the Schakowsky-Eshoo letter. One of my nine meetings was canceled, and only one was with an elected official. The rest were with staff, which I am told is not unusual.

The congressman I met in person was John Dingell, the representative of Michigan's 15th district, which includes Ann Arbor, where I currently reside. I am unsure about the propriety of publicizing anything that happened in the meeting, so I'll just say that I am proud that John Dingell is my representative in Congress.

The meetings with staff were pretty good. I would guess that three to six of the eight will probably sign the letter. Staffers were all very polite. Some were totally unacquainted with the issues, others knew what we were going to say before we said it.

bds

I'm psyched for a marathon of nine meetings with Michigan Congressmen or staff today on the Hill.

Highlights from yesterday:

Dennis Ross addressed a plenary session, followed by a panel discussion, and I attended a breakout session about Hamas, but I don't have much to say about either one of those.

I caught a glimpse of Haaretz reporter Natasha Mozgovaya interviewing the MKs in attendance.

The panel discussion on BDS was interesting. I thought Ken Bob and Bernard Avishai were convincing. They argued that BDS is an inappropriate tool for ending the occupation and advancing two states. Rebecca Vilkomerson, representing Jewish Voice for Peace, argued in favor of BDS on the grounds that it is nonviolent and Palestinian led. The student on the panel, whose name I forget, spoke about the unproductive tone of the debate on BDS.

A few sessions were devoted to preparing for lobby day.