21st Century Progressivism

Tag: AIPAC

  • The State of Israel is a False Friend

    Reading Time: 5 minutes
    The State of Israel is a False Friend
    American and Israeli Flags Credit: tzahiV

    Israel has a sordid history of its dealings with the United States. This has been documented in a recently released FBI file, Isaiah L. Kenen: Foreign Agent to Founder of AIPAC. According to this document, Isaiah Kenen and the Israeli government have abused the trust of the American people since 1948. The evidence suggests that the State of Israel is a false friend. This is a summary and timeline of the relevant events.

    1948: Isaiah L. Kenen and the Israel Office of Information

    In the late 1940’s, Isaiah L. Kenen was instrumental in lobbying the US Congress, the administration, and United Nations for the creation of the state of Israel in Palestine. In 1948, he moved from Israel’s UN delegation to start the “Israel Office of Information” on behalf of the Israeli Embassy and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In this capacity, he was obliged to register with the US Department of Justice under the 1938 Foreign Registration Act (FARA), which he did. However, in 1950, with the help of the Israeli government and behind the Americans’ backs, he began planning to break free of FARA oversight. This is one of several disloyal acts revealed in his biography, Israel’s Defense Line: Her Friends and Foes in Washington.

    The American Zionist Council (AZC): Isaiah L. Kenen acts in bad faith

    Kenen eventually left the Israel Office of Information (IOI) to lobby for the American Zionist Council. He later became founder and chairman of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee known as AIPAC. It is now known that while Kenen was chairman of AIPAC he received strategic direction from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the founder of Mossad.

    In regard to the FARA registration for the Israel Office of Information, Mr. Arthur C.A. Liverhant, Second Secretary of the Israeli Mission, conferred in September of 1948 with Mr. Lenvin and Bernard S. Morris. Mr. Liverhant stated that offices were being established in Washington and New York with a director for each. Lenvin and Morris explained the registration process as well as the filing and labeling requirements.

    On October 10, 1948 Mr. Liverhant submited a foreign agent registration cover letter for a new “Israel Office of Information”. It named Rita Grossman, Bernard Zamichow, Isaiah Kenen, Harvey Rosenhouse and Harry Zinder as officers. Kenen was named as “Director of Information” of the New York office. He filed his personal Foreign Agent Registration on November 1, 1948. However, he failed to report his connections with foreign officials, such as Abba Eban and David Ben-Gurion. This also was not revealed until he published his biography.

    Unreported Israel Office of Information Office in the Los Angelas Consulate: DOJ Files Defenciency Record and Notice

    The DOJ submitted a Deficiency Record and Notice covering the dates from December 1948 to June 1949. It had discovered that the existence of another office in the Los Angelas Consulate had not been reported. The Israelis were advised to correct these deficiencies in the next supplemental statement.

    On June 30, 1950, Mr. Kenen submitted a supplemental registration statement for the Israel Office of Information. He did not disclose a trip to Capitol Hill to lobby for US arms and aid to Israel in January of 1950.

    Kenen Advised to File a new registration statement FA-1 for the Israeli Office of Information.

    The following memo was submitted to the FBI file on January 17, 1951.

    Mr. Isaiah L. Kenen, Director of Information for the Government of Israel’s Mission to the United Nations and one of the officers of the Israeli Office of Information, visited my office on January 17, 1951 to discuss his possible obligations under the Foreign Agents Registration Act in the event he terminates his present activities and establishes his own public relations business.

    Mr. Kenen stated that his first client would probably be the Government of Israel and consequently I told him that he should file a new registration statement on Form FA-1. I explained to Mr. Kenen the registration statement of the Israeli Office of Information and the necessity for the filing of a new statement. Mr. Kenen stated that he would file a new statement as soon as he commences his activities on behalf of the Government of Israel. Suitable forms were given to Mr. Kenen.”

    FARA Section Memo by Nathan Lenvin concerning Isaiah Kenen’s visit

    Kenen Claims he is resigning from the IOI and Severing Ties with the Israeli Government

    However, on February 13th 1951 Kenen announced he was resigning from the Israeli Office of Information and severing ties with the Israeli government. He requested that FARA remove his name from their lists. This request was acknowledged by FARA Section chief William E. Foley.

    Kenen also submitted financial statements to the FARA office in April of 1951 and requested that his name be withdrawn from the IOI file. Three months later, an Israel Office of Information press release announced plans to solicit skilled workers.

    On the same day, James X. Kilbridge requested that the IOI Department of Professional and Technical Personnel be exempted from FARA registration requirements. The DOJ’s William Foley agreed. (No further information is available about Mr. Kilbridge.)

    The New York Times Announces Kenen’s appointment as the Washington Representative of the AZC

    In February of 1952, The New York Times published a short article entitled “I.L. Kenen in Zionist Unit Post“: 

    “The appointment of I.L. Kenen, former director of information for the Jewish Agency in Palestine, as the Washington Representative of the American Zionist Council, the public relations arm of Zionist groups in this country, was announced yesterday by Louis Lipsky, chairman of the council.  Mr. Kenen, who also has served as director of information of the Israel delegation to the United Nations, recently returned from Israel.”

    In March of that year, Kenen advised the FARA section office of his travels to Israel and receipt of Israeli government funds. However, he did not disclose conducting tours and lobbying initiatives with visiting congressmen on behalf of the Israeli government while he was there. The congressmen included Senator Javits and Congressmen Ribicoff, Fugate, Keating, O’Toole, Barrett and Fein. (This is detailed in All My Causes)

    Kenen claimed his employment at the American Zionist Council “expired” before his Israel visit, but he immediately returned to AZC lobbying. Even so, he claimed to be exempt from FARA requirements. (He presented his term at the AZC as ‘uninterrupted’ in his biographies.)

    FARA section gives Kenen a clean bill of health

    In April, FARA section responded to Isaiah Kenen “You state, however, that during the trip to Israel you did not publish or transmit to the United States any documents or propaganda material.  In view of your statement, you were not acting within the United States as an agent of a foreign principal…”

    The FBI Asked Assistant Attorney General Warren Olney III if they should investigate the Israel Office of Information

    The FBI director received and forwarded copies of Israel Office of Information literature in April of 1952. This literature was circulating without foreign agents disclosure stamps (a typical disclosure would read: “A copy of this material is filed with the Department of Justice where the required statement under the Foreign Agents Registration Act of the Israel Office of Information as an agent of the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs is available for public inspection.  Registration does not indicate approval of this material by the United States Government.“)  The FBI asked Assistant Attorney General Warren Olney III if the FBI should begin an investigation of the Israel Office of Information.

    Kenen had continued to work at the AZC.

    In 1962, the AZC was ordered to register as a foreign agent.

  • Prayers for a Divided Land

    Reading Time: 7 minutes
    Salvation

    There is grave disorder in the halls of our government. It is a kind of disorder that can’t be set right by judgement, scolding and condemnation. It can only be addressed with blessings and prayers. This is a desperate call for blessings and prayers for a disputed land. Nothing less will do. But first we must describe the problem.

    In 2016, progressives presented a new direction for the United States. It was based on the reality of climate change, diminishing farmland, pollution of water resources, and a growing population. We proclaimed that instead of addressing these things, our government was building weapons with which to destroy far-away people. In the process, they were dropping white phosphorus, which destroys anything it touches–buildings, human bodies and land. This they continue to do.

    Describing the ailment

    We face two intractable cases: Russia/Ukraine and Palestine/Israel. Here we are describing the ailment. The administration has obviously gone the opposite direction from what we had hoped. The political establishment cleverly side-stepped progressive demands and defeated our presidential candidate. Now, they apparently think they have silenced us. It’s as if they think an electoral cycle was the only obstacle to their plans, or as if reality is the ideology of the winning candidate.

    But I don’t intend to scold. I’m describing the ailment. The administration knows all of the details that will be described here. What they don’t know is that we know the details too, and we fear and pity the administration.

    Diagnoses and recommendations

    To the Biden administration, considering the inappropriate response to Israel’s destruction of Gaza and the suffering of the Palestinians, possible diagnoses follow. The first is collective mental illness. Another possibility is moral immaturity. A third possibility is a wholesale capitulation to greed and hubris. A fourth could be childish defiance. A fifth possibility is demonic possession.

    Whatever the diagnosis, the whole world can see what is happening to us. The administration alone can’t see it. Still, I think it is important that we are all on the same page, so, please read the following and feel free to correct any material errors.

    The crisis in Israel and Palestine is the climax of decades of dereliction of duty by Great Britain, the United States, and their allies. This dereliction of duty has allowed a vicious, racist cabal to take control of the Israeli government, the Israeli military, the United States Congress, and the European Union. Today, as the rest of us bemoan the killing of Palestinians, it is important to be aware of the momentum behind this massacre.

    It is not as simple as demanding that the killing stop, although that has become the most urgent problem since October 7. But going forward, the dereliction of duty must be explained in political terms. Then we need to call our government and its allies to change its ways. In religious terms, we should call them to repent. The following is taken from an article I found on the website of the Institute for Palestinian Studies. Please see the full article for further details and footnotes.

    The rot

    The Trump administration moved American foreign policy on Israel and Palestine to the far right. But Trump’s policies have not moved back to the left since the end of his administration. Why? Because Trump was only accelerating a long-standing policy, or lack thereof, toward Israel. For decades, US politicians in both parties have courted the Jewish far right. Trump’s administration was different in degree but not in the general direction.

    Trump chose Jared Kushner as special advisor, and David Friedman as ambassador to Israel. Because of their ties to Rabbi Meir Kahane, this encouraged Benjamin Netanyahu to put a terrorist movement in the Israeli parliament. Previously this movement had had no visible ties to Netanyahu, although ties certainly existed. This meant that Netanyahu could deny responsibility when the Kahanist movement, as the terrorist movement is still called, violently expanded Israeli settlements. Thanks to Trump the connection no longer has to remain hidden.

    What are these ties? Both Kushner and Friedman had been donating money to groups associated with the followers of Kahane. They funneled money through a think tank associated with Kahane and headed by Rabbi Dov Lior. Dov Lior often praises famous mass murderers in Israeli history, such as Baruch Goldstein.

    Benjamin Netanyahu: inheritor of Rabbi Kahane’s patrons

    Rabbi Meir Kahane was assassinated in 1990, after which his wealthy patrons decided to fund Benjamin Netanyahu. These patrons include Manfred Lehmann, Reuben and Rose Mattus, Irving Muskowitz, Kenneth Abramowitz, Simon Falic and Sam Domb, among others. Organizations associated with Meir Kahane and Israel’s Kahanist prime minister continue to have Kushner’s and Friedman’s loyalty.

    During Netanyahu’s last premiership, he personally oversaw the installation of more illegal settlement infrastructure in occupied Palestine territories than had been built in the previous 25 years. Kahanist groups showed their appreciation of Trump’s support for Israeli expansion by minting a coin with his face and gifting him with a silver Torah crown.

    Kahanist Jewish Power party leader Itamar Ben Gvir was elected to the Knesset in 2021, and two months later he organized anti-Palestinian pogroms across the country. Unfortunately but predictably, Israeli media treated this activity with approval. In addition, Ben Gvir was given more screen time than any other Knesset member. He placed third in the November 2022 elections and Kahanists won fourteen of 120 seats in the Knesset.

    In his present term, Netanyahu has gone so far as to install Ben Gvir as his national security minister with power over Israel’s security forces. Ben Gvir’s injustices are too many to list here. Please see the article.

    A brief history of the rot

    This is a brief history of the rot. Corruption has been present at least since Israel signed the Oslo Accord with the PLO in 1993. Immediately after it was signed, the Kahanist community of New York City waged a war against the Accord. They also waged a hate campaign against Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin. At a rally led by Anthony Weiner in Times Square in 1993, they publicly called Rabin a murderer and warned that he was leading Israel to ‘national suicide’. The Village Voice quoted a rally attendee who said, “Rabin is worse than Hitler…Rabin should be killed.’

    In 1995, Labor Party Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by a disciple of Baruch Goldstein. Six months later, Benjamin Netanyahu became prime minister of Israel with the help of Kahanists.

    Ongoing opposition to the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority

    A continuing aim of the Kahanists seems to be to discredit the Palestinian Authority. In 2004, Rabbi Moshe Tendler slurred Yasser Arafat’s successor, Mahmoud Abbas at a dinner of the far-right Zionist Organization of America (ZOA). Then Anthony Weiner, the Democratic candidate for new York city mayor, took the microphone and called for an end to all US aid to the Palestinian Authority.

    Kahanists not only slur the PA’s leaders, they advocate legislation to reduce or eliminate its funding. For example, a Kahane-related fund raising organization influenced Senator D’Amato to introduce a bill in Congress hobbling US aid to the PA.

    Republican infamy

    Republican infamy and support for the Kahanist organization and its sister organizations is not surprising. Democratic support, on the other hand, is disturbing. First I’ll report a few items of Republican infamy. In March 2022 Mike Pence assured the Kahanists of American support when he visited Hebron. While touring the Ibrahimi Mosque, he said to Ben Gvir, ‘Stay strong, and we’ll stand with you’. The Ibrahimi Mosque is the place where Goldstein committed his massacre, accompanied by Ben Gvir. Goldstein murdered twenty-nine Palestinians during prayers in 1994 while wounding another 120.

    Christian American far right, Jewish American far right, and AIPAC

    The Christian American far right embraces the most extreme Zionist Kahanist terrorists, while the Jewish American far right, which dominates the American Zionist lobby, embraces the most extreme Christian nationalists. They include US Senate, House, and gubernatorial candidates who supported the January 6 insurrection. Last, but not least, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) has issued public statements of support for more than a hundred supporters of the Trump-led January 6 riots.

    The Democratic Party is right behind the Republicans

    As mentioned above, the Democratic Party is right behind the Republicans. For decades, AIPAC and its sister PACs have been taking millions of dollars from supporters of Kahanist causes and giving them to Democratic primaries. Particularly in New York, politicians in both parties are aware that the city’s rabbis wield political influence.

    Rabbis and racist elected officials

    Rabbi Moshe Tendler, who died in 2021, was spiritual advisor to top Democratic Party politicians. He also played a pivotal role in the election campaigns of Rockland county District Attorney Kenneth Gribetz. Gribetz was DA for twenty years with, Tendler’s help.

    Democratic state representative, Dov Hikind, was a racist Democratic state representative. He was able to deliver the votes of his constituents for thirty-five years because his Brooklyn district of Borough Park contains the largest concentration of Orthodix and ultra-Orthodox Jews in the United States. Hikind admits this was a block vote. In other words, conservative communities obey their religious leaders when they cast their votes.

    Most Jews are Democrats. But even Orthodox Jews were initially lukewarm about the Zionist project. Unfortunately, when they saw that Israel was able to beat multiple Arab armies in the 1967 war, they decided Israel must have inaugurated a pre-messianic era. According to this interpretation, it followed that the Israeli government should dominate the surrounding nations rather than coexist with them.

    Democratic grandstanders and hangers-on

    To continue the saga of Democratic grandstanders and hangers-on, Hikind also helped elect Republicans such as US Senator Al D’Amato, New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and New York Governor George Pataki.

    Sam Domb, a patron of Benjamin Netanyahu, foots the bill for New York’s annual Salute to Israel Parade down Fifth Avenue in return for certain perks. The event now includes a concert in Central Park, featuring speeches from racist figures in the Jewish community. New York City politicians have attended, including Former Congressman Anthony Weiner, former State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and State Assemblyman David Wepriin.

    In 2020, Domb helped fund Democrat Bill de Blasio’s run for the US presidency. He also told Haaretz in 2003 he had funded Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign.

    Here is a list of additional Democrats beholden to Kahanist related figures: Chuck Schumer, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Lois Frankel and Ted Deutch, US Representative Josh Gottheimer, US Senator Bob Menendez and US Representative Juan Vargas.

    Sadly, Joe Biden is also implicated. In May 2022, just after Israel’s thirty-sixth government lost its majority, and early polling pointed to its impending demise, the US State Department announced that it no longer considered the Kahanist group Kahane Chai to be a terrorist organization. ‘The move sent a clear signal to Netanyahu that US President Joe Biden did not object to his including the Kahanists in any future government’.

    And if this information isn’t damning enough for the Democratic Party, ‘Robert Kennedy Jr. made a public pilgrimage to the home of Dov Hikind and received his endorsement.’

    To the governments of the US and her allies: Repent and ask God for mercy

    To individual officials in our Democratic administration and allied governments: Stop what you are doing. It will be difficult. Those who are paying you will object. So will your colleagues who are on the take. But you have no choice if you care about your eternal rewards. You must confess and forsake your evil ways. Why? Because there will be eternal consequences for your behavior. Repent and ask God for mercy.