Code Pink Tricks AIPAC, Media

Flickr/<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ari/">Steve Rhodes</a> (Creative Commons)

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


“Holy Crap,” I thought when my editor forwarded me today’s AIPAC press release, supposedly calling for a freeze on Israeli settlements. It turns out the statement, which would have been a massive departure from traditional AIPAC policies, was a stunt orchestrated by the anti-everything activist organization Code Pink. I wasn’t the only person who got punk’d: NPR, C-SPAN and Al Jazeera all ran with the story before news broke that it was false.

Code Pink has so far refused to admit how they pulled it off. But it’s clear that the press release was sent from a fake email address mirroring that of AIPAC media director Josh Block: block@aipac.org. His real email is jblock@aipac.org.

For much of the past fifty years, AIPAC has gained massive support in the American Jewish community. But as Israeli policy toward Palestinians became increasingly out of step with American liberals, Jews began taking a softer approach to the debate. As Robert Dreyfuss explained last September for Mother Jones, these liberals have mounted a challenge to the AIPAC hegemony under the banner of J Street, the self-proclaimed “pro-Israel, pro-peace” lobby. Today’s statement would have been a momentus agreement between the foes on a national security matter.

In reality, AIPAC has strongly opposed the Obama administration’s recent criticism of Israeli settlements. Last week, the real Josh Block released (pdf)a statement demanding that Obama “work to immediately defuse the tension with Israel.” Meanwhile, J Street penned an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal in support of the Obama administration’s stance.

The stunt is consistent with the growing trend among activists to hijack corporations by releasing false policy statements that force the a company to explain a politically unpopular position. This has been most famously employed by the Yes Men, who last October released a statement, supposedly on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce, announcing belief in Global Warming. It didn’t take long for the Chamber to reaffirm its denialist position. 

With prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington this week to discuss settlements, the stunt was perfectly timed. But unless AIPAC follows the Chamber’s example and sues Code Pink, don’t expect this story to have the same impact or receive the same exposure as the Yes Men’s hoax. 

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate