Thereafter, I posed the following question to the good senator:

"Rather than succumb to the influence of various lobbying groups in Washington, such as AIPAC, and the untold amounts of money it uses to dictate policy, wouldn't it be more prudent to examine the real effects that collective punishment, daily humiliation, and countless civilian causalities inflicted by the Israelis have on an occupied population, and use that understanding to formulate a more rational approach toward the Palestinians?"

Senator Biden proceeded to walk directly from the podium to me--literally nose-to-nose--and we engaged in an uneasy back-and-forth about the influence of the Israeli lobby on US diplomacy in the Middle East and the heavy-handed approach (quite an understatement, but a polite phrase nonetheless) that Israel routinely uses to deal with all its problems.

Shortly thereafter Biden turned, put his arm around my shoulder, and addressed the audience.

"If this was not such a fine, articulate, and sincere young man, and he implied that my vote had been bought, I would give him a swift kick in the ass."