Thomas Massie Introduces Bill To Finally Force AIPAC To Register As A Foreign Agent Under FARA. 80 members of con-gress list AIPAC as their all-time top contributor.
Posted by freedomforall 6 days, 9 hours ago to Politics
Excerpt:
"Since its inception in 1954, AIPAC has circumvented the registration requirements under FARA by virtue of being established as a domestic lobbying organization legally distinct from the parameters that the act uses to designate a foreign principal. AIPAC was created by Isaiah L. Kenen, a lobbyist for the Israeli government that previously served under the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who worked as the information director of the American Zionist Council (”AZC”). After raising $65 million and $73 million in U.S. aid for Israel in 1951 and 1952, respectively, Kenen grew weary that he would be investigated by the U.S. State Department for not registering as a foreign agent under FARA. Kenen created the American Zionist Committee for Public Affairs (”AZCPA”) to navigate around the registration requirements under FARA in response to that concern. The AZPCA was renamed the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in 1959 and became the preeminent political vehicle for the pro-Israel lobby in the decades that followed its creation.
The AIPAC Act would amend FARA by adding a fourth paragraph that would additionally define a foreign principal as “any organization, association, corporation, or other entity....whose lobbying activities or stated mission is, either wholly or in part, to influence United States public policy or government action in furtherance of the political or economic interests of a foreign country or recognized state-affiliated political entity.”
Although the expanded definition of a foreign principal under FARA in the AIPAC Act would apply to lobbyists working on behalf of any nation, the material reality is that the legislation is designed to address the unrestrained power and influence of the pro-Israel lobby. In 2021, AIPAC changed its lobbying strategy by moving away from funding political candidates indirectly by working with unaffiliated political action committees (PACs) and instead created its own PAC to raise and contribute funds directly. In the 2024 election cycle alone, AIPAC backed candidates using its own PAC and super PAC, the United Democracy Project, in 389 congressional races through either official endorsements and/or campaign contributions. AIPAC-backed candidates won 318 of those 389 congressional races, expanding the roster of pro-Israel politicians in Congress even further. Presently, 80 members of Congress, or 15%, list AIPAC as their all-time top contributor.
Nowhere is the unyielding influence of the pro-Israel lobby on American elections more apparent than in Massie’s current bid for re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives. Massie, who has held the seat for the 4th Congressional District of Kentucky since first being elected to Congress in 2012, has seen the broader pro-Israel lobby spend tens of millions of dollars in an effort to depose him. Ed Gallrein, Massie’s opponent in the May 19th primary for the seat representing the 4th Congressional District of Kentucky, has received over $15.5 million in campaign contributions from pro-Israel PACs, including donations from the MAGA Kentucky PAC, created by Jewish billionaires Paul Singer, John Paulsen, and Donald Trump’s biggest political donor, casino magnate and fervent Zionist Miriam Adelson, expressly for the purpose of defeating Massie."
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imo, Massie is an American hero. Trump is wrong to oppose Massie's re-election.
"Since its inception in 1954, AIPAC has circumvented the registration requirements under FARA by virtue of being established as a domestic lobbying organization legally distinct from the parameters that the act uses to designate a foreign principal. AIPAC was created by Isaiah L. Kenen, a lobbyist for the Israeli government that previously served under the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who worked as the information director of the American Zionist Council (”AZC”). After raising $65 million and $73 million in U.S. aid for Israel in 1951 and 1952, respectively, Kenen grew weary that he would be investigated by the U.S. State Department for not registering as a foreign agent under FARA. Kenen created the American Zionist Committee for Public Affairs (”AZCPA”) to navigate around the registration requirements under FARA in response to that concern. The AZPCA was renamed the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in 1959 and became the preeminent political vehicle for the pro-Israel lobby in the decades that followed its creation.
The AIPAC Act would amend FARA by adding a fourth paragraph that would additionally define a foreign principal as “any organization, association, corporation, or other entity....whose lobbying activities or stated mission is, either wholly or in part, to influence United States public policy or government action in furtherance of the political or economic interests of a foreign country or recognized state-affiliated political entity.”
Although the expanded definition of a foreign principal under FARA in the AIPAC Act would apply to lobbyists working on behalf of any nation, the material reality is that the legislation is designed to address the unrestrained power and influence of the pro-Israel lobby. In 2021, AIPAC changed its lobbying strategy by moving away from funding political candidates indirectly by working with unaffiliated political action committees (PACs) and instead created its own PAC to raise and contribute funds directly. In the 2024 election cycle alone, AIPAC backed candidates using its own PAC and super PAC, the United Democracy Project, in 389 congressional races through either official endorsements and/or campaign contributions. AIPAC-backed candidates won 318 of those 389 congressional races, expanding the roster of pro-Israel politicians in Congress even further. Presently, 80 members of Congress, or 15%, list AIPAC as their all-time top contributor.
Nowhere is the unyielding influence of the pro-Israel lobby on American elections more apparent than in Massie’s current bid for re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives. Massie, who has held the seat for the 4th Congressional District of Kentucky since first being elected to Congress in 2012, has seen the broader pro-Israel lobby spend tens of millions of dollars in an effort to depose him. Ed Gallrein, Massie’s opponent in the May 19th primary for the seat representing the 4th Congressional District of Kentucky, has received over $15.5 million in campaign contributions from pro-Israel PACs, including donations from the MAGA Kentucky PAC, created by Jewish billionaires Paul Singer, John Paulsen, and Donald Trump’s biggest political donor, casino magnate and fervent Zionist Miriam Adelson, expressly for the purpose of defeating Massie."
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imo, Massie is an American hero. Trump is wrong to oppose Massie's re-election.
At this time the US has a close alliance with Israel, maintains close relations, and gets good value in having testing and operating of military systems in combat conditions. All of this is good, there is no merger, these are separate nations.
Meanwhile the US has rules for how a foreign nation can lobby, advertise and promote itself. The rules are fair (IMO) and should be followed.
I cannot help thinking of Canada on this subject. Only a few years ago many Canadians would have thought of themselves as Americans, to the extent they thought. But Trudeaux, Carney and Trump have demolished that for a mix of reasons.
The related matter is dual citizenship. In the 'modern' view, nationality is something to be ignored, and passports are only a travel aid. I feel uneasy about that, just being a cave dweller again.
using it to control the potential traitors inside the bureaucracy. That knowledge may have become
a sword to control the ones who originally forged the sword.
Making it public is a nuclear option for when the administration is leaving office.