Lieberman just got snubbed by Petraeus

I don't know if I can ever sufficiently thank Lonny and so many of you who stood with me throughout the long journey that was my 2006 re-election campaign.

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And besides, now AIPAC can say it not only has bipartisan support. It has tripartisan support.

In the great policy discussions in Washington, I've learned, there are opponents on the one side, and on the other, there are allies, and friends, and then, there is family.

For me and many others, AIPAC is family—united in our shared history, our shared values, and our shared vision for the future. As family, we can talk frankly with each other, and that is what I would like to do with you today.

The fact is we can't afford anything less than honesty at a time like this—a time when, as citizens of America and supporters of Israel, we confront grave and growing dangers to the nations we care so much about.

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I do not need to tell you about the nature of these threats. I do not need to tell you about the regime in Iran—about its determination to acquire nuclear weapons, about its sponsorship of terrorism, about its repression of its own citizens.

I do not need to tell you about Al Qaeda and Hezbollah and Hamas—about their addiction to violence, about their pathological hatred of America and Israel, about their ambitions for conquest.

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First, let me again say thank you. Your support helped me win an election, and even more importantly, to continue the fight for the principles and policies we believe in.

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But I continue to believe that a withdrawal from Iraq, as many are now urging, would be a victory for Iran and Al Qaeda and the cause of Islamist extremism, and a catastrophic defeat for the United States and all who desire peace and security and freedom in the Middle East and here at home.

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I know some people do not appreciate just how deeply American your organization is. They attack AIPAC as if it were an external force in our body politic—an "Israel lobby."

These people are outrageously wrong. AIPAC is an American lobby, fighting for the best ideals, values, and interests that the United States of America and Israel share.

In supporting the U.S.-Israeli relationship, AIPAC has been internationalist, strong, and nonpartisan. That is precisely what America's foreign policy—and our domestic political debates about it—desperately needs to be right now: internationalist, strong, and non-partisan—not isolationist, weak, and partisan.

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That is why we stand united—as Americans, as Israelis, as children of God, as children of freedom.