{"id":185618,"date":"2019-03-23T06:49:07","date_gmt":"2019-03-23T06:49:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=185618"},"modified":"2019-03-27T06:32:12","modified_gmt":"2019-03-27T06:32:12","slug":"this-is-how-aipac-really-works","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=185618","title":{"rendered":"This Is How AIPAC Really Works"},"content":{"rendered":"

MJ Rosenburg \u2013 The Nation Feb 14, 2019<\/strong><\/h1>\n
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Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) (right) join hands as they take the stage to address the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) policy conference in Washington, March 2015. Click to enlarge<\/p><\/div>\n

One thing that should be said about Representative Ilhan Omar\u2019s tweet about the power of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (more commonly known as AIPAC, or the \u201cIsrael lobby\u201d) is that the hysterical reaction to it proved her main point: The power of AIPAC over members of Congress is literally awesome, although not in a good way. Has anyone ever seen so many members of Congress, of both parties, running to the microphones and sending out press releases to denounce one first-termer for criticizing the power of\u2026 a lobby?<\/span><\/p>\n

Somehow, I don\u2019t think the reaction would have been the same if she had tweeted that Congress still supports the ethanol subsidy because the American Farm Bureau and other components of the corn\/ethanol lobby spend millions to keep this agribusiness bonanza going (which they do). Or that if she had opposed the ethanol subsidy, she would have been accused of hating farmers.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s American politics; the only difference between all the domestic lobbies that essentially buy support for their agenda is that AIPAC is working for a foreign government, a distinction but not much of a difference when the goal is to maintain a status quo that is not necessarily in the national interest.<\/span><\/p>\n

What did Omar tweet that was so terrible, anyway? Actually it was two tweets that produced the unsettling but oh-so-telling coming together of President Donald Trump<\/strong><\/span><\/a> and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi<\/a><\/strong><\/span> in common denunciation of the first-term member of Congress. Omar\u2019s crime: daring to suggest that campaign contributions orchestrated by AIPAC play a large part in achieving bipartisan support for anything proposed by the Israeli government and\/or its lobby, AIPAC.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is, of course, something everyone knows and which even a former president of AIPAC once admitted<\/strong><\/span><\/a> in a conversation that was recorded by an interlocutor. In fact, as early as 1988, 60 Minutes<\/em> did a segment<\/a> on how AIPAC divvies up the money. (Moreover, I, as an employee of the lobby from 1973 to 1975 and 1982 to 1986, repeatedly and personally witnessed the whole process of funding and defunding, which is anything but a secret within the organization. Additionally, I spent close to 20 years as a legislative assistant to Democratic House and Senate members and saw AIPAC\u2019s tactics of reward and retribution from that vantage point too.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Officially, of course, AIPAC does not engage in political fundraising; it would be illegal<\/a><\/strong><\/span> for it to do so, and the lobby is vehement on the point that it doesn\u2019t. And it is true that, to my knowledge, it does not directly <\/em>raise money to support or defeat candidates. But that is just a technicality. Political fundraising is a huge part of AIPAC\u2019s operation. One of the three top positions in its massive Washington, DC, headquarters is that of political director, who runs both the Washington political operation (his annual salary<\/a><\/strong><\/span> is over $450,000) and deputy regional directors around the country. Here is how AIPAC describes what these officials do, as described in a \u201chelp wanted\u201d description for a Los Angeles deputy regional political director:<\/span><\/p>\n