Bring her to heel but the pushback was fierce and unprecedented the young multiethnic progressive wing of the party demanded that any resolution and evolve over what it will hand all markets it had to condemn not only anti semitism but also islamophobia hate speech against immigrants the l. G. B. Tea community and other marginalized america. Then when key democratic contenders weighed in siding with the new guard over the old the democratic leadership did the math and realized it did not have the votes it had to concede to the pressure from the progressives the resolution is agreed and widen the scope of the resolution that marked a turning point. Over the course of 70 years the American Israel Public Affairs committee. Has grown into one of the most influential Foreign Policy lobbying groups in washington. Daniel conference is a key event on the capitals cound a mix of politics pageantry and hardcore partisanship 18000. 00 people attended this years gathering Political Consultants activists journalists politicians from israel and the u. S. Including president ial candidates and congressional leaders. And. Politicians have much to gain by aligning themselves with the group as a disproportionate amount of clout to shape legislation promote pro israel politicians and direct funding very way from allied donor but one of the pacs greatest achievements lies in what is or is not say its ability to effectively set the boundaries of the israel palestine debate in the us across the political and media sphere one thing thats really important to remember is that lobbying is part of the democratic process its a pretty terrible part it is a corrupting influence apac and not just uses its power and influence to ensure the us has no possessions but the n. R. A. Uses its power and influence to keep there from being you know laws against the guns the oil and coal industry use the power of its lobby to make sure that environmental regulations are not passed even though were in a crisis of climate change. In a capital need deep in lobby groups a pac has plenty of company in Foreign Policy lobbying alone arab gulf countries like saudi arabia the u. A. E. And qatar all play a high stakes big money game to cultivate politicians influence them and shape media narratives usually out of the range of news cameras 8. Used to be the Industry Standard in lobbying but the others have been catching up and there are a mistake about signs that things are changing this year 7 democratic president ial candidates stayed away from this conference as recently as 4 years ago in 2016 that would have been unthinkable the longstanding taboo that you do not criticize a pac its now being challenged d. C. s most powerful lobby is facing the kind of scrutiny its never seen before i think apex really losing a lot of power trump in a way he obviated right hes a sort of one man israel so he made them a little bit a little bit obsolete on the right and he sort of made them toxic on the left because anything associated with israel is now going to have to account for its injustice it back at this point i would say is really sort of its losing a lot of power. And other jewish advocacy groups j. Street jewish voice for peace if not now have emerged in the u. S. Progressive voices now challenging apacs dominance over discourse on israel and palestine and news outlets have grown bolder when dealing with a journalist dig deeper into the groups work and question it more openly than they chose to or felt able to in the past as it becomes more and more clear that apac does not speak for the American Jewish community and that in fact it is an odds with the majority of the American Jewish community if were going to see an increased willingness to investigate what is really about still the limits on discourse over palestine and israel remain and the consequences for venturing beyond them can be career threatening last November Marc lamont hill an academic and activist as well as a paid political contributor at c. N. N. Learned the hard way lamont hill made a speech on palestine at the u. N. It lasted 21 minutes and consisted. Of 2837 words he ended it by calling for a free palestine from the river to the sea his critics online contended that those last 6 words from the river to the sea amounted to a call for the elimination of israel the counter argument was that that was not what mont hill meant that the rest of his speech made that abundantly clear however within 24 hours without so much as speaking to lamont hill c. N. N. Fired i cant say what red line across in literal terms because i wasnt given any specific reason or analysis obviously the speech was the red line the protests however from the speech where largely around those last 6 words from the river to the sea thats what at least became the pretext for the outrage from many people is there a double standard at play here because you get fired for saying what you said at c. N. N. And yet the Network Continues to employ for his punditry a former american senator Rick Santorum he once denied that palestinians even exist so how much of this do you feel has to do with what gets said and how much is about who says it i think its both if i had said as Binyamin Netanyahu son had said a few weeks ago on twitter israel is a jewish state from the river to the sea i would have not been fired i would have not been criticized i would have gone unnoticed now obviously when people of color or when muslims say there are there are even lower threshold for critique in this in this vein c. N. N. Succumb to a very serious Smear Campaign against Marc Lamont Hill that was driven by a wide range of pro Israel Forces the United States mandela was the editor of the Washington Examiner he accused Marc Lamont Hill of supporting genocide against jews which is just utterly ridiculous and they have even people like ben shapiro was a popular personality on the right he also joined the campaign to brand Marc Lamont Hill in an environment. People are susceptible to Smear Campaigns theres no question about it and unfortunately Large Media Companies are concerned about their image and so they sometimes respond in the wrong way to Smear Campaigns you know twice over the past decade c. N. N. Has fired veteran journalists jim clancy and Octavia Nasser for online comments that offended pro israel voices and unbeknown to most of the networks viewers its lead political anchor wolf blitzer wasnt always a journalist he used to work for apac a one time pro israel lobbyist now occupying a c. N. N. Anchor chair his former employer and other pro israel advocates dont just focus their efforts on politicians elected to congress or News Networks based in new york they do plenty of lobbying work beyond washington and its paying off particularly at the state level more than half of the 50 states have now passed laws that shield israel from a campaign of boycotts divestment and sanctions the b. D. S. Movement in some cases those laws dont just ban states from hiring employees who support b. D. S. They force american citizens to sign an oath of loyalty to another country israel many of the anti b. D. S. Laws are virtually identical copy and paste pieces of legislation written in clear violation of the Us Constitution and americans 1st amendment right to free speech and many of my colleagues today even know and realize thats what they signed on to do you know that ive talked to them they did not realize that this wasnt about hey we support israel and israel is our friend this was also about suppressing peoples freedom of speech by saying no one can economically boycott the state of israel and to me you want to show support of israel than show support in other forms not by oppressing the american public. From speaking out and were turning in the country that is not democratic is not about. Freedom freedom of expression religion speech all of those things. Although 2 organizations care the council on American Islamic relations and the a. C. L. U. The American Civil Liberties union are fighting that trend in the courts and in some cases winning. Public radio in the case of george hale for instance a radio journalist who station broadcasts out of texas a and m. University having once reported from the west bank and having seen the effects of the occupation hale supports the b. D. S. Campaign last year the university which is funded by the state of texas required hale to sign a contract stipulating that he would not participate in or speak in favor of a boycott of israel and mention that i dont agree because i made it very clear and they rejected that immediately cosigner it wont work theres the exact words from the higher ups this past april a federal judge in texas struck down the states anti b. D. s law on constitutional grounds saying it threatens to quote manipulate the public debate through coercion rather than persuasion the judge ruled that boycotts are constitutionally protected under the 1st amendment guaranteeing freedom of expression since he said such campaigns are inherently expressing how is it that you are going to condition somebody some point man on their political activity that poses no harm or National Security threat right how is it that participating in a Grassroots Campaign to overcome diplomatic intransigence to hold a primary u. S. Ally accountable to human rights norms in International Law somehow a threat out to see the context its what has been legislated across the United States in an effort. To defeat top down what has not been able to be crushed from the bottom up so now the effort is to tweak these laws to get around that by saying well it only applies to companies that maybe 10 or more people theyre trying to figure out how we can tweet tweet tweet tweet tweak until we have legislation that fine maybe it wont prevent george hale from boycotting israel and ill still be able to get his contract but as a matter of u. S. Law on u. S. Policy it will deem boycotts of israel or settlements to be a cross around line illegitimate and to some extent illegal 250000000 americans live in states where laws like these have been passed so i think its important for people to understand that this is not the issue it applies to only like a tiny little group of people its not impossible to imagine a scenario in which the state legislature could basically make your employment contingent upon you signing that you wont boycott the n. R. A. Or like at planned parenthood or whatever else so its important that we take a step back and realize that this is not about israel its not about a son in the middle east but its actually about our rights as americans and they really in many ways free speech is under attack you know the process United States. A danger to free speech in what Many Americans call the land of the free over a conflict that lies more than 4000 miles away all those state laws too narrow what little space there is for criticism of israel may in fact be a tangible sign evidence that for the 1st time the pro israel lobby is losing ground in this argument. And israels critics may have found an unwitting ally in president truck hes deeply unpopular among american democrats and even moderate republicans have grown uncomfortable with his seemingly unconditional support of the netanyahu government and its policies repeatedly. He asked a pack officials for an interview for this program they refused had they said yes we would have asked them whether donald trump is helping or hurting israels comes to some the answer is obvious. The United States has long been biased in favor of israel for many decades but when the Trump Administration has done is escalated that to a whole new level where the United States right now is an active participant in israels war against the Palestinian People in a way that we have never seen before despite these extremely troubling developments on the ground we are beginning to see a shift in discourse within the United States on this issue where people finally identify pursuit of these policies with the extreme regressive right that donald trump essentially represents at this point you could be tempted to say oh my god things are getting more intense its more draconian the battles almost lost and i say quite the opposite im saying because its so tough right now because the policies are so intense theres a theres an opportunity here dr Martin Luther king said only when it is darkest can you see the stars that the policy moment some way is very dark. But i see a star a possibility and i think in the next 10 years well be having a very different conversation about palestine and about israel and about justice than weve ever had before. The 2020 elections are still almost a year and a half away American Voters will have a multitude of issues to consider before they cast their ballots and for the vast majority their countries relationship with israel will not be the deciding factor but elections do have a way of clarifying. And the campaigning the rallies good news conferences the t. V. Interviews the tweets the terminology all of them will reflect what americans be they politicians academics or journalists are allowed to say what is permissible discourse on palestine and israel things are clearly changed what we do not know and will not know until the votes are cast is how much youve been watching a special edition of our program on palestine israel and american politics well see you next time here at the listening. We understand the different. Cultures across the world so no matter how you take it. Will bring you the news and current of the matter. Protesters marched through hong kong border town as their anger turns to traders and shoppers from Mainland China. Hello and welcome to aljazeera live from our headquarters in doha with the parana also ahead taking a stand on u. S. Arms sales to saudi arabia and the u. A. E. The house of representatives votes to stop weapons being sent to the war and yet. Louisiana braces for a deluge as Tropical Storm barry bears down on the u. S. State plus. Protests in paris as a migrants take over the pantheon of demand for the prime minister. Thousands of people are marching again in hong kong this time to protest over what they say is a Mainland China is growing influence theyve gathered at a market district of close to hong kongs border with Mainland China they say traders and shoppers from across the border have pushed up prices and destructed the local community when weeks of mass rallies over a planned extradition nor have now widened into protests on how the territory is run they are marching under the slogan recovered. Way hundreds of police are in the area and dozens of shops have been closed for fear of on risk lets go to our correspondent build on shes joining us live from hong kong so talk us through where you are being told to you a warning seeing many protesters behind you whats happening there this is not an area where the main protest took place whats happening there today its very specific. Well elizabeth this is a protest that started about almost 2 hours ago they started from a sports kong flags and thousands of them marched through to get to the Police Station what theyre asking for basically is better protection and regulation from the Hong Kong Government against with many described here as parallel traders those coming from Mainland China they see this those who come here should respect what has long been a way of life here elizabeth its important to remember that this is not the only protests happening in hong kong there are pockets of resistance in many areas clearly a manifestation of this content and basically the lack of trust with carry lamps government weve spoken to some protesters who tell us very young people who say it is important here to make their presence felt theyre asking for accountability transparency they think the police is too much powers and they asking them to pull back and the protests as weve been reporting they started because of this extradition bill which kerry last has since said you know the bill is dead and were now seeing protests about so many different issues so how are authorities in hong kong carry his self going to address the huge discontent but on so many different issues. Well it remains to be seen how the government will be able to find a solution that will satisfy protesters here but what weve seen over the past few days are manifestations and how these kinds of protests have transformed in different forms for example we saw what they call our john lennon walls these are public walls filled with nose that have sprung up in almost every district of hong kong there are messages of hope and supports for those who take to the streets from people who can not physically join the protests on a daily basis weve all weve also read messages of this contented anger at the government and hope for more transparency and accountability there have also been. Letters that have been sent out there have been memorials for those who have died but again its remains to be seen just kind of all for a solution the government still remains to be seen what kind of solution the government can percent that will be acceptable to people of hong kong basically at this point what were seeing though here elizabeth that almost a month since protests broke out there is still no shortage of zeal our anger here and millions of people thousands of people as well today continue to push beyond Police Barricades this fight efforts by the government to pacify them jamila thank you for that german on in the morning touring saturdays protests and hong kong for us were going to move on to other news now the 2nd shipment of a Russian MissileDefense System has been delivered to turkey the 1st arrived at a military base in the capital ankara on friday more components of this 400. 00 system are expected over the next few days in defiance of a warning from the United States its threatening to impose sanctions on its nato ally an end to partnership in developing the 35 war plane so then called sulu has the latest from istanbul. The delivery of those 400. 00 Russian MissileDefense System still continues and it is expected to be completed by the end of summer according to turkish officials the Missile Defense systems will be operating by october following the 1st batch of the turkish an American Defense minister has that ministers had a 30 minutes of call to the turkish side it reiterated that turkey is committed to its nato membership and its nato allies and the position of the russian Defense System was another choice by the mississippi for turkey and also. The turkish opposition supported. This russian Defense System saying that if the Turkish Military says it is a necessity then they will not be opposing this talk is the 1st nato country to buy the russian air Defense Systems and it is the only one for for now and this is the debate thats why the u. S. Congress still threatens that turkey should be sanctioned but according to turkey based on the meetings that of prisons are gone and President Donald Trump by back in last month and during the g 20 summit turkey believes that it has promised not to impose sanctions but of course time will show whether trump will be able to persuade his congress in order to stop these sanctions to the u. S. Now the house of representatives has voted for a 12 month freeze on weapon sales to saudi arabia and the United Arab Emirates but the amendment to aimed at stopping the killing in yemen still needs the approval of both the senate and President Trump gave release on the reports from washington. In an effort to send a message and stop the killing in yemen the u. S. House of representatives voted friday to prohibit the sale of air to ground munitions to saudi arabia and United Arab Emirates for one year they have been used in the war in yemen the amendment to a u. S. Defense authorization bill was sponsored by congressman Tom Malinowski and passed 236 to 182 mostly along party lines but 5 republicans also voted in favor of it breaking party ranks. All it will do is stop something that is categorically harmful to our National Interest the provision of off fence of weapons that enable saudi arabia to keep defying our advice by bombing yemen and prolonging the war there more than 200000 yemenis have been killed or died of starvation in the saudi and u. A. E. Led war now in its 4th year the United Nations estimates more than 22000000 people or 3 quarters of the population need humanitarian aid and protection before being elected to Congress Last year now and housekeeper was an undersecretary of state for democracy and human rights and on the house floor he said saudi arabia indiscriminately wages the war in yemen under both the obama and trumpet ministrations we have given the saudis specific lists of targets not to strike we have told them do not hit this specific hospital where this port facility or that bridge and then repeatedly they have gone ahead and hit the precise coordinates on our no strike lists and then we just keep on selling them the bombs what does that say to the people of yemen what does it say to the leadership of saudi arabia as part of the same Defense Authorization bill the house also voted to require President Donald Trump to get congressional permission before he launches any attack on iran the senate rejected a similar measure last month the 251 to 170 vote was unusually bipartisan with 27 republicans joining all but a handful of democrats in support on both of the amendments iran and the saudi u. A. E. Arms sales negotiations now are between the senate and house on which of those amendments might make it into the compromise final defense bill gabriels on doe aljazeera washington. Now 20. People have been killed and more than 50 injured during an attack on a hotel in the somali city of kiss smiled the president of the regions has kenyans tanzania americans a brit and a canadian are among the dead a regional president ial candidate was also killed in the attack which was claimed by the armed group alshabaab. Zimbabwe is going to raise Public Sector pay for the 2nd time in 3 months after labor groups threatened mass protests inflation is running close to 100 percent of the country struggles with shortages of bread fuel and medicine how to me tosser has more from her. Child and his wife glenda both take home 280. 00 zimbabwean dollars a month after deductions thats roughly 30 u. S. Dollars each combining both they salaries they agree to spend no more than 40. 00 on groceries but when they get to the till they realize theyve gone over budget things are just too expensive to make things worse some products they really need arent available because of shortages takes. Just. To. Take. The government is offering Civil Servants including teachers a cushioning allowance on top of their monthly salaries by thats only an extra 10 u. S. Dollars. But. When zimbabwe gained independence from britain nearly 4 decades ago it had a strong currency but rising inflation over the years gradually eroded salaries of Civil Servants these notes were. Is from 1918 up until 2003 after land reform economy collapsed inflation was one of the highest in the world thats when the government introduced these they were called to bear a chase the highest note was 100. 00 trillion dollars people would have to carry a bag of caste just to buy a loaf of bread the money was worthless. Been 10 years ago theres a dollar was abandoned as an official currency in favor of foreign money cash shortages continued in 2016 introduced to trade alongside foreign currencies but things kept getting worse last month the government the temporary suburban dollar known as r t g s the only legal tender. After shopping charles and linda joined the queue for fuel