Posted on 07/12/21
| News Source: Arutz-7
AIPAC on Monday announced the cancellation of its 2022 annual policy conference, citing concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This decision may seem surprising as we appear to be entering a post-pandemic world. However, with uncertainty around the continued spread of COVID, we still have a fragile and uncertain path back to normal travel and mass gatherings,” it added.
“Building a safe ‘Policy Conference City’ for 18,000 participants over three days requires more than a year of advance planning, including irrevocable contracts with the Convention Center, hotels, catering and many other vendors who help bring the conference to life,” explained AIPAC.
“We are now at the stage of planning that requires us to make those financial commitments. After considerable review, we feel strongly that signing contracts at a time of such continued uncertainty about the safety of the conference and our delegates would be an irresponsible use of the resources you entrust us to use wisely.”
AIPAC noted that, despite the cancellation of the 2022 conference, “our vital and sacred work of strengthening the U.S.-Israel relationship continues.”
“Last year, amid the most unpredictable of environments, we demonstrated that together we could still successfully advance our mission. This year, we will demonstrate even greater ingenuity and will expand upon the innovations we introduced over the past year to advance our mission and strengthen our community.”
“Our lobbying for pro-Israel legislation will be as robust as in previous years - and even more so - with new and creative ways to engage members of Congress and their staff,” it said.
2022 is the second year in a row in which AIPAC has cancelled its annual conference due to concerns regarding the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
AIPAC did hold its annual conference in 2020. That conference took place in early March, before the coronavirus outbreaks became recognized as a global pandemic, and prior to the imposition of comprehensive lockdowns.
Among the speakers at that conference were then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and then-Vice President Mike Pence.