[News] How Israel Lobby took control of US foreign policy
Anti-Imperialist News
news at freedomarchives.org
Fri Jul 24 14:05:22 EDT 2009
2009-07-18
How Israel Lobby took control of US foreign policy
AIPAC becomes foreign agent dominating American
foreign policy while disguised as domestic lobby.
By Jeff Gates - LOUISIANA
In the early 1960s, Senator William J. Fulbright
fought to force the American Zionist Council to
register as agents of a foreign government. The
Council eluded registration by reorganizing as
the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
AIPAC has since become what Fulbright most
feared: a foreign agent dominating American
foreign policy while disguised as a domestic lobby.
Israelis and pro-Israelis object when they hear
that charge. How, they ask, can we so few wield
such influence over so many? Answer: its all in
the math. And in the single-issue advocacy
brought to bear on US policy-making by dozens of
domestic organizations that now compose the
Israel lobby, with AIPAC its most visible force.
The political math was enabled by Senator John
McCain whose support for all things Israeli
ensured him the GOP nomination to succeed
Christian-Zionist G.W. Bush. McCains style of
campaign finance reform proved a perfect fit for
the Diaspora-based fundraising on which the lobby
relies. Co-sponsored by Senator Russ Feingold of
Wisconsin, this change in federal election law
typifies how Israeli influence became systemic.
McCain-Feingold raised the amount (from $1,000
to $2,300) that candidates can receive from
individuals in primary and general elections. A
couple can now contribute a combined $9,200 to
federal candidates: $4,600 in each of the primary
and general elections. Primary elections, usuall
low-budget, are particularly easy to sway.
Importantly for the Diaspora, this change also
doubled the funds candidates can receive without
regard to where those contributors reside. A
candidate in Iowa, say, may have only a few
pro-Israeli constituents. When campaign support
is provided by a nationwide network of
pro-Israelis, that candidate can more easily be
persuaded to support policies sought by Tel Aviv.
Diaspora-based fundraising has long been used by
the lobby with force-multiplying success to shape
US foreign policy. Under the guise of reform,
John McCain doubled the financial resources that
the lobby can deploy to elect and retain its supporters.
Fulbright was Right
The influence-peddling process works like this.
Candidates are summoned for in-depth AIPAC
interviews. Those found sufficiently committed to
Israels agenda are provided a list of donors
likely to max out their campaign contributions.
Or the process can be made even easier when
AIPAC-approved candidates are given the name of a bundler.
Bundlers raise funds from the Diaspora and bundle
those contributions to present them to the
candidate. No quid pro quo need be mentioned.
After McCain-Feingold became law in 2003,
AIPAC-identified bundlers could raise $1
million-plus for AIPAC-approved candidates simply
by contacting ten like-minded supporters. Heres the math:
The bundler and spouse max out for $9,200 and
call ten others, say in Manhattan, Miami, and
Beverly Hills. Each of them max out ($10 x
$9,200) and call ten others for a total of 11. [111 x $9,200 = $1,021,200.]
Imagine the incentive to do well in the AIPAC
interview. One call from the lobby and a
candidate can collect enough cash to mount a
credible campaign in most Congressional
districts. From Tel Avivs perspective, that
political leverage is leveraged yet again because
fewer than ten percent of the 435 House races are
competitive in any election cycle (typically 35 to 50).
Additional force-multipliers come from: (a)
sustaining this financial focus over multiple
cycles, (b) using funds to gain and retain
seniority for those serving on Congressional
committees key to promoting Israeli goals, and
(c) opposing any candidates who question those goals.
Jewish Achievement reports that 42% of the
largest political donors to the 2000 election
cycle were Jewish, including four of the top
five. That compares to less than 2% of Americans
who are Jewish. Of the Forbes 400 richest
Americans, 25% are Jewish according to Michael
Steinhardt, a key funder of the Democratic
Leadership Council. The DLC was led by Jewish
Zionist Senator Joe Lieberman when he resigned in
2000 to run as vice president with pro-Israeli presidential candidate Al Gore.
Money was never a constraint. Pro-Israeli donors
were limited only by how much they could lawfully
contribute to AIPAC-screened candidates.
McCain-Feingold raised a key limit. The full
impact of this foreign influence has yet to be
tallied. Whats known, however, is sufficient to
apply the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Of the
top 50 neoconservatives who advocated war in Iraq, 26 were Jewish (52%).
Harry Truman, a Christian Zionist, remains one of
the more notable recipients of funds. In 1948, he
was trailing badly in the polls and in
fundraising. His prospects brightened
dramatically in May after he recognized as a
legitimate state an enclave of Jewish extremists
who originally planned to settle in Argentina
before putting their sights on Palestine.
That recognition was opposed by Secretary of
State George C. Marshall, the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, the bulk of the diplomatic corps, the
fledgling Central Intelligence Agency and
numerous distinguished Americans, including
moderate and secular Jews concerned at the
troubles that were certain to follow. Not until
1984 was it revealed that a network of Jewish
Zionists had funded Trumans campaign by
financially refueling his whistle-stop campaign
train with $400,000 in cash ($3 million in 2009 dollars).
To buy time on the publics airwaves, money
raised from the Israel lobbys network is paid to
media outlets largely owned or managed by members
of the same network. Presidents, Senators and
Congressmen come and go but those who collect the
checks rack up the favors that amass lasting political influence.
The US system of government is meant to ensure
that members of the House represent the concerns
of Americans who reside in Congressional
districtsnot a nationally dispersed network (a
Diaspora) committed to advancing the agenda of a
foreign nation. Federal elections are meant to
hold Senators accountable to constituents who
reside in the states they representnot
out-of-state residents or a foreign government.
In practical effect, McCain-Feingold hastened a
retreat from representative government by
granting a nationwide network of foreign agents
disproportionate influence over elections in
every state and Congressional district. Campaign
finance reform enabled this network to amass
even more political cloutwielding influence
disproportionate to their numbers, indifferent to
their place of residence and often contrary to Americas interests.
This force-multiplier is now wielded in plain
sight, with impunity and under cover of free
speech, free elections, free press and even the
freedom of religion. Therein lies the perils of
an entangled alliance that induced the US to
invade Iraq and now seeks war with Iran. By
allowing foreign agents to operate as a domestic
lobby, the US was induced to confuse Zionist interests with its own.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0Fs73XZqm8
Jeff Gates is A widely acclaimed author,
attorney, investment banker, educator and
consultant to government, corporate and union
leaders worldwide. Gates latest book is Guilt By
AssociationHow Deception and Self-Deceit Took
America to War (2008). His previous books include
Democracy at Risk: Rescuing Main Street From Wall
Street and The Ownership Solution: Toward a
Shared Capitalism for the 21st Century. For two
decades, he was an adviser to policy-makers worldwide.
Freedom Archives
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415 863-9977
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