The powerful pro-Israel lobby AIPAC
is planning to launch a major lobbying campaign to push disobedient lawmakers
to back the resolution authorizing a US strike against Syria, sources say.
Officials said on Thursday that some
250 Jewish leaders and AIPAC activists will storm the halls on Capitol Hill
beginning next week to persuade lawmakers that Congress must adopt the
resolution.
They are expected to lobby virtually
every member of Congress, arguing that the alleged chemical attack in
Syria cannot be tolerated, and that failing to act would “send a message”
to other parties that the US won’t stand up to hostile countries’ efforts to
develop weapons of mass destruction, according to a source with the Jewish
group.
“History tells us that ambiguity [in
US actions] invites aggression,” said the AIPAC source who asked not to be
named. The source added the group will now be engaged in a “major mobilization”
over the issue.
Despite the group’s political
muscle, it often doesn’t get involved in congressional fights over authorizing
military action.
But the stepped-up involvement comes
at a welcome time for the White House, which is struggling to muster the votes
in both chambers for a resolution that would give President Barack Obama the
authority to engage in ‘limited’ military action” in Syria for 60 days, with
one 30-day extension possible.
The hawkish group also has
ties with many Republicans, including ones who have been critical of the
Obama administration’s handling of US-Israeli affairs.
The top two Senate GOP leaders —
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Minority Whip John Cornyn of
Texas — both have already been urged by top Jewish donors and AIPAC allies to
back the Syria resolution, sources say.
Unlike their House GOP counterparts
who endorsed the measure, McConnell and Cornyn have withheld their support. A
Cornyn aide said Thursday that the senator currently opposes the Syria
resolution, which will be debated on the Senate floor next week.
The call for military action against
Syria intensified after foreign-backed opposition forces accused the Syrian
government of launching a chemical attack on militant strongholds in the
suburbs of Damascus on August 21, which killed hundreds of Syrians.
The Syrian government has repeatedly
said the deadly attack was a false-flag operation carried out by the militants
in a bid to draw in foreign military intervention.
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