https://mondoweiss.net/2021/01/aipac-demands-nbc-retract-report-on-nsc-aide-
whos-a-big-donor-to-lobby-group-and-nbc-complies/?utm_source=mailpoet&utm_me
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AIPAC demands NBC retract report on NSC aide who's a big donor to lobby
group- and NBC complies!
There are times when foreign policy influence in Washington takes on a
farcical level, and this story is one of them.
BY PHILIP WEISS JANUARY 29, 2021
ANNE NEUBERGER, AT A 2020 LONG NOW FOUNDATION APPEARANCE. SCREENSHOT FROM
YOUTUBE.
On Wednesday, Mother Jones and NBC News reported that a top Biden national
security aide who is an expert on Russian cyber had given over half a
million dollars to AIPAC in recent years through a family foundation. And
the aide's husband is on the AIPAC executive council in Baltimore.
AIPAC is of course the leading Israel lobby group, which supports everything
the rightwing Israeli government does, from persecuting Palestinians to
threatening Iran.
Mother Jones and NBC questioned Anne Neuberger's fitness as the deputy
national security adviser for cyber on the National Security Council.
Well in no time, NBC (and its very professional reporter, Ken Dilanian) came
under a hail of criticism including among others AIPAC, other Jewish groups,
and a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
AIPAC wrote:
.@NBCNews must retract this offensive story. Charges of dual loyalty are
anti-Semitic and insult millions of Americans-Jewish & non-Jewish-who stand
by our ally Israel. We will not be deterred from exercising our rights as
citizens to advocate for a strong US-Israel relationship.
Then Biden's NSC spokesperson Emily Horne jumped in to say the story was an
antisemitic, spurious ad hominem attack, and a smear campaign.
We are appalled by recent spurious accusations against our staff. We welcome
oversight and scrutiny, but there is no justification for false and ad
hominem attacks based on ethnic, racial, or religious identity. The women
and men of the NSC are patriotic, dedicated, and serve their country with
distinction. Being forced to endure public smear campaigns should not be
part of working on behalf of the American people.
Why didn't she just say, Fake News!
NBC folded. It retracted the story, updating its report with an editor's
preface stating that the article should not have been published because its
reliance on anonymous sources does not meet NBC standards and because
Neuberger was not given "adequate time to respond to our reporting," but it
is keeping the story on its website as a matter of record.
Mother Jones is sticking with its story, but David Corn reports that Biden's
NSC wants Mother Jones to take the story down.
Emily Horne, an NSC spokesperson, sent Mother Jones the following statement:
"We note that NBC has pulled down their own version of this story, saying it
fell short of their reporting standards, and look forward to Mother Jones
doing the same.
NBC's crime was this paragraph questioning Neuberger's fitness because of
her support for the Israel lobby.
A cross section of current and former intelligence officials and foreign
policy experts - none of whom were willing to be named - said the donations
created an appearance problem. They noted that Israel, whose companies build
and sell spying gear to regimes abroad and whose intelligence agencies hack
foreign governments around the world, has a big stake in American cyber
policy.
A perfectly legitimate question. AIPAC is devoted to Israel. But of course
all anyone is allowed to care about in Washington is Russian influence (NPR
has a breathless report on same today.)
Here are the AIPAC facts as reported by Corn that are not in dispute.
Neuberger's husband is big in AIPAC and worked against the Iran deal.
Yehuda Neuberger is chair of AIPAC's Baltimore executive council. as part of
a fierce AIPAC effort, Yehuda Neuberger lobbied Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) to
oppose the multilateral Iran nuclear deal the Obama White House had
negotiated.
Cardin was one of four Democratic senators to vote against Obama's deal.
Note that there have been no negative career consequences for these
turncoats. Chuck Schumer is Majority Leader. And Anne Neuberger gets a top
appointment in the NSC.
The Neubergers' AIPAC support:
Twelve years ago, Neuberger and her husband created the Anne and Yehuda
Neuberger Foundation to "carry out the charitable and religious purposes of
the Associated Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore," according to its
tax records.
From 2012 through 2018-the last year for which tax records for the
foundation are available-the Neubergers provided $559,000 to AIPAC.
The foundation also gave money to the think-tank adored by Donald Trump that
is bent on war with Iran: "$3,500 to the Foundation for the Defense of
Democracies, a hawkish, pro-Israel think-tank in Washington."
Mother Jones makes plain, obvious points: Israel is a cyber "powerhouse",
Israel has spied on the U.S., the two countries' perceived interests may
overlap but aren't congruent, and Neuberger's huge donations create an
appearance of a conflict. One expert Corn quotes says it's "unwise" to have
Neuberger in the job.
[T]he CIA has considered Israel a top counterintelligence threat. And it is
not hard to conceive of cyber-related conflicts that could arise between the
two states. So should a Biden administration national security official in
charge of US cyber policy be supporting an influence group aligned with the
Israeli government? "It's unwise at best," says John Sipher, a former CIA
official. "In her world, when people think of cyber-threats, Israel is
always there, even if it's an ally. It is surprising that someone in cyber
who understands Israeli capabilities would not want to steer clear of these
politics."
P.S. Benjamin Netanyahu just met convicted American spy Jonathan Pollard at
the Israeli airport in the middle of the night after he was freed by the
Justice Department to leave the country, and Pollard and his wife kissed the
ground, and Netanyahu declared, "You're home."
NETANYAHU GREETS AMERICAN JEWISH SPY JONATHAN POLLARD WITH WORDS, "YOU'RE
HOME," AT TEL AVIV AIRPORT, DEC. 30, 2020. FROM THE PM'S TWITTER FEED.
And AIPAC supports everything that Netanyahu does. But to question AIPAC's
influence in Washington-that's a smear campaign!
There was of course nothing wrong with the questions NBC raised. "Read the
original piece. Completely standard, and the people raising the concerns
[about Neuberger's fitness] are 'a cross section of current and former
intelligence officials and foreign policy experts' who note that Israel 'has
a big stake in American cyber policy,'" writes Branko Marcetic of Jacobin.
NBC's scrubbing of the story, he adds, is "A perfect combination of
establishment media fealty to Israel and this increasingly creepy
favouritism for the new administration."
As for fealty to Israel, former ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro, who is
reported by Tablet to be in line for a Biden appointment, jumped in to trash
the story.
I don't know Anne Neuberger, but the "charge" against her - that she's not
fit for national security work because her family foundation supported
political work that is fully protected under the Constitution - is offensive
and belied by her stellar career. Glad she is serving.
By the way, Dan Shapiro left his posting as ambassador to live in that
foreign country - which he told a US Jewish audience is "this miracle, this
gift, this jewel" and has worked for a national security thinktank in that
country and represented it to Congress, service that should have required
him to register as a foreign agent. But we are of course never allowed to
question the extent of someone's devotion to a foreign country.
And Rep. Gregory Meeks of Foreign Affairs signs off on Shapiro's comment:
Agreed. The offensive dual loyalty trope insinuated by the article is
unacceptable, and NBC is correct to acknowledge it was wrong to have posted
it. Anne Neuberger is a professional and this administration will benefit
from her expertise.
By the way, Congresspeople get a lot of money from AIPAC supporters.
This whole story is a farce because you can only imagine what would have
happened if someone who'd given half a million dollars to a Russia advocacy
group had worked in the Trump administration. But you can't even raise the
issue here. I like the comment by "Follow-upper" on twitter:
The person who wants to head up US cybersecurity was donating hundreds of
thousands to the lobbying arm of a foreign government that recently welcomed
a citizen of theirs who spied on the US as a hero to great fanfare. This is
not even allowed to be brought up or questioned?
Update: Look at how big Jewish Israel lobby groups came down on the
publications. American Jewish Committee: "@NBCNews has now taken down this
repugnant smear piece and acknowledged that it failed to meet its
journalistic standards. Your move, @DavidCornDC."
The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations also
ratcheted up the rhetoric:
We call on @MotherJones to withdraw its attack on Deputy National Security
Adviser Anne Neuberger for her family's support for @AIPAC. She has served
the American people with distinction. This attack on her character smacks of
age-old antisemitic canards.
Corn stands strong: "Neither my story nor the NBC News story on the same
subject raised any question of loyalty. These pieces reported that national
security and government ethics experts consider these donations
problematic."
