If It's Going to Push Us to War, Is It Time for AIPAC to Register as a
Foreign Agent?
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/if_its_going_to_push_us_to_war_time_for_
aipac_to_register_20150811/
Posted on Aug 11, 2015
By Juan Cole
thierry ehrmann / CC BY 2.0
This post originally ran on Juan Cole's website.
Most polls show that Jewish Americans are the Americans most enthusiastic
about the diplomatic deal reached at Vienna between Iran and the UN Security
Council over its civilian nuclear enrichment program.
So the umbrella group of lobbyists supposedly dedicated to representing
Jewish Americans, the American Israel Political Affairs Committee, is
lobbying for the deal, right?
Wrong.
It not only is sending lobbyists to the offices of all US congressional
representatives and putting them under heavy pressure to reject the Vienna
accords, but it or its subsidiaries are flooding the airwaves with vicious
disinformation in an attempt to confuse the American public.
So my question is, on whose behalf is AIPAC intervening in American domestic
politics? Even if the J-Street and LA polls are flawed, how likely is it
that they are hiding an overwhelming and vehement opposition to the deal
among American Jewry (the vast majority of whom vote for the Democratic
Party and strongly supported Barack Obama for president)? Or that the gap
between Jewish Americans and other Americans on this issue, discovered in
the same polls, doesn't actually exist?
The only logical possibility is that AIPAC is acting on behalf of the Likud
government of Israel.
And if it is doing that, it falls under the 1938 Foreign Agents Registration
Act. Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy repeatedly demanded that the
American Zionist Council, the forerunner of AIPAC, so register. Former
Senator J. William Fulbright made a case for it in 1988. The 2005
prosecution of two AIPAC employees for passing a classified Pentagon
document to an Israeli official should have pitched the question again but
did not.
It matters because President Obama and Sec. John Kerry have repeatedly said
that the likely alternative to the Iran deal is a war with Iran down the
road. Such a war could well be the coup de grace for an already anemic
American economy (wages have not recovered from 2008-9).
Logically speaking, AIPAC is ipso facto lobbying our congressmen and women,
who are supposed to be representing us Americans, on behalf of a foreign
government, to reject peace and send our children to war. In my own view
that is pretty despicable.
President Obama is complaining about Israeli interference in US politics.
But he has only himself to blame. As long as AIPAC is treated differently
from other lobbies for a foreign state, and as long as Obama has his
ambassador to the UN, Samantha Powers, veto UN Security Resolutions
condemning Israel for its massive violations of international law in Gaza
and the West Bank, this kind of interference will only mount.
Admittedly, FARA as a law is imperfectly administered in Washington, where
foreign countries employ 1,000 lobbyists to pressure Congress. But in the
case of Egypt or, say, Vietnam, the lobbyists have to report their
activities, and lawmakers too identified with foreign states can suffer
reputationally. Also, expert witnesses who testify before Congress, under a
recent law, have to be transparent about who they've been working for. The
documents filed under FARA can also be gotten from the Department of Justice
by US citizens, whereas AIPAC's activities happen in the dark. In fact, it
for instance lobbied Congress heavily in favor of the Iraq War but now
denies the fact, and we have no way of double checking. FARA reporting
would be helpful.
The situation with AIPAC is not unique. Other American ethnic groups often
lobby on behalf of a home country. Armenian-Americans tried to use their
lobby (which also isn't registered with FARA) to pressure Nancy Pelosi to
have the US Congress recognize the Armenian genocide, at the risk of a
rupture of US relations with Turkey. (I'm not taking sides on this issue,
just recounting what happened). But then I think domestic US lobbies on
behalf both of Turkey and of Armenia should register under FARA.
President Obama should ask Atty. General Loretta Lynch to begin proceedings
to make AIPAC register, as well.
thierry ehrmann / CC BY 2.0
http://www.truthdig.com/ http://www.truthdig.com/
If It's Going to Push Us to War, Is It Time for AIPAC to Register as a
Foreign Agent?
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/if_its_going_to_push_us_to_war_time_for_
aipac_to_register_20150811/
Posted on Aug 11, 2015
By Juan Cole
thierry ehrmann / CC BY 2.0
This post originally ran on Juan Cole's website.
Most polls show that Jewish Americans are the Americans most enthusiastic
about the diplomatic deal reached at Vienna between Iran and the UN Security
Council over its civilian nuclear enrichment program.
http://www.juancole.com/images/2015/08/J-Street-poll-on-Iran-Nuclear-Agreeme
nt1.jpg
http://www.juancole.com/images/2015/08/J-Street-poll-on-Iran-Nuclear-Agreeme
nt1.jpg
So the umbrella group of lobbyists supposedly dedicated to representing
Jewish Americans, the American Israel Political Affairs Committee, is
lobbying for the deal, right?
Wrong.
It not only is sending lobbyists to the offices of all US congressional
representatives and putting them under heavy pressure to reject the Vienna
accords, but it or its subsidiaries are flooding the airwaves with vicious
disinformation in an attempt to confuse the American public.
So my question is, on whose behalf is AIPAC intervening in American domestic
politics? Even if the J-Street and LA polls are flawed, how likely is it
that they are hiding an overwhelming and vehement opposition to the deal
among American Jewry (the vast majority of whom vote for the Democratic
Party and strongly supported Barack Obama for president)? Or that the gap
between Jewish Americans and other Americans on this issue, discovered in
the same polls, doesn't actually exist?
The only logical possibility is that AIPAC is acting on behalf of the Likud
government of Israel.
And if it is doing that, it falls under the 1938 Foreign Agents Registration
Act. Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy repeatedly demanded that the American
Zionist Council, the forerunner of AIPAC, so register. Former Senator J.
William Fulbright made a case for it in 1988. The 2005 prosecution of two
AIPAC employees for passing a classified Pentagon document to an Israeli
official should have pitched the question again but did not.
It matters because President Obama and Sec. John Kerry have repeatedly said
that the likely alternative to the Iran deal is a war with Iran down the
road. Such a war could well be the coup de grace for an already anemic
American economy (wages have not recovered from 2008-9).
Logically speaking, AIPAC is ipso facto lobbying our congressmen and women,
who are supposed to be representing us Americans, on behalf of a foreign
government, to reject peace and send our children to war. In my own view
that is pretty despicable.
President Obama is complaining about Israeli interference in US politics.
But he has only himself to blame. As long as AIPAC is treated differently
from other lobbies for a foreign state, and as long as Obama has his
ambassador to the UN, Samantha Powers, veto UN Security Resolutions
condemning Israel for its massive violations of international law in Gaza
and the West Bank, this kind of interference will only mount.
Admittedly, FARA as a law is imperfectly administered in Washington, where
foreign countries employ 1,000 lobbyists to pressure Congress. But in the
case of Egypt or, say, Vietnam, the lobbyists have to report their
activities, and lawmakers too identified with foreign states can suffer
reputationally. Also, expert witnesses who testify before Congress, under a
recent law, have to be transparent about who they've been working for. The
documents filed under FARA can also be gotten from the Department of Justice
by US citizens, whereas AIPAC's activities happen in the dark. In fact, it
for instance lobbied Congress heavily in favor of the Iraq War but now
denies the fact, and we have no way of double checking. FARA reporting would
be helpful.
The situation with AIPAC is not unique. Other American ethnic groups often
lobby on behalf of a home country. Armenian-Americans tried to use their
lobby (which also isn't registered with FARA) to pressure Nancy Pelosi to
have the US Congress recognize the Armenian genocide, at the risk of a
rupture of US relations with Turkey. (I'm not taking sides on this issue,
just recounting what happened). But then I think domestic US lobbies on
behalf both of Turkey and of Armenia should register under FARA.
President Obama should ask Atty. General Loretta Lynch to begin proceedings
to make AIPAC register, as well.
thierry ehrmann / CC BY 2.0
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http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/if_its_going_to_push_us_to_war_time_for_
aipac_to_register_20150811/
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aipac_to_register_20150811/
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