Protesting AIPACs Pernicious Influence Lela Gilbert | August 7, 2017
Israel
The American Conservative has published a denouncement of the worlds largest pro-Israel lobby, penned by ex-CIA officer Philip Giraldi and titled Should AIPAC Register as a Foreign Agent? The answer Giraldi is seeking is, of course, yes. This is not particularly surprising, since American Conservative was initially co-founded by Patrick J. Buchanananother frequent critic of the Jewish state.
As to Giraldis own views, he wrote candidly in 2012: I dont like Israel very much, whose government is essentially a long-running criminal enterprise and a rogue regime that has successfully manipulated
the United States, and has done terrible damage both to our political system and to the American people, a crime that I just cannot forgive, condone, or explain away.
In context of todays uproar over possible Russian perfidy, Giraldi introduces the subject of FARAForeign Agents Registration Act of 1936. He explains, FARA was created in the lead up to World War II to help monitor the activity of Italian, German and Japanese agent-lobbyists who were believed to be working hard in the U.S. to influence opinion as well as congressional votes in favor of their respective sponsoring nations. The intention was to force the foreign agents to register with the Department of the Treasury so they would have to identify their government sponsors and be required to reveal their sources of income.
In short, FARAs initial targets for registration were foreign-funded spies and infiltrators of hostile nations; those seeking to import subversive ideas to America. Needless to say, in 1938 Italy, Germany, and Japan werent exactly benign forces as far as United States lawmakers were concerned. FARA was clearly put in place to deal with US enemies.
Giraldi admits that FARA has not been rigorously enforced over the years, but implies perhaps that is changing, since former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn was recently forced to register with FARA as an agent of Turkey, after his firm received money from Ankara via a Dutch source.
Turkey is, of course, on rather shaky ground with the US due to its ever-increasing Islamist agenda, President Recept Tayyip Erdogans neo-Ottoman ambitions, and particularly since a rather puzzling failed coup attempt a year ago, which was foiled by the presidents loyal henchmen. It seems that Flynn had been encouragedwith more than half a million dollars on the tableto promote Erdogan & Co.s view of the attempted coup. After a couple of op-eds the deal was scrapped, and Flynn was fired by President Donald Trump.
From there, Giraldi launches into his specific attack on AIPAC. Ironically, the most powerful and effective foreign-government lobby in Washington is so dominant that it has been able to avoid registering for the past 55 years.
He quotes AIPACs own website, which declares itself Americas Pro-Israel Lobby, and details the size and cost of its clearly massive endeavors. The fact that AIPAC has non-profit tax-exempt status as a 501(c)(4) is particularly galling to him.
No Washington lobby is benign, Giraldi declares. Lobbies exist to subvert the public interest. They promote particular agendas and are not intended to enhance the general well-being of the American public. He concludes that lobbies are solely driven by the self-interest of those that fund them.
But what he fails to note is that AIPAC, by its own declarations and documentation, is not an agent of Israel. Why? Because it is not funded by Israel. Yes, it lobbies for what it perceives as Israels best interests, but its finances are provided by American donors.
Furthermore, since Israel receives large amounts of US aid, Giraldi maintains that AIPAC and the Israel Lobby are not cost-free for the American public. Perhaps not, but the American tax-payer is not paying for AIPACs endeavors. And it is worth notingsince military aid to Israel is inevitably a point of contentionthat, of the current US $3.1 billion designated for the Jewish State, Israel is required to spend all but 26.3 percent of that amount in the US.
Above all, Philip Giraldi seems most troubled by AIPACs successful efforts to urge lawmakers in both the Senate and House to block Boycott, Divestment, and Sanction (BDS) activities against Israel.
The two versions of the bill that are moving through Congress have 238 sponsors and cosponsors in the House and 46 in the Senate. If you do your math, you will realize that those numbers already constitute a majority in the House and are only five short of one in the Senate, so passage of the bills is virtually assured, Giraldi complains.
He goes on to say, Twenty-one state legislatures have already passed various laws confronting BDS, in many cases initiating economic penalties on organizations that boycott Israel or denying state funds to colleges and universities that allow BDS advocates to operate freely on campus. The pending federal legislation would go one step further by criminalizing any U.S. citizen engaged in interstate or foreign commerce who supports a boycott of Israel.
He finds opposition to BDS particularly dangerous when it affects Americas international allies.
Giraldis tirade raises a couple of questions: For one thing, why does Israel have such widespread support? Is he implying that numerous US lawmakers and other Israel enthusiasts have been bribed, blackmailed, or otherwise bullied by clandestine AIPAC actions?
Or does he assume that they, along with 62 percent of the American people, are simply not bright enough to fathom Israels supposed crimes and misdemeanors and the pernicious influence of the unregistered and unrestrained Israel Lobby?
Either way, judging by Israels burgeoning attainments in international diplomacy, medical technology, agricultural innovation, economic vitality, and military expertise, perhaps ex-spook Philip Giraldi has simply and inadvertently planted his feet on the wrong side of history.
Poster Comment:
They should just make the Mid-East mini state the 51st state and be done with it.
Lots of links in text at source.