The machine's success is achieved through relations with an extensive network of media policy makers and academics, and its focus on two central policy objectives: making sure that Middle East policy remains favourable to Israel and that Arab and Muslim communities, both in Western democracies and in Arab and Muslim states, remain on the fringe, at once powerless and feared as an evil threat to Western values. Wildly negative, piggy-backing commentaries and reports whip up anti-Arab sentiment and Islamophobia to draw out support for the ultimate insider, Israel.
"Who's Who at the JerusalemCenter[JCPA]" includes a long list of "Israel's experts", almost half of them military brass with strong connections to the right-wing Israeli government, alongside academics and politicians who push the Israeli version of facts from different angles.
Also on the list are the names of eight Canadians, including Liberal MP Irwin Cotler (Cotler is also on the Advisory board of the JCPA Global Law Forum and a board member of UN Watch) and Irving Abella, two prominent members of the Canadian political, judicial and academic elites. Do they endorse - contrary to Canadian policy which "does not recognize Israel's unilateral annexation of East Jerusalem" - the political positions of the JCPA as it undertakes to "continue its work to preserve Israel's control of its capital and oppose efforts which seek to divide Jerusalem"?
Do they agree with the JCPA that the Israeli settlements are not illegal? Except for Israel and possibly some South Pacific islands, all states consider settlements a violation of international law defined by the "Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War". In 2004, the International Court of Justice confirmed this in an advisory opinion. More recently, Hillary Clinton insisted that the US not consider the settlements "legitimate", and that this has been, and will continue to be, the US government's policy for the years to come.
American-born Dore Gold is the main JCPA voice. He contends that one should not use the phrase "occupied Palestinian territories" because it denies any Israeli claim to the land. He also insists that Israel's interests take primacy. A former Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP) fellow, he represented Israel at the UN and served as Foreign Policy Advisor to Benjamin Netanyahu and Ariel Sharon. He was also on the American Enterprise Institute's payroll as a scholar. As president of the JCPA and publisher of NGOM, Gold's work is the continuation of his involvement with neo-cons Netanyahu and Sharon in that he continues to do the bidding of the Israeli extremist parties.
British-born Gerald M. Steinberg, also a JCPA board member, is a former Research Fellow at the United States Institute for Peace, and a Postdoctoral Fellow at MIT. His work flows seamlessly from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and National Security Council, and the Israeli Prime Minister's Office (The Coordination Forum for Countering Antisemitism) to the NGOM. He has been on the attack for years, including through the JCPA, and NGOM gives him a privileged podium from where he is able to accelerate the war against respected human rights organizations. In so doing, he benefits from the clout that JCPA and NGOM international board members enjoy.
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