With all the protocols-of-the-elders-of-zion type stories going around these days, I can only to shudder to think what people would be saying if Congress actually had blocked the Iran nuclear deal. There are, apparently, still corners in which people’s world views are so dedicated to the myth of an all-powerful Jewish conspiracy that they even see such power in defeat.
Foreign Policy magazine and author Bill Allison are the latest to jump on this particular bandwagon with an in-depth expose of how AIPAC shockingly follows all laws, complies with all regulations, and discloses everything that it is required to disclose. The title, “How AIPAC May Win By Losing The Iran Deal,” and subtitle “An FP investigation shows the lengths to which the powerful pro-Israel lobby goes to avoid disclosing its influence,” suggest the utmost duplicity. Yet, it appears that nearly all of the information in the article is from AIPAC’s own disclosures. The article is rife with nasty insinuations about the lobby group, attempting to portray it as a secretive, shadowy, all-powerful group, but there is not one single allegation of actual misconduct.
Right off the bat, in the first paragraph, the author begins with the assertion that “figuring out how the group actually spends all of [its] money is extremely difficult — and that’s just the way AIPAC wants it.” Yet, in the very next paragraph, he must admit that “AIPAC scrupulously abides by federal disclosure laws.” He next complains that “AIPAC has chosen the most narrow” option for calculating the amount of money it spends on lobbying for disclosure purposes, but not until after the admission that federal law gives organizations different choices. In other words, the law allows groups various choices and AIPAC has chosen from among them. Sounds dastardly!
Allison then goes into a rather long rant about how, in the past, after a defeat, AIPAC has been able to circle the wagons and increase its fundraising. He opines that this may happen again, saying that “the group hopes to double its budget within five years.” It’s completely normal for any group, especially a political one, to try to turn lemons into lemonade. But in the context of this article, and under the banner of this title, it sounds like Allison is trying to make even AIPAC’s response to a loss sound underhanded.
Allison then charges the group with “avoiding” the requirements of Foreign Agents Registration Act. It is able to do this because, as he admits, sneaky AIPAC “was set up to raise money from U.S. citizens, not from foreign sponsors.” Nor do AIPAC’s activities require it to register as a political committee with the Federal Election Commission, he tells us, even though a group took it to court — and lost — to try to get it to register. Perhaps worst of all, according to Allison, is that AIPAC facilitates meetings between private citizens and their representatives in Congress without reporting them. This failure, he tells us, is caused by the fact that such meetings are “exempt from federal lobbying disclosure laws.”
The worst thing about AIPAC, it seems, is that it actually follows the law.
Notably, neither Allison (who recently left a job at the Soros-funded Sunlight Foundation) nor Foreign Policy seems to have conducted any similar expose about the lobby group that actually succeeded in getting so many Senators to come out in favor of a deal that makes America, Israel, and the whole Middle East much, much less safe. The list of Senators that supported the JCPOA and that have accepted money from the Iranian American Political Action Committee, according to Daniel Greenfield, includes Ed Markey, Al Franken, Jeanne Shaheen, Kirsten Gillibrand and Barbara Boxer. Greenfield also asserts that IAPAC and “key Iran lobby figures” were “major donors” to some of John Kerry’s earlier campaigns.
The “scoops” found in this FP article would have been as laughable as #RubioCrimeSpree, but for the fact that they play upon, and spread, some of the worst and most dangerous anti-Semitic stereotypes. This article is a perfect example of the ways that those who are inclined to do so will look for, and find, evil intentions in any actions — Jews, in this case, Jewish Americans, can do no right.
Lobbying the government is a right granted to all US citizens. There is nothing untoward about exercising that right. If author Bill Allison doesn’t like the laws with which, by his own account, AIPAC is in full compliance, then perhaps he should exercise that right and work to change the laws. Until then he should stop throwing around batshit crazy conspiracy theories.
