Grant Smith, the author of an important new book on the birth of the Israel lobby called America's Defense Line: the Justice Department's Battle to Register the Israel Lobby as Agents of a Foreign Government, today has targeted Joe Biden's statement that "AIPAC does not speak for the State of Israel."
The
outspoken Senator Biden, often compared to president John F. Kennedy,
is wrong. Newly declassified documents reveal that before his death,
JFK's most pressing concerns were registering the Israel lobby as
foreign government agents and inspections of the Israeli nuclear
weapons program.
Isaiah L. Kenen worked as the registered foreign
agent of the Israeli Ministry of Affairs in New York until he
established what would become AIPAC in 1951. In his words, Kenen left
because "Israelis began looking for a lobbyist to promote the necessary
legislation…would I leave the Israeli delegation for six months to
lobby for aid on Capitol Hill?"
When Kenen told the Justice Department's Foreign Agent Registration Act
(FARA) office he was leaving to perform public relations for the
Israeli Government, he was advised to re-register. Kenen never did,
even as he founded and distributed the Near East Report lobbying
newsletter with $38,000 in Israeli funds.
I wrote the foreword for Smith's book and regard it as an important contribution to our historical understanding. Having been to the AIPAC policy conference this year, I saw for myself that it stays in step with the positions of the Israeli government. This is why J Street has had such difficulty separating itself from AIPAC–because AIPAC is so genuinely devoted to promoting Israel's interests, and Jews here don't feel they can dissent. I'll have more to say about Smith's disclosures in days to come…
