Following weeks of vigils, rallies, and general campus activism surrounding the Mid-East conflict, Tufts welcomed Brad Gordon, legislative director of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), to speak at Tufts last Thursday. Gordon's address, "The US and the Middle East, Campaign 2000," gave an overview of the crisis and made predictions about the future of the region, including the significant influence that Tuesday's election will have on the foundering peace process.
Friends of Israel, a student group that is "devoted to the cultural, political, and social aspects of Israel and the Middle East," sponsored Gordon's lecture, in which he proposed to explain, "where we are, how we got here, and where we go from here." On the eve of the 2000 election and in the wake of what appears to be the most horrifying violence in Israel since 1993, Gordon's opinion on the crisis was of great interest to members of the Tufts community.
Gordon made it clear to the audience early on that the presidential election is certain to impact America's clout in peace negotiations, though he said that he "[doesn't] know if there's going to be a peace process."
Gordon said that if Bush wins the election, it will take him time to learn the arduous process of negotiating international conflicts, since his career as governor did not provide him with the experience to handle international crises. However, he conceded that once-governor Bill Clinton quickly made such a transition after he was elected in 1992.
Expressing his confidence in Gore, Gordon touted him as a seasoned diplomat who has already been involved in many global conflicts, enabling him to handle future responsibilities with greater ease and confidence.
Whether the Israelis or the Palestinians will be open to involving the US in negotiations is unclear, said Gordon, as is Arafat's willingness to trust the nation as an honest broker of peace. Throughout his lecture, he repeated that "the Israelis and the Palestinians have to come to terms themselves."
Gordon also offered his perspective on media coverage of the Mid-East conflict, stressing that he finds organizations such as CNN to be biased in favor of the Palestinians.
"We are hardly getting a full picture of [the conflict] on national media," he said. Friends of Israel President Adrian Wilairat agreed with Gordon.
"The media can be biased against Israel sometimes," he said. As an example, Gordon highlighted the fact that television coverage never shows the Palestinians with machine guns who stand behind the rock-throwing youths.
Sophomore David Michaels, who attended the lecture and is an active member of Friends of Israel, also commented on media coverage of the recent fighting.
"What I found most interesting about the lecture was the information Gordon shared that cannot be found in the news," he said. "He spoke about aspects of the crisis that CNN and front page photographs deliberately ignored."
Though the lecture was highly publicized around campus, it was not very well attended.
"It would have been nice to have had a bigger turnout at the lecture," sophomore David Michaels said. "In light of the current tensions in Israel, I expected more students to show up. It may have had to do with Colin Powell's presence on campus. A speaker like him certainly draws more attention than AIPAC's legislative director, at least for Tufts students."
Those who did attend found the lecture interesting, but some, like freshman Nick Garrison, thought the address was highly "biased towards Israel," and at times Gordon appeared to "avoid questions."
Other students noted positive reactions to the lecture. "He was more than prepared to handle questions from all sides about the current situation in the Middle East and the US role in Israel," Friends of Israel Treasurer Andy Leitner said.
"I was pleasantly surprised at the audience's engagement with Brad," said Wilairat. "Nearly everyone asked a question. Many asked two."
In introducing Gordon to the audience, Leitner commented that AIPAC is "one of the most influential lobbying associations in Washington today." As a pro-Israel Congressional lobby, AIPAC is particularly successful because it is largely a grassroots organization with nationwide membership.
Gordon traced AIPAC's responsibilities back to the '30s when American Jews were largely silent about Hitler's rise in Germany because of their status as an immigrant community. This silence, Gordon said, contributed to the US failure to prevent the Holocaust.
The organization was founded in the spirit of doing everything possible to ensure that Israel would never be destroyed. Gordon described one of its responsibilities as "teaching the peace process" to Congress, which may or may not be very knowledgeable on Middle East issues.
