SELECTIONS FROM THE PRESS

This section includes articles and news items, mainly from Israeli but also from international press sources, that provide insightful or illuminating perspectives on events, developments, or trends in Israel and the occupied territories not readily available in the mainstream U.S. media.

INTERVIEW WITH NORMAN FINKELSTEIN Palestinian Authority are correct. It al- BY FRANK BARAT, 14 FEBRUARY 2012 ways talks about international law and (EXCERPTS) international legitimacy—namely what the law says, what the UN says—that’s Below is an excerpted transcript what they say they want. Their goals of an interview conducted by Frank are correct, but the problem is their Barat and posted on YouTube. The means will never work because the Pal- full video can be viewed at http:// estinians’ main asset is the Palestinian youtu.be/ASIBGSSw4lI. people, the four million people of Pal- Barat: I understand you’ve been estine. And if you mobilize them, gal- working on a book about solving the vanize them, I don’t think Israel has a Israel-Palestine con!ict. So how do you prayer—they can’t win. But the Palestin- do it? ian Authority will never mobilize them because they are afraid that if you mo- Finkelstein: Well, basically, to put it bilize them the Authority will meet the in a nutshell, if you are serious about same fate as Mubarak and all the oth- politics and serious about trying to ers because they are a gang of corrupt, build a mass movement, you can’t go wretched, collaborators. So their goal beyond what the public is ready to ac- is correct, but their means will never cept. The public is ready to accept, in achieve their goal because all they want my opinion, what international law says. to do is bargain behind closed doors So if you were to put forth a very simple with the Israelis, and the Israelis will slogan when you are asked, “how do never give them anything. . . . Unless you want to solve it?” I would say easy, you have the force to extract it from Is- all I want to do is enforce the law. The rael, they will never give you anything. law is clear, it’s unambiguous, it’s un- And the main force, the main weapon, complicated. . . . [T]he law is clear: the is the people and they will never orga- settlements are illegal—that is correct. nize it. East Jerusalem is occupied Palestinian For the solidarity movement, I think territory—that is correct. The West its means are correct. I have no prob- Bank and Gaza are occupied Palestinian lem with the boycotts, the divestments, territory—that is correct. But it is also sanctions, all of that nonviolence, civil correct that Israel is a state; that is also disobedience like the !otillas, the le- the law. If you want to use the law as a gal weapon like the attempt at universal weapon or as leverage in order to reach jurisdiction. So the means are right, but public opinion, you cannot be selective the goal will never !y. You want to say with the law. You can’t say I have the you are agnostic on Israel, you want to right to walk at the green, but I’m kind say you want one state; there is nothing of agnostic on the red. No, if you have in international law for one state. You the right to walk at the green, it’s be- are not going to win a public to that. cause you have an obligation to stop at Once you step out of your little cult, the red. The law is a package deal, so your little ghetto, and you enter the real if you want to use the law, the law also world and try to reach a broad public says that Israel is a state. and say, “we are a rights-based organi- The problem with the solidarity zation” (which is what BDS [the boycott, movement is that it’s a kind of mirror divestment, and sanctions movement] image of the so-called Palestinian Au- likes to say) and we want to enforce our thority. In my opinion, the goals of the rights—okay, the law—once you step

Journal of Palestine Studies Vol. XLI, No. 3 (Spring 2012), pp. 139–160, ISSN: 0377-919X; electronic ISSN: 1533-8614. © 2012 by the Institute for Palestine Studies. All rights reserved. Please direct all requests for permission to photocopy or reproduce article content through the University of California Press’s Rights and Permissions website, at http://www.ucpressjournals.com/reprintInfo.asp. DOI: jps.2012.XLI.3.139.

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out of your ghetto you’re no longer just says anything about the minority in- talking to yourself. There is the other side Israel, the Palestinian Arab minor- side, they also make themselves heard. ity. It’s not there. You want to drag in So they say, “No, that’s not true, they’re that minority and start talking about lying. They say they want to enforce the them, well, in my opinion you will law, but they really want to destroy Is- get nowhere because the whole world rael, they want to eliminate Israel.” So is "lled with countries that persecute now the public hears both sides and their minorities. . . . You want to go they come back to the solidarity move- through every country in the Middle ment and they say, “Is that true? Do you East and how they treat their minori- want to destroy Israel?” And the soli- ties? . . . If you look at, for example, darity movement says, “We do not have when Yasser Arafat declared a state in a position on Israel, we do not take a November 1988 and you read the plat- position.” Oh, really? You do not take a form, the political document, and so position on Israel? Well, then we are not forth, there is no mention of the Pal- going to take a position on BDS. estinian Arabs. There is a mention of The law is clear; you want to use the the refugee question—that is correct; International Court of Justice on your there is no mention of the Palestinian side? Okay, the International Court of Arabs in Israel. . . . I mean, we have to Justice has said the West Bank, Gaza, be honest and I loathe disingenuous- East Jerusalem—they are occupied Pal- ness. [People] don’t want Israel; they estinian territories—that’s correct. But think they are being very clever. They the ICJ also said that the pre-June 1967 call it their three tier: “we want the end border is Israel’s legal border. That’s of the occupation, we want the right their country, that’s the law. You want of return, and we want equal rights for to promote one state? Fine, that’s your Arabs in Israel,” and they think they right, but then don’t pretend that you are very clever because they know are trying to enforce the law. That’s not the result of implementing all three is true. You want to selectively enforce the what? What is the result? You know law. and I know. There is no Israel.

Barat: But what the BDS movement Barat: I think the result is that there is and, I think, more and more Palestin- no Israel the way that Israel is now, but— ians want to portray is that there aren’t four million Palestinians—there are Finkelstein: No, there is no Israel. the refugees and there are the Palestin- Full stop. And the law is Israel is a ian citizens of Israel. So it comes to a state, it has its de"ned borders, and much bigger number, and the fact that if you want to eliminate Israel, that is they’re not taking a position on whether your right but I do not think you will or not they want the State of Israel to ex- reach anybody. I think it’s a non-starter. ist or what, I think it’s not saying that If you say you want to enforce the law, we want to destroy Israel, it’s saying and in fact, impose it on Israel because that the 20 percent of the citizens of Is- they will not accept it—then the law rael who are Palestinian citizens have is clear and you have to say, and you the right to have the same rights as the will never hear the solidarity move- Israelis. ment say—two states. Go look at the UN General Assembly resolution, it always Finkelstein: . . . I am getting a little begins, “a peaceful settlement to the bit exasperated with what I think is . . . a Palestine question,” and in the last part lot of leftist posturing. There is a settle- where they lay out the terms for resolv- ment that has been proposed by the in- ing the con!ict, they say, “a two state ternational community for resolving the settlement,” and then they say, “East Je- con!ict. It does include a statement, “a rusalem, West Bank, Gaza are occupied just resolution of the refugee question Palestinian territories, settlements are il- based on UN resolution 194,” the right legal under international law, and a just of return and compensation. There is resolution to the refugee question based nothing anywhere in the international on the right of return,” but it’s all within consensus for resolving the con!ict that that framework. And if you do not want

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the framework, then stop talking about to do—that’s a weird inversion. When the law. And stop trying to be so clever, I was "rst involved in the Gaza free- because you are only clever in your cult. dom march, I don’t know if you were The moment you step out, you have to involved in it—they said they were go- deal with Israeli propaganda and here ing to bring out 50,000 people in Gaza. they have a case, they say no, they are Fifty thousand people and you know not really talking about rights; they are how many they brought out? They talking about wanting to destroy Israel. brought out 300. And in fact, I think they are right. I think that’s true. ALI ABUNIMAH, “FINKELSTEIN, BDS, AND If you tell a public Israel’s popu- THE DESTRUCTION OF ISRAEL,” AL JAZEERA lation is seven and a half million, of ENGLISH, 28 FEBRUARY 2012 (EXCERPTS) those seven and a half million, "ve and a half million are Jewish and the other In a recent and highly controversial two million are Palestinian Arab and interview, Norman Finkelstein, long a the other are neither of the above, and scourge of Israel, turned his guns on you say, as a lot of the solidarity move- Palestinians and their supporters. He ments says, all six million Palestinian accused the boycott, divestment and refugees have to go back. Okay, now, sanctions (BDS) movement of being a will a public think it is reasonable for “cult” and claimed that its achievements six million Palestinians to descend on were mostly exaggerated. a country which right now has 1.8 mil- But what exercised Finkelstein most lion Palestinians and "ve and a half was his conclusion that, if implemented, million Jews, which means that you are the demands of the 2005 Palestinian going to completely, overnight, radi- civil society call for BDS, would amount cally, completely, change the demo- to “the destruction of Israel.” graphic balance in the country. Will a . . . person in the public "nd that reason- Finkelstein demanded that Palestin- able? My answer is that you can give ians drop this program, “Because, if we them every fact behind the creation of end the occupation and bring back six the refugees, and they will still see the million Palestinians and we have equal Israeli position that that is not tenable. rights for Arabs and Jews, there’s no Is- I don’t think you can sell it. rael.” He also insisted that a “two-state solution” was the only outcome sup- Barat: Well, I think the BDS move- ported by international law. ment has turned to the international community, not to the— Putting the BDS call to the test For the sake of argument, let’s put Finkelstein: Well, that to me is a Finkelstein’s thesis to the test. But be- problem, I will tell you the truth be- fore I do that, let me make clear where I cause if you were an indigenous orga- stand. As is well known, I support, and nization in Palestine, you should be believe, that the eventual outcome in organizing your people, and it’s our historic Palestine will be a single state. job to organize from our side. I went Many supporters of the BDS move- through many solidarity movements; ment, including some of its founders are the Vietnamese never gave us marching on record calling for the same. But the orders. The Nicaraguans, the El Salva- BDS call itself is agnostic, focusing on dorians, they did not tell you what to the rights of Palestinians, not on state do. They organized their people and arrangements, something Finkelstein in- as the solidarity movement abroad, sisted was mere deception. we were supposed to make the judg- Here, I am going to do what I nor- ment about how best to organize our- mally never do. Argue the case for a selves. And it’s a very strange thing, two-state solution that meets all the when the people there who claim to be demands of the BDS call. Moreover, it the leaders of civil society, they can- should meet fully with Finkelstein’s ap- not organize a demonstration of 500 proval as well, because it will be based people amongst themselves, but they on a solution that he himself endorsed. are telling everyone else abroad what . . .

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A quick history: Settler colonialism describe any fundamental reform of the and partition Israeli state to end its systematic dis- Con!icts in Ireland and Palestine crimination against non-Jews, let alone are the legacies of settler-colonialism a one-state solution, as tantamount to facilitated by Britain. In each case, the Israel’s “destruction.” settler-colonial intervention created . . . two mutually exclusive claims to sover- eignty, legitimacy and self-determina- Equality for all or the “destruction tion underpinned by two diametrically of Israel”? opposed narratives, and a material real- . . . ity of one community long monopoliz- [That] Israel also characterizes these ing state power, resources, and symbols demands as an existential threat [is] a to dominate and denigrate the other. In tacit acknowledgment that inequality both cases, the British imposed or fa- and discrimination are foundational ele- cilitated partitions, which rather than ments of the Israeli state. As Finkelstein resolve the underlying problem, simply succinctly put it, “equal rights means converted the con!ict into new forms of the end of Israel.” antagonism. This is why Palestinian citizens of . . . Israel and their representatives in the Knesset such as Hanin Zoabi face ever A Protestant state for a Protestant more hostile rhetoric and discrimina- people tory bills and laws—from loyalty oaths, [After the signing of the 1921 Anglo- to bans on commemorating the Nakba, Irish Treaty partitioning Ireland,] North- to provisions reserving jobs and land ern Ireland became a unionist-run, for army veterans (effectively favoring one-party state. Nationalist resistance Jews), to the Citizenship Law that makes to partition was violently suppressed by it impossible for Israeli citizens to bring British forces and unionist militia. Within Palestinian or other Arab spouses to live a year of partition, hundreds of Catholics in the country. . . . were killed in Belfast, 11,000 were forced . . . from their jobs, and 22,000—a quarter of the city’s Catholic population—were A two-state solution in Ireland driven from their homes. In 1998, unionists and nationalists In the widely quoted formula attrib- signed the Belfast Agreement. It es- uted to Northern Ireland’s "rst prime tablished, in effect, a binational state minister, Lord Craigavon, the state’s seat in Northern Ireland where Irish na- of government at Stormont Castle was a tionalists share power with pro-British “Protestant parliament for a Protestant unionists. people.” It did not abolish Northern Ireland, Catholics experienced severe dis- but it did banish, once and for all, the crimination in employment, housing, “Protestant state” and enshrined equal- and all aspects of political and cultural ity as a fundamental principle. life. They viewed Northern Ireland as The agreement notably does not re- an illegitimate imposition, and its secu- solve whether the six counties that form rity forces as Protestant sectarian militia Northern Ireland should remain part of guaranteeing unionist dominance. the United Kingdom or rejoin a united Unionism viewed any effort to cre- Ireland, but it establishes principles and ate a united Ireland as a mortal threat. mechanisms for determining where sov- In 1990, for example, James Moly- ereignty should lie and what would hap- neaux, leader of the then dominant pen if it changes. Ulster Unionist Party, described the Re- Crucially, the agreement states public of Ireland’s constitutional claim whether Northern Ireland remains part to the north as “a demand for the de- of the UK or becomes part of a united struction of Northern Ireland” that Ireland: was “equivalent to Hitler’s claim over [T]he power of the sovereign government with Czechoslovakia.” jurisdiction there shall be exercised with rigor- This language resembles that used ous impartiality on behalf of all the people in the by Zionists and Norman Finkelstein to diversity of their identities and traditions and

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shall be founded on the principles of full respect that practices conform to European and for, and equality of, civil, political, social and international human rights standards. cultural rights, of freedom from discrimination Employment anti-discrimination mea- for all citizens, and of parity of esteem and of sures in Northern Ireland are strictly en- just and equal treatment for the identity, ethos, and aspirations of both communities. forced, and although Catholics are still, on average, poorer than Protestants, the gap has narrowed. Northern Ireland has no “right to A form of 1980s solidarity activism exist” in the United States—somewhat anal- This was made possible because the ogous to BDS—demanded that U.S. British effectively abandoned any claim "rms doing business in Northern Ire- that Northern Ireland as an entity had a land adhere to the MacBride Principles, “right” to exist. A breakthrough moment which forbid any form of sectarian came in 1992 when the UK Secretary of discrimination. State for Northern Ireland conceded that “provided it is advocated constitution- A model for historic Palestine? ally, there can be no proper reason for The Belfast Agreement preserves an excluding any political objective from existing “two-state solution” in Ireland discussion. Certainly not the objective unless and until people in both juris- of a united Ireland . . .” dictions choose any other arrangement. As part of the agreement, nationalists But in the meantime, it required one of conceded that the reuni"cation of Ire- the states—Northern Ireland—to trans- land could only come about by the con- form into an inclusive democracy from sent of a majority in Northern Ireland. an oppressive ethnocracy. The agree- Consequently, the Belfast Agreement ment also required the Republic of Ire- did not recognize any separate right land to strengthen its own human rights to self-determination for unionists as and equality guarantees. unionists or Protestants as Protestants So if Northern Ireland is the model, that would be analogous to a speci"- how would it transpose to Palestine? cally Jewish right to self-determination Clearly, Israel would have to become, within historic Palestine. like Northern Ireland, a binational state Unionists enjoy the right to partici- with strict equality and full representa- pate in self-determination, along with tion for all citizens. All laws privileg- nationalists, as legitimate residents of ing Jews would have to be abolished the territory. No more, no less. and strong measures taken to redress historic and present injustices and pre- Freedom of movement and vent future discrimination. A Palestinian citizenship state would have to be no less commit- There is complete freedom of move- ted to equality. ment, residency, and cross-border em- There would be complete freedom of ployment (something guaranteed in movement and residency between Israel any case under European Union rules) and the Palestinian state, and because between the two jurisdictions on the ethnic and racial privileges would have island of Ireland and the right to full to be abolished, Palestinian refugees citizenship in either or both states. could exercise their right to return to Moreover, such citizenship cannot be the state of their choice and gain citi- revoked from any person even if the zenship in either. status of Northern Ireland changes. The Republic of Ireland grants citi- There is nothing to stop Catholics zenship to any person from abroad moving north or Protestants moving with one grandparent born in Ireland, south. regardless of religion or ethnic back- In order to reverse the long history ground. A similar law could replace Is- of discrimination, public bodies and of- rael’s racist “Law of Return” that grants "cials in Northern Ireland are under a citizenship only to Jews while discrimi- statutory obligation to promote equal- nating against Palestinians. ity among individuals and communi- Jews would have no separate right ties, and safeguards enacted in British of self-determination, but like Protes- and Irish law are designed to ensure tants in Northern Ireland, would enjoy

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full democratic rights to participate in The original document also included self-determination as residents of the suggestions for action the EU should territory. take, but these were removed from the All these principles underpin the "nal version at the insistence of sev- Belfast Agreement and yet they did not eral countries. Among these were the mean the “destruction of Northern Ire- suggestion that the EU "le an of"cial land.” What they rightly did away with protest every time a bill discriminating is ethno-religious privileges for Protes- against Arabs passes a second reading tants at the expense of Catholics. in the Knesset, and that the EU ensure So the question then for Norman that all Arab towns have completed ur- Finkelstein and Zionists who are hor- ban plans, “with each member state ri"ed by the idea of a one-state solu- potentially ‘adopting’ a municipality to tion, is: could they accept two states on this end.” such terms? If the answer is yes, then it The contents of the 27-page report is clear that the BDS call is completely were kept under wraps, and a number compatible with a two-state solution, of European diplomats contacted by and Finkelstein should withdraw his Ha’Aretz over the past two weeks re- claim that this is mere deception. fused to disclose any details. Foreign If Finkelstein and Zionists cannot ac- Ministry of"cials said they had heard cept a two-state solution on these terms, about it unof"cially from some Euro- then we know it is not the number of pean diplomats a few weeks ago, but to states that concerns them. Rather, their date no Israeli of"cial has been able to priority is to preserve racial and colo- obtain a copy. nial privileges for Jews at the expense According to a European diplomat of fundamental Palestinian rights. involved in drafting the report, work on That is something Palestinians it began more than a year ago at Brit- and their allies, as with nationalists ain’s initiative. The idea was to write a in Northern Ireland, can never—and report that could be debated by a forum must never—accept, no matter how of EU foreign ministers. At some point, many states exist in their respective however, several countries, among them homelands. the Czech Republic, Poland, and the Netherlands, expressed objections to its contents. BARAK RAVID, “SECRET EU PAPER AIMS After lengthy debates on the issue in TO TACKLE ISRAEL’S TREATMENT OF ARAB an effort to obtain the consensus nec- MINORITY” HA’ARETZ, 16 DECEMBER essary to send the report to Brussels, 2011 it was decided to water it down some- The European Union should consider what and drop the operative conclu- Israel’s treatment of its Arab popula- sions. It was also designated a “food tion a “core issue, not second tier to the for thought” document, rather than a Israeli-Palestinian con!ict,” according to “report.” a classi"ed working paper produced by The embassies declared in the docu- European embassies in Israel, parts of ment that the breakdown in the peace which were obtained by Ha’Aretz. process was having a negative impact This is an unprecedented document on the integration of Israeli Arabs into in that it deals with internal Israeli is- society. sues. According to European diplomats “The stalemate in the peace process, and senior Foreign Ministry of"cials, it and the continuing occupation, inevita- was written and sent to EU headquar- bly has an impact on the identi"cation ters in Brussels behind the back of the of Israeli Arabs with Israel,” the docu- Israeli government. ment states. “It will be more dif"cult for Other issues the document deals Israeli Arabs to be wholly at ease with with include the lack of progress in the their identity while the con!ict with the peace process, the continued occupa- Palestinians continues.” tion of the territories, Israel’s de"ni- At the same time, the embassies said tion of itself as Jewish and democratic, this should not be used as an excuse for and the in!uence of the Israeli Arab “hostile behavior by Israeli Arabs which population. alienates the Jewish majority, or for failure

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by Israeli government to achieve genu- BARAK RAVID, “ENVOYS WORLDWIDE FEEL inely equal treatment of Israeli Arabs.” BRUNT OF ISRAEL’S WORSENING IMAGE,” The document suggests that the EU HA’ARETZ, 29 DECEMBER 2011 discuss Jewish-Arab relations with the Israeli government, while stressing the On Tuesday morning, 100 Israeli am- government’s obligation to bridge the bassadors gathered on Mount Scopus, gaps between the Jewish majority and and together with their host, Jerusalem Arab minority. Mayor Nir Barkat, looked out onto Sil- “We should emphasize that address- wan and the Temple Mount. Later they ing inequality within Israel is integral continued toward Abu-Dis, there they to Israel’s long-term stability,” the docu- peered at the border area and the sepa- ment says. ration fence. Last year, Barkat and the The document also relates to the de- city he manages caused many of these mand made by Prime Minister Benjamin Israeli diplomats to work overtime, pre- Netanyahu to recognize Israel as a Jew- paring explanations to foreign ministries ish state. or media outlets in the countries where “We do not believe that recognition they serve. It can be assumed that in of Israel as a Jewish State should detract 2012, their work will only get harder. in any way from the vision of equal- The annual ambassadors’ meeting is ity for all its citizens enshrined in its met with ambivalence by many Israeli founding documents,” the report says. diplomats. On the one hand, it provides “It is in the interests of all Israelis an opportunity to visit the country for to demonstrate that Israel is not only a week, and to be briefed on politi- Jewish and democratic, but tolerant cal matters, as well as internal ministry and inclusive, and that these are patri- gossip. On the other hand, instead of a otic values. We believe in common with Christmas vacation, these sequestered most Israelis that Israeli nationality is ambassadors spend long days, from an inclusive concept which can accom- morning to night, inside the Foreign modate equally those of other faiths Ministry’s auditorium. and ethnic origins.” Ambassadors who arrived from Eu- Other operative suggestions that ropean states and North America talked were dropped from the "nal document about how they are becoming increas- included supporting projects promot- ingly hated and unwanted, while am- ing coexistence in schools, and encour- bassadors from Asia and Africa spoke aging European companies setting up optimistically about new markets and high-tech operations in Israel to invest opportunities for cooperation in areas in Arab areas. such as agriculture and medicine. “Ex- In response to Ha’Aretz’s report, the ports to China are at $2.5 billion a year; EU said on Friday that “a core task of why isn’t this "gure $10 billion?” asked any diplomatic mission is to report back one ambassador. to its headquarters on developments in Yet, in contrast to past annual gath- the host country. In this regard, as part erings, one topic kept coming up during of the EU foreign policy process, the all the discussions, this being an under- embassies of the EU Member States and standing that developments in Israel’s the EU Delegation cooperate closely.” domestic arena have a negative impact “This report was prepared to stimu- upon the country’s reputation overseas. late thinking at the EU level on how Within hours, ultra-Orthodox men who the EU might engage constructively spit at children in Beit Shemesh, or who with governmental and non-govern- threaten women bus passengers in Ash- mental interlocutors in Israel with dod cause huge diplomatic damage to respect to an issue that has been iden- Israel around the world. To garner the ti"ed in the EU–Israel Action Plan as a extent of such damage, it suf"ced to shared value, namely to ‘promote and read one of this week’s New York Times protect rights of minorities, includ- editions, which carried three lengthy re- ing enhancing political, economic, so- ports about discrimination of women in cial and cultural opportunities for all Israel, Egypt, and Somalia. citizens and lawful residents,’” the EU Many ambassadors raised this issue press of"ce added. during meetings with Prime Minister

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Netanyahu, President Shimon Peres, and appears that entire sectors in the U.S. in additional discussions. “Once, Israel’s might not have transferred their alle- democracy was our calling card around giance to the Palestinians, yet have sim- the world,” re!ected one ambassador. ply lost enthusiasm for Israel. “Today, there’s a feeling that this is no Another worrisome trend in Etzion’s longer the case.” presentation involved the European The ambassadors noted that their Union’s economic crisis. A third of Is- workdays are "lled up with efforts to rael’s exports goes to EU countries and explain legislative initiatives against left- thus, Etzion stressed, Israel’s economy wing organizations and mosques, and is bound to take a hit, even if it is some- acts of religious and right-wing extrem- what delayed. If anyone needed proof ism. Overseas, these are not marginal of the extent to which the economic subjects. Quite often, the ambassadors crisis worries Israel’s political-security say, we don’t have answers to questions establishment, it was furnished in a referred to us. brie"ng provided by Mossad chief Tamir Pardo to the ambassadors. For no less Bleak Forecasts than 20 minutes, the Mossad director Eran Etzion, head of the Foreign spoke about the threat to the economy. Ministry’s policy planning division, is He devoted less than "ve minutes to the known for his elaborately prepared Iranian threat. Power Point presentations. Months of analyses, arguments, and discussions MARK PERRY, “FALSE FLAG,” FOREIGN are packed densely into dozens of slides POLICY, 13 JANUARY 2012 which present the ministry’s annual dip- lomatic assessment. Buried deep in the archives of Amer- As was the case last year, Etzion’s ica’s intelligence services are a series of presentation at this year’s gathering did memos, written during the last years of not leave much room for optimism. One President George W. Bush’s administra- of the slides was particularly upsetting. tion, that describe how Israeli Mossad A big “X” was drawn over the words of"cers recruited operatives belonging “peace process;” and the explanation ac- to the terrorist group Jundallah by pass- companying the slide declared that the ing themselves off as American agents. process is dead. At least it will not come According to two U.S. intelligence of- to life during the coming year. A virtual "cials, the Israelis, !ush with American consensus has congealed among the dollars and toting U.S. passports, posed ambassadors and also Netanyahu aides as CIA of"cers in recruiting Jundallah Yaakov Amidror and Yitzhak Molcho, operatives—what is commonly referred holding that the continued diplomatic to as a “false !ag” operation. impasse hurts Israel. The memos, as described by the One slide pointed to an equally wor- sources, one of whom has read them risome trend of “erosion in the special and another who is intimately famil- relationship with the U.S.” In a separate iar with the case, investigated and de- panel, Washington Ambassador Michael bunked reports from 2007 and 2008 Oren spoke about how relations with accusing the CIA, at the direction of the American government are strong the White House, of covertly support- and close, and even proudly divulged ing Jundallah—a Pakistan-based Sunni public opinion poll results which show extremist organization. Jundallah, ac- that support for Israel is stable in the cording to the U.S. government and U.S. public. published reports, is responsible for Ido Aharoni, Israel’s Consul-General assassinating Iranian government of- in New York, a wizard when it comes to "cials and killing Iranian women and polls, interrupted Oren and proposed children. that he look at the opinion surveys But while the memos show that the more closely. “Our image in America is United States had barred even the most worse than it was in the past, particu- incidental contact with Jundallah, ac- larly among the young educated sec- cording to both intelligence of"cers, the tors,” stated Aharoni, and explained same was not true for Israel’s Mossad. that once the data are broken down, it The memos also detail CIA "eld reports

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saying that Israel’s recruiting activities operation was reported up the U.S. in- occurred under the nose of U.S. intelli- telligence chain of command. It reached gence of"cers, most notably in London, CIA Director of Operations Stephen the capital of one of Israel’s ostensible Kappes, his deputy Michael Sulick, and allies, where Mossad of"cers posing the head of the Counterintelligence Cen- as CIA operatives met with Jundallah ter. All three of these of"cials are now of"cials. retired. The Counterintelligence Center, The of"cials did not know whether according to its website, is tasked with the Israeli program to recruit and use investigating “threats posed by foreign Jundallah is ongoing. Nevertheless, they intelligence services.” were stunned by the brazenness of the The report then made its way to the Mossad’s efforts. White House, according to the currently “It’s amazing what the Israelis serving U.S. intelligence of"cer. The of- thought they could get away with,” the "cer said that Bush “went absolutely intelligence of"cer said. “Their recruit- ballistic” when briefed on its contents. ment activities were nearly in the open. “The report sparked White House They apparently didn’t give a damn concerns that Israel’s program was put- what we thought.” ting Americans at risk,” the intelligence Interviews with six currently serving of"cer told me. “There’s no question or recently retired intelligence of"cers that the U.S. has cooperated with Is- over the last 18 months have helped to rael in intelligence-gathering operations "ll in the blanks of the Israeli false-!ag against the Iranians, but this was dif- operation. In addition to the two cur- ferent. No matter what anyone thinks, rently serving U.S. intelligence of"cers, we’re not in the business of assassinat- the existence of the Israeli false-!ag ing Iranian of"cials or killing Iranian operation was con"rmed to me by four civilians.” retired intelligence of"cers who have Israel’s relationship with Jundal- served in the CIA or have monitored Is- lah continued to roil the Bush admin- rael intelligence operations from senior istration until the day it left of"ce, this positions inside the U.S. government. same intelligence of"cer noted. Israel’s The CIA and the White House were activities jeopardized the administra- both asked for comment on this story. tion’s fragile relationship with Pakistan, By the time this story went to press, which was coming under intense pres- they had not responded. The Israeli in- sure from Iran to crack down on Jundal- telligence services—the Mossad—was lah. It also undermined U.S. claims that also contacted, in writing and by tele- it would never "ght terror with ter- phone, but failed to respond. As a pol- ror, and invited attacks in kind on U.S. icy, Israel does not con"rm or deny its personnel. involvement in intelligence operations. “It’s easy to understand why Bush There is no denying that there is a was so angry,” a former intelligence of- covert, bloody, and ongoing campaign "cer said. “After all, it’s hard to engage aimed at stopping Iran’s nuclear pro- with a foreign government if they’re gram, though no evidence has emerged convinced you’re killing their people. connecting recent acts of sabotage and Once you start doing that, they feel they killings inside Iran to Jundallah. Many can do the same.” reports have cited Israel as the architect A senior administration of"cial vowed of this covert campaign, which claimed to “take the gloves off” with Israel, ac- its latest victim on Jan. 11 when a mo- cording to a U.S. intelligence of"cer. But torcyclist in Tehran slipped a magnetic the United States did nothing—a result explosive device under the car of Mo- that the of"cer attributed to “political stafa Ahmadi Roshan, a young Iranian and bureaucratic inertia.” nuclear scientist. The explosion killed “In the end,” the of"cer noted, “it Roshan, making him the fourth scientist was just easier to do nothing than to, assassinated in the past two years. The you know, rock the boat.” Even so, at United States adamantly denies it is be- least for a short time, this same of"cer hind these killings. noted, the Mossad operation sparked According to one retired CIA of- a divisive debate among Bush’s na- "cer, information about the false-!ag tional security team, pitting those who

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wondered “just whose side these guys The attack enraged Tehran, which [in Israel] are on” against those who ar- traced the perpetrators to a cell operat- gued that “the enemy of my enemy is ing in Pakistan. The Iranian government my friend.” noti"ed the Pakistanis of the Jundallah The debate over Jundallah was re- threat and urged them to break up the solved only after Bush left of"ce when, movement’s bases along the Iranian- within his "rst weeks as president, Pakistani border. The Pakistanis reacted Barack Obama drastically scaled back sluggishly in the border areas, feed- joint U.S.-Israel intelligence programs ing Tehran’s suspicions that Jundallah targeting Iran, according to multiple was protected by Pakistan’s intelligence serving and retired of"cers. services. The decision was controversial inside The 2009 attack was just one in a the CIA, where of"cials were forced to long line of terrorist attacks attributed shut down “some key intelligence gath- to the organization. In August 2007, ering operations,” a recently retired CIA Jundallah kidnapped 21 Iranian truck of"cer con"rmed. This action was fol- drivers. In December 2008, it cap- lowed in November 2010 by the State tured and executed 16 Iranian border Department’s addition of Jundallah guards—the gruesome killings were to its list of foreign terrorist organiza- "lmed, in a stark echo of the decapi- tions—a decision that one former CIA tation of American businessman Nick of"cer called “an absolute no-brainer.” Berg in Iraq at the hands of al-Qa’ida’s Since Obama’s initial order, U.S. intel- Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. In July 2010, ligence services have received clearance Jundallah conducted a twin suicide to cooperate with Israel in a number of bombing in Zahedan outside a mosque, classi"ed intelligence-gathering opera- killing dozens of people, including tions focused on Iran’s nuclear program, members of the Islamic Revolutionary according to a currently serving of"cer. Guard Corps. These operations are highly technical in The State Department aggressively nature, and do not involve covert actions denies that the U.S. government had or targeting Iran’s infrastructure or political has any ties to Jundallah. “We have re- or military leadership. peatedly stated, and reiterate again that “We don’t do bang and boom,” the United States has not provided sup- a recently retired intelligence of"- port to Jundallah,” a spokesman wrote cer said. “And we don’t do political in an e-mail to the Wall Street Jour- assassinations.” nal, following its designation as a ter- Israel regularly proposes conduct- rorist organization. “The United States ing covert operations targeting Irani- does not sponsor any form of terror- ans, but are just as regularly shut down, ism. We will continue to work with according to retired and current intel- the international community to curtail ligence of"cers. “They come into the support for terrorist organizations and room and spread out their plans and we prevent violence against innocent civil- just shake our heads,” one highly placed ians. We have also encouraged other intelligence source said, “and we say to governments to take comparable actions them—‘Don’t even go there. The answer against Jundallah.” is no.’” A spate of stories in 2007 and 2008, Unlike the Mujahedin-e Khalq, the including a report by ABC News and a controversial exiled Iranian terrorist New Yorker article, suggested that the group that seeks the overthrow of the United States was offering covert sup- Tehran regime and is supported by for- port to Jundallah. The issue has now mer leading U.S. policymakers, Jundal- returned to the spotlight with the string lah is relatively unknown—but just as of assassinations of Iranian nuclear sci- violent. In May 2009, a Jundallah sui- entists, and has outraged serving and cide bomber blew himself up inside a retired intelligence of"cers who fear mosque in Zahedan, the capital of Iran’s that Israeli operations are endangering southeastern Sistan-Balochistan prov- American lives. ince bordering Pakistan, during a Shiite “This certainly isn’t the "rst time religious festival. The bombing killed 25 this has happened, though it’s the worst Iranians and wounded scores of others. case I’ve heard of,” former CENTCOM

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chief and retired Gen. Joe Hoar said as well as senior State Department of the Israeli operation upon being in- of"cials. formed of it. “But while false-!ag opera- What has become crystal clear, how- tions are hardly new, they’re extremely ever, is the level of anger among senior dangerous. You’re basically using your intelligence of"cials about Israel’s ac- friendship with an ally for your own tions. “This was stupid and dangerous,” purposes. Israel is playing with "re. the intelligence of"cial who "rst told It gets us involved in their covert war, me about the operation said. “Israel is whether we want to be involved or not.” supposed to be working with us, not The Israeli operation left a number of against us. If they want to shed blood, recently retired CIA of"cers sputtering it would help a lot if it was their blood in frustration. “It’s going to be pretty and not ours. You know, they’re sup- hard for the U.S. to distance itself from posed to be a strategic asset. Well guess an Israeli attack on Iran with this kind what? There are a lot of people now, of thing going on,” one of them told me. important people, who just don’t think Jundallah head Abdolmalek Rigi was that’s true.” captured by Iran in February 2010. Al- though initial reports claimed that he AMOS HAREL, “APPOINTMENT OF IDF’S was captured by the Iranians after tak- NEW ‘IRAN COMMAND’ CHIEF RAISES ing a !ight from Dubai to Kyrgyzstan, a EYEBROWS,” HA’ARETZ, 28 DECEMBER retired intelligence of"cer with knowl- 2011 edge of the incident told me that Rigi was detained by Pakistani intelligence The decision by Defense Minister of"cers in Pakistan. The of"cer said that Ehud Barak and Israel Defense Forces he was turned over to the Iranians af- [IDF] Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny ter the Pakistani government informed Gantz to create a new army formation, the United States that it planned to do to be known as the Depth Corps, fol- so. The United States, this of"cer said, lowed recent recommendations issued did not raise objections to the Pakistani by a team headed by Maj. Gen. Gadi decision. Eizenkot. Eizenkot was tapped for the Iran, meanwhile, has consistently task last summer, after he completed claimed that Rigi was snatched from un- his assignment as GOC [General Of"cer der the eyes of the CIA, which it alleges Commanding] Northern Command and supported him. “It doesn’t matter,” the began an educational leave of absence. former intelligence of"cer said of Iran’s Maj. Gen. Shai Avital was named charges. “It doesn’t matter what they head of the new corps, which has al- say. They know the truth.” ready earned the somewhat overstated Rigi was interrogated, tried, and con- sobriquet “the Iran Command.” Israel al- victed by the Iranians and hanged on 20 ready has a command for Iran affairs— June 2010. Prior to his execution, Rigi the Mossad, which since the last decade claimed in an interview with Iranian has been doing the heavy lifting in the media—which has to be assumed was campaign against the Iranian nuclear under duress—that he had doubts about threat. If there is any unit within the U.S. sponsorship of Jundallah. He re- IDF that deals with Iran speci"cally it counted an alleged meeting with “NATO is the Israel Air Force [IAF], the main of"cials” in Morocco in 2007 that raised branch that will be called upon in the his suspicions. “When we thought event of an Israeli attack on the coun- about it we came to the conclusion that try’s nuclear facilities. they are either Americans acting under The new corps could, in the future, NATO cover or Israelis,” he said. assist in mobilizing special forces in the While many of the details of Is- Iranian context. More important, it will rael’s involvement with Jundallah are have the job of planning and leading now known, many others still remain operations in areas far beyond the bor- a mystery—and are likely to remain so. ders, operations that are connected to The CIA memos of the incident have the covert war against terror organiza- been “blue bordered,” meaning that tions (and, indirectly, against Iran). One they were circulated to senior levels of could imagine, for example, operations the broader U.S. intelligence community that have been ascribed to Israel, such

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as alleged IAF air strikes and special who last week was promoted to GOC forces operations in Sudan, or the assas- Central Command, was eventually “bor- sination of a Syrian general at his home rowed” from his assignment in the West in northern Syria. Bank to do the job. Gantz instructed Eizenkot to assess The Depth Corps will have the au- recent developments and strategic shifts thority to deploy special operations in the region to determine whether units when necessary, but under normal the IDF needed to make changes to circumstances each unit’s chain of com- its planning in response. In review- mand will remain unchanged. ing past assessments, Eizenkot’s team, In wartime the new corps might be which comprised high-ranking of"cers assigned a sector, movement into which and one senior Mossad of"cial, discov- would be controlled by the relevant ered that the problem had been identi- district command. An entity whose en- "ed back in 1982, when a decision was tire scope of interest lies well beyond made to create a depth corps at the the border is already close to being General Staff level. established. Implementation was delayed until “What is happening today is that ac- 1986 as a result of the "rst Lebanon tions in the strategic depth area are war. Maj. Gen. (res.) Doron Rubin was largely the result of some momentary appointed head of the unit, but fallout !ash,” a senior of"cer who helped draft from the raid it orchestrated against the recommendations told Ha’Aretz. Ahmed Jibril’s Popular Front for the “An of"cer goes to Military Intelligence Liberation of Palestine-General Com- with an idea, and they start working mand in December 1988, codenamed on an operation. A corps headed by a Operation Blue and Brown, shut down major general will consider the threats the command. Rubin stepped down methodically and continuously, and we and the remaining special operations hope it will lead to solutions and re- unit was absorbed into the Northern sults,” he said. Command. While the idea of the corps itself has broad support within the army, the Special operations same cannot be said about the choice of Eizenkot determined a need for a the man who is to lead it. combined corps that could carry out Avital, 59, who will return to active operations far from the country’s bor- duty for the assignment, has a long and ders. It had to be capable not only of impressive record in special operations linear battle, for example sending tanks as an of"cer in Sayeret Matkal, the from the Golan Heights in the direction general staff’s elite special-operations of Damascus, but also simultaneous at- force, and later as its commander. But tacks, such as strikes against scattered he left the army ten years ago, of his rocket launch sites, each of which must own choosing, after just one rather be neutralized. undistinguished assignment as com- Eizenkot envisioned a relatively small mander of a large unit. Since leaving unit of about 100 troops, some of whom the IDF he has tried his hand at farm- were already serving in special opera- ing, politics (he placed low on Kadi- tions, answering directly to the chief ma’s candidate list in the 2006 election of staff but freeing both the chief and and did not make it into the Knesset), deputy chief of staff of the need to deal and public service (as a controversial directly with the areas under the corps’ director general of the Environmental jurisdiction, which are technically their Protection Ministry). area of responsibility but in practice re- Avital has a wealth of experience, ceive inadequate attention. but it is dif"cult to see how his re- The jurisdiction of the district com- sume in the past decade connects him mands—north, central, and south— to the technological advances of that generally extends only a few dozen period, to the nature of the activity he kilometers beyond the border. In the will oversee or the current crop of com- second Lebanon war commanders were manders. Perhaps the answer lies in the reluctant to carry out depth operations defense minister and chief of staff, his in the Bekaa Valley. Col. Nitzan Alon, patrons.

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MAX BLUMENTHAL, “FROM OCCUPATION full force against the Occupy Wall Street TO ‘OCCUPY’: THE ISRAELIFICATION Movement, has taken place at every OF AMERICAN DOMESTIC SECURITY,” level of law enforcement, and in areas ALTERNET, 3 DECEMBER 2011 that have yet to be exposed. The phe- nomenon has been documented in bits In October, the Alameda County Sher- and pieces, through occasional news iff’s Department turned parts of the cam- reports that typically highlight Israel’s pus of the University of California in national security prowess without exam- Berkeley into an urban battle"eld. The ining the problematic nature of working occasion was Urban Shield 2011, an an- with a country accused of grave human nual SWAT team exposition organized to rights abuses. But it has never been the promote “mutual response,” collabora- subject of a national discussion. And tion, and competition between heavily collaboration between American and Is- militarized police strike forces represent- raeli cops is just the tip of the iceberg. ing law enforcement departments across Having been schooled in Israeli tac- the United States and foreign nations. tics perfected during a 63-year experi- At the time, the Alameda County ence of controlling, dispossessing, and Sheriff’s Department was preparing for occupying an indigenous population, an imminent confrontation with the na- local police forces have adapted them to scent “Occupy” movement that had set monitor Muslim and immigrant neigh- up camp in downtown Oakland, and borhoods in U.S. cities. Meanwhile, for- would demonstrate the brunt of its re- mer Israeli military of"cers have been pressive capacity against the demonstra- hired to spearhead security operations tors a month later when it attacked the at American airports and suburban encampment with tear-gas and rubber- shopping malls, leading to a wave of bullet rounds, leaving an Iraq war vet- disturbing incidents of racial pro"ling, eran in critical condition and dozens intimidation, and FBI interrogations injured. According to Police Magazine, a of innocent, unsuspecting people. The law enforcement trade publication, “Law New York Police Department’s disclo- enforcement agencies responding to . . . sure that it deployed “counterterror” Occupy protesters in northern Califor- measures against Occupy protesters en- nia credit Urban Shield for their effec- camped in downtown Manhattan’s Zuc- tive teamwork.” cotti Park is just the latest example of Training alongside the American po- the so-called war on terror creeping lice departments at Urban Shield was into everyday life. Revelations like these the Yamam, an Israeli Border Police unit have raised serious questions about the that claims to specialize in “counterter- extent to which Israeli-inspired tactics ror” operations but is better known for are being used to suppress the Occupy its extrajudicial assassinations of Pales- movement. tinian militant leaders and long record The process of Israeli"cation be- of repression and abuses in the occu- gan in the immediate wake of 9/11, pied West Bank and Gaza Strip. Urban when national panic led federal and Shield also featured a unit from the mil- municipal law enforcement of"cials to itary of Bahrain, which had just crushed beseech Israeli security honchos for a largely nonviolent democratic uprising advice and training. America’s Israel by opening "re on protest camps and lobby exploited the climate of hysteria, arresting wounded demonstrators when providing thousands of top cops with they attempted to enter hospitals. While all-expenses paid trips to Israel and the involvement of Bahraini soldiers stateside training sessions with Israeli in the drills was a novel phenomenon, military and intelligence of"cials. By the presence of quasi-military Israeli now, police chiefs of major American police—whose participation in Urban cities who have not been on junkets to Shield was not reported anywhere in Israel are the exception. U.S. media—re!ected a disturbing but “Israel is the Harvard of antiterror- all-too-common feature of the post-9/11 ism,” said former U.S. Capitol Police American security landscape. Chief Terrance W. Gainer, who now The Israeli"cation of America’s se- serves as the U.S. Senate Sergeant-at- curity apparatus, recently unleashed in Arms. Cathy Lanier, the chief of the

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Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police, During a 2004 LEEP trip, JINSA remarked, “No experience in my life has brought 14 senior American law en- had more of an impact on doing my job forcement of"cials to Israel to receive than going to Israel.” “One would say it instruction from their counterparts. The is the front line,” Barnett Jones, the po- Americans were trained in “how to se- lice chief of Ann Arbor, Michigan, said cure large venues, such as shopping of Israel. “We’re in a global war.” malls, sporting events and concerts,” Karen Greenberg, the director of JINSA’s website reported. Escorted by Fordham School of Law’s Center on Na- Brigadier General Simon Perry, an Is- tional Security and a leading expert on raeli police attaché and former Mossad terror and civil liberties, said the Israeli of"cial, the group toured the Israeli in!uence on American law enforce- separation wall, now a mandatory stop ment is so extensive it has bled into for American cops on junkets to Israel. street-level police conduct. “After 9/11 “American of"cials learned about the we reached out to the Israelis on many mindset of a suicide bomber and how to fronts and one of those fronts was tor- spot trouble signs,” according to JINSA. ture,” Greenberg told me. “The training And they were schooled in Israeli kill- in Iraq and Afghanistan on torture was ing methods. “Although the police are Israeli training. There’s been a huge typically told to aim for the chest when downside to taking our cue from the shooting because it is the largest tar- Israelis and now we’re going to spread get, the Israelis are teaching [American] that into the fabric of everyday Ameri- of"cers to aim for a suspect’s head so can life? It’s counterterrorism creep. as not to detonate any explosives that And it’s exactly what you could have might be strapped to his torso,” the New predicted would have happened.” York Times reported. Cathy Lanier, now the chief of Wash- Changing the way we do business ington, D.C.’s Metropolitan Police The Jewish Institute for National Se- Department, was among the law en- curity Affairs (JINSA) is at the heart of forcement of"cials junketed to Israel by American-Israeli law enforcement col- JINSA. “I was with the bomb units and laboration. JINSA is a Jerusalem and the SWAT team and all of those high Washington, D.C.-based think tank pro"le specialized [Israeli] units and known for stridently neoconservative I learned a tremendous amount,” La- policy positions on Israel’s policy to- nier re!ected. “I took 82 pages of notes ward the Palestinians and its brinkman- while I was there which I later brought ship with Iran. The group’s board of back and used to formulate a lot of directors boasts a Who’s Who of neo- what I later used to create and formu- con ideologues. Two former JINSA advi- late the Homeland Security terrorism sors who have also consulted for Israeli bureau in the D.C. Metropolitan Police Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Department.” Douglas Feith and Richard Perle, went Some of the police chiefs who have on to serve in the Department of De- taken part in JINSA’s LEEP program fense under President George W. Bush, have done so under the auspices of playing in!uential roles in the push to the Police Executive Research Forum invade and occupy Iraq. (PERF), a private nongovernmental Through its Law Enforcement Edu- group with close ties to the Department cation Program (LEEP), JINSA claims of Homeland Security. Chuck Wexler, to have arranged Israeli-led training the executive director of PERF, was so sessions for over 9,000 American law enthusiastic about the program that by enforcement of"cials at the federal, 2005 he had begun organizing trips to state, and municipal level. “The Israelis Israel sponsored by PERF, bringing nu- changed the way we do business regard- merous high-level American police of- ing homeland security in New Jersey,” "cials to receive instruction from their Richard Fuentes, the N.J. State Police Su- Israeli counterparts. perintendent, said after attending a 2004 PERF gained notoriety when Wexler JINSA-sponsored Israel trip and a sub- con"rmed that his group coordinated sequent JINSA conference alongside 435 police raids in 16 cities across America other law enforcement of"cers. against Occupy protest encampments.

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As many as 40 cities have sought PERF agents and intelligence analysts are advice on suppressing the Occupy required to attend the ADL program, movement and other mass protest activi- which is incorporated into three FBI ties. Wexler did not respond to my re- training programs. According to of"cial quests for an interview. FBI recruitment material, “all new spe- cial agents must visit the U.S. Holocaust Lessons from Israel to Auschwitz Memorial Museum to see "rsthand what Besides JINSA, the Anti-Defamation can happen when law enforcement fails League (ADL) has positioned itself as to protect individuals.” an important liaison between American police forces and the Israeli security- Fighting “crimiterror” intelligence apparatus. Though the ADL Among the most prominent Israeli promotes itself as a Jewish civil rights government "gures to have in!uenced group, it has provoked controversy by the practices of American law enforce- publishing a blacklist of organizations ment of"cials is Avi Dichter, a former supporting Palestinian rights, and for head of Israel’s Shin Bet internal se- condemning a proposal to construct an curity service and current member of Islamic community center in downtown Knesset who recently introduced legisla- New York, several blocks from Ground tion widely criticized as antidemocratic. Zero, on the basis that some opponents During the second intifada, Dichter of the project were entitled to “positions ordered several bombings on densely that others would characterize as irra- populated Palestinian civilian areas, in- tional or bigoted.” cluding one on the al-Daraj neighbor- Through the ADL’s advanced train- hood of Gaza that resulted in the death ing school course on extremist and ter- of 15 innocent people, including 8 chil- rorist threats, over 700 law enforcement dren, and 150 injuries. “After each suc- personnel from 220 federal and local cess, the only thought is, ‘Okay, who’s agencies including the FBI and CIA next?’” Dichter said of the “targeted” as- have been trained by Israeli police and sassinations he has ordered. intelligence commanders. This year, the Despite his dubious human rights ADL brought 15 high-level American record and apparently dim view of dem- police of"cials to Israel for instruction ocratic values, or perhaps because of from the country’s security apparatus. them, Dichter has been a key "gure in According to the ADL, over 115 federal, fostering cooperation between Israeli state, and local law enforcement execu- security forces and American law en- tives have undergone ADL-organized forcement. In 2006, while Dichter was training sessions in Israel since the pro- serving at the time as Israel’s minister gram began in 2003. “I can honestly say of public security, he spoke in Boston, that the training offered by ADL is by Massachusetts, before the annual con- far the most useful and current training vention of the International Associa- course I have ever attended,” Deputy tion of Chiefs of Police. Seated beside Commissioner Thomas Wright of the FBI Director Robert Mueller and then- Philadelphia Police Department com- Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, mented after completing an ADL pro- Dichter told the 10,000 police of"cers in gram this year. The ADL’s relationship the crowd that there was an “intimate with the Washington, D.C. Police De- connection between "ghting criminals partment is so cozy its members are in- and "ghting terrorists.” Dichter declared vited to accompany D.C. cops on “ride that American cops were actually “"ght- along” patrols. ing crimiterrorists.” The Jerusalem Post The ADL claims to have trained over reported that Dichter was “greeted by a 45,000 American law enforcement of"- hail of applause, as he was hugged by cials through its Law Enforcement and Mueller, who described Dichter as his Society program, which “draws on the mentor in anti-terror tactics.” history of the Holocaust to provide law A year after Dichter’s speech, he enforcement professionals with an in- and then-Secretary of the Department creased understanding of . . . their role of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff as protectors of the Constitution,” the signed a joint memorandum pledging group’s website stated. All new FBI security collaboration between America

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and Israel on issues ranging from air- developed with input and intensive in- port security to emergency planning. In volvement by the CIA, which still re- 2010, Homeland Security Secretary Na- fuses to name the former Middle East politano authorized a new joint memo- station chief it has posted in the senior randum with Israeli Transport and Road ranks of the NYPD’s intelligence divi- Safety Minister Israel Katz shoring up sion. Since 2002, the NYPD has dis- cooperation between the U.S. Transpor- patched undercover agents known as tation Security Agency—the agency in “rakers” and “mosque crawlers” into charge of day-to-day airport security— Pakistani-American bookstores and and Israel’s Security Department. The restaurants to gauge community anger recent joint memorandum also consoli- over U.S. drone strikes inside Pakistan, dated the presence of U.S. Homeland and into Palestinian hookah bars and Security law enforcement personnel mosques to search out signs of terror on Israeli soil. “The bond between the recruitment and clandestine funding. United States and Israel has never been “If a raker noticed a customer looking stronger,” Napolitano remarked at a re- at radical literature, he might chat up cent summit of AIPAC, the leading out"t the store owner and see what he could of America’s Israel lobby, in Scottsdale, learn,” the Associated Press reported. Arizona. “The bookstore, or even the customer, might get further scrutiny.” The Demographic Unit The Israeli imprimatur on the For the New York Police Department, NYPD’s Demographics Unit is unmis- collaboration with Israel’s security and takable. As a former police of"cial told intelligence apparatus became a top pri- the Associated Press, the Demograph- ority after 9/11. Just months after the ics Unit has attempted to “map the city’s attacks on New York City, the NYPD human terrain” through a program assigned a permanent, taxpayer-funded “modeled in part on how Israeli authori- liaison of"cer to Tel Aviv. Under the ties operate in the West Bank.” leadership of Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, ties between the NYPD and Israel Shop ‘til you’re stopped have deepened by the day. Kelly em- At Israel’s Ben Gurion International barked on his "rst trip to Israel in early Airport, security personnel target non- 2009 to demonstrate his support for Is- Jewish and nonwhite passengers, espe- rael’s ongoing assault on the Gaza Strip, cially Arabs, as a matter of policy. The a one-sided attack that left over 1,400 most routinely harassed passengers are Gaza residents dead in three weeks and Palestinian citizens of Israel, who must led a United Nations fact-"nding mis- brace themselves for "ve-hour interro- sion to conclude that Israeli military and gation sessions and strip searches be- government of"cials had committed war fore !ying. Those singled out for extra crimes. screening by Shin Bet of"cers are sent Kelly returned to Israel the following to what many Palestinians from Israel year to speak at the Herziliya Confer- call the “Arab room,” where they are ence, an annual gathering of neoconser- subjected to humiliating questioning vative security and government of"cials sessions (former White House Health who obsess over supposed “demo- and Human Services Secretary Donna graphic threats.” After Kelly appeared Shalala encountered such mistreatment on stage, the Herziliya crowd was ad- during a visit to Israel last year). Some dressed by the pro-Israel academic Mar- Palestinians are forbidden from speak- tin Kramer, who claimed that Israel’s ing to anyone until takeoff, and may be blockade of Gaza was helping to reduce menaced by Israeli !ight attendants dur- the numbers of “super!uous young ing the !ight. In one documented case, men of "ghting age.” Kramer added, “If a six-month-old was awoken for a strip a state can’t control these young men, search by Israeli Shin Bet personnel. then someone else will.” Instances of discrimination against Ar- Back in New York, the NYPD set up abs at Ben Gurion International are too a secret “Demographics Unit” designed numerous to detail—several incidents to spy on and monitor Muslim com- occur each day—but a few of the more munities around the city. The unit was egregious instances were outlined in a

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2007 petition the Association for Civil visited by FBI agents after mall security Rights in Israel "led with the country’s stopped him for taking photographs of Supreme Court. the dazzling consumer haven. Though the Israeli system of airline “I think that the threat of terrorism security contains dubious bene"ts and in the United States is going to become clearly deleterious implications for civil an unfortunate part of American life,” liberties, it is quietly and rapidly mi- Rozin remarked to American Jewish grating into major American airports. World. And as long as the threat per- Security personnel at Boston’s Logan In- sists in the public’s mind, Israeli secu- ternational Airport have undergone ex- ritocrats like Rozin will never have to tensive training from Israeli intelligence worry about the next paycheck. personnel, learning to apply pro"ling and behavioral assessment techniques “Occupy” meets the Occupation against American citizens that were ini- When a riot squad from the New tially tested on Palestinians. The new York Police Department destroyed and procedures began in August, when so- evicted the Occupy Wall Street protest called Behavior Detection Of"cers were encampment at Zuccotti Park in down- placed in security queues at Logan’s town Manhattan, department leadership heavily traf"cked Terminal A. Though drew on the antiterror tactics they had the procedures have added to traveler re"ned since the 9/11 attacks. According stress while netting exactly zero terror- to the New York Times, the NYPD de- ists, they are likely to spread to other ployed “counterterrorism measures” to cities. “I would like to see a lot more mobilize large numbers of cops for the pro"ling” in American airports, said lightning raid on Zuccotti. The use of Yossi Shef", an Israeli-born risk analyst antiterror techniques to suppress a ci- at the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- vilian protest complemented harsh po- nology Center for Transportation and lice measures demonstrated across the Logistics. country against the nationwide Occupy Israeli techniques now dictate secu- movement, from "ring tear-gas canis- rity procedures at the Mall of America, a ters and rubber bullets into unarmed gargantuan shopping mall in Blooming- crowds to blasting demonstrators with ton, Minnesota, that has become a ma- the LRAD sound cannon. jor tourist attraction. The new methods Given the amount of training the took hold in 2005 when the mall hired NYPD and so many other police forces a former Israeli army sergeant named have received from Israel’s military- Mike Rozin to lead a special new secu- intelligence apparatus, and the pro- rity unit. Rozin, who once worked with fuse levels of gratitude American police a canine unit at Ben Gurion Airport in chiefs have expressed to their Israeli Israel, instructed his employees at the mentors, it is worth asking how much Mall of America to visually pro"le every Israeli instruction has in!uenced the shopper, examining their expressions way the police have attempted to sup- for suspicious signs. His security team press the Occupy movement, and how accosts and interrogates an average of much it will inform police repression 1,200 shoppers a year, according to the of future upsurges of street protest. But Center for Investigative Reporting. already, the Israeli"cation of American One of the thousands who fell into law enforcement appears to have inten- Rozin’s dragnet was Najam Qureshi, a si"ed police hostility toward the civilian Pakistani-American mall vendor whose population, blurring the lines between father accidentally left his cell phone protesters, common criminals, and ter- on a table in the mall food court. A day rorists. As Dichter said, they are all just after the incident, FBI agents appeared “crimiterrorists.” at Qureshi’s doorstep to ask if he knew “After 9/11 we had to react very anyone seeking to harm the United quickly,” Greenberg remarked, “but States. An army veteran interrogated now we’re in 2011 and we’re not talk- for two hours by Rozin’s men for tak- ing about people who want to !y planes ing video inside the mall sobbed openly into buildings. We’re talking about about his experience to reporters. Mean- young American citizens who feel that while, another man, Emile Khalil, was their birthright has been sold. If we’re

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using Israeli style tactics on them and is to remove Obama. Bibi’s war against this stuff bleeds into the way we do Obama is unprecedented. While Israeli business at large, we’re in big trouble.” prime ministers have tried to help in- cumbent presidents, none have ever waged a full-scale campaign to over- MAX BLUMENTHAL, “THE BIBI throw them. CONNECTION,” AL AKHBAR ENGLISH, 12 Netanyahu has engaged enthusiastic JANUARY 2012 allies in the Republican Congress, led The U.S. presidential election cam- by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, paign that kicked off January 3 with the and within the right-wing media. His Iowa caucuses was the subject of a cu- neoconservative allies in Washington rious article attacking President Barack are launching a “Super PAC” to gener- Obama in the mass circulation Israeli ate emotional attack ads against Obama daily newspaper, Israel Hayom. and any candidate that might be an ob- “U.S. President Barack Obama is ‘na- stacle to his policies. And his campaign ïve’ and needs to face up to the threat has even broadened into an attempt to presented by the rise of the Muslim discredit the New York Times, whose Brotherhood across the Middle East, editorial page and foreign policy colum- Israel’s National Security Council con- nists, Thomas Friedman and Roger Co- cluded during a strategic discussion sev- hen, have been critical of him. eral days ago,” Israel Hayom reported. As political strategy, by tainting The Israeli National Security Council Obama as less than full-throated in sup- consists of Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu’s port of Israel, Netanyahu bolsters the closest advisers. And Israel Hayom is Republican themes that the president not just another right-leaning Israeli tab- “apologizes” for U.S. power, is weak on loid. Referred to by Israelis as the “Bibi- national security, and is an agent of “de- ton,” or Bibi’s mouthpiece, the paper is cline.” By depicting Obama as “weak” an instrument that gives him extraordi- on Israel, Netanyahu’s campaign excites nary political leverage. The obviously right-wing Jews and evangelical Chris- planted article in Israel Hayom rang like tians, who overwhelmingly accept the a bell sounding the start of Netanyahu’s biblical claims of the Jewish state’s his- own campaign in helping the Republi- torical right to Greater Israel, Judea, can Party oust Obama from the White and Samaria. Bibi’s deepest attack line House. against Obama merges theology with Israel Hayom’s genesis demonstrates ideology. the depth of Netanyahu’s connections Already, Netanyahu has succeeded in Republican circles. It was created by in polarizing the political debate, as his one of Netanyahu’s top "nancial sup- agenda is singularly aligned with the porters, a Las Vegas–based casino ty- Republican Party. Yet Bibi’s short-term coon named Sheldon Adelson, who is objectives are rapidly turning the U.S.- also a major donor to the conservative Israel relationship, at least under his ae- wing of the Republican Party. Adel- gis, into a partisan issue, another litmus son’s closest relationship is with former test of conservative ideology rather than Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, national interest. a longtime ally of Netanyahu who has been running a rancorous campaign for The personal connection the Republican presidential nomination. Netanyahu’s American orientation is Netanyahu’s less than subtle inter- partly rooted in his personal history. vention has become an open issue in Raised in suburban Philadelphia, his Israeli politics. Opposition leader Tzipi father, Benzion Netanyahu, was the for- Livni of the Kadima Party has criticized mer press secretary for the godfather Netanyahu for damaging the U.S.-Israeli of right-wing revisionist Zionism, Zeev relationship. Jabotinsky. Benzion Netanyahu spent But Livni’s warning has been ig- his most consequential years in New nored. Rather than hesitating, the prime York raising money for Jabotinsky and minister and his inner circle are mov- the rightist Irgun militia in Palestine. ing full steam ahead in their political When he returned to Israel to launch shadow campaign whose ultimate goal a political career, the elder Netanyahu

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was rejected by Menachem Begin, the theology committed him to the vision of Likud Party leader, who, as right wing Greater Israel. as he was, considered him dangerously Before the rapture-ready audience, extreme (Arabs are “an enemy by es- Netanyahu proclaimed that Jerusalem sence,” the elder Netanyahu said re- would remain “the undivided, eternal cently). But the son triumphed where capital of the Jewish people.” his father failed, rising at "rst on his At once, he authorized the construc- !uency in American political culture, tion of 1,600 new settlement units a frequent guest on ABC News’ Night- in occupied East Jerusalem over the line and other U.S. broadcast news stringent objections from the Obama programs, eventually winning the chair- administration. Though the move an- manship of the Likud Party in 1992. gered the White House, Ron Dermer, Suddenly in the wilderness [after his a top Netanyahu aide with close ties defeat by Labor’s Ehud Barak in 2000], to leading Republicans in Washington, Netanyahu plotted his path back by cul- reassured the prime minister that Re- tivating the right-wing in the United publicans would retake Congress. Ne- States—the pundits, the Republican tanyahu simply rejected Obama’s plea politicians, the big donors, Fox News. to freeze settlements and then rejected In 2007, he held a meeting with a small overtures to restart the peace process. group of conservative activists emerg- In the 2010 midterm elections, Repub- ing as key players in the conservative licans gained control of the House of blogosphere. Among those present was Representatives. Andrew Breitbart, who became a notori- While on a trip to New York days ous hatchet man staging wild stunts and after the Republican victory, Netanyahu whose myriad websites routinely carry authorized another 1,000 more settle- conspiratorial, racially charged attacks ment units in East Jerusalem, a direct on Obama. Other "gures at the meet- rebuke of Obama. That same day, Ne- ing included conservative bloggers Scott tanyahu held a meeting with the incom- Johnson, Jim Hoft, and Jeff Emmanuel. ing House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, “At our meeting we talked mostly about the only Jewish Republican in Congress, the dangers of the Iranian regime ac- and a leader of the right-wing in the quiring a nuclear bomb,” Johnson re- House Republican Conference. Can- called, revealing his newly acquired tor’s of"ce produced a summary of the foreign policy expertise. “It was a sub- meeting for the media that contained ject to which Netanyahu had obviously the remarkably crude statement: Cantor devoted great thought.” promised Netanyahu that “the new Re- Two years later, Netanyahu returned publican majority will serve as a check to the prime minister’s of"ce at the on the [Obama] administration and what head of an even more decidedly right- has been, up until this point, one party wing coalition than before government rule in Washington.” and was determined not to repeat his In April 2011, Republican Speaker previous mistakes of “capitulating” to of the House John Boehner personally the peace process at the behest of an invited Netanyahu to speak before a American president. Now he turned to joint session of Congress. He was inter- the movement he had courted to help rupted 36 times by standing ovations— him undermine and humiliate Obama. more than Obama during his State of the Union address—despite making Humiliating Obama such mind-boggling false claims as that In March 2010, when Obama dis- the “vast majority” of Israeli settlers live patched Vice President Joseph Biden to in “neighborhoods in Jerusalem and Israel in a futile attempt to restart ne- greater Tel Aviv.” gotiations between Israel and the Pal- With a rancorous, multibillion dol- estinian Authority, Netanyahu appeared lar U.S. presidential campaign certainly in Jerusalem at a massive rally of 1,000 looming on the horizon, Netanyahu con- evangelicals organized by Texas mega- tinued his pattern of making friends church Pastor John Hagee, a leading in the radical right’s media machine. Christian Zionist and sometime Ho- Among them was Glenn Beck, a Mor- locaust revisionist whose End Times mon convert and former Fox News host,

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who had compared a major liberal Jew- in its vitriolic, hostile, and contemptu- ish religious denomination to radical ous tone. Nothing like it had ever ex- Islamists and claimed that Obama has isted before—a vicious of"cial attack “a deep-seated hatred for white people.” from the prime minister of Israel on the Beck was admonished by the Anti-Def- credibility of the New York Times. Per- amation League and other mainstream haps only a little less surprising was Jewish groups for his anti-Semitic rants that this major event received nearly no against George Soros, a major funder of coverage in the American press. liberal and Democratic Party–related or- In his scathing letter, Dermer ac- ganizations. In July 2011, Beck traveled cused the Times of “cavalierly to Israel to deliver a diatribe against lib- defam[ing] our country,” claiming that eral Israelis demonstrating against Ne- 19 out of 20 op-eds published in the tanyahu’s economic policies, labeling Times were “negative” (Dermer did not them patsies in a secret Islamist-Com- challenge their factual basis). He con- munist plot. cluded, “it would seem as if the surest When the right-wing Zionist Orga- way to get an op-ed published in the nization of America honored Beck this New York Times these days, no matter November with a prize named after how obscure the writer or the view- Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam, point, is to attack Israel.” Netanyahu displayed his gratitude in a Netanyahu’s attack on the Times rep- videotaped tribute. “Glenn, you can be resented a signi"cant new stage in his sure that if Sheldon and Miri Adelson shadow war. He was drawing sharp new put their name to something, it must lines. By rebuking the paper, Netanyahu stand for a lot. You stand for a lot. . . . attempted to de"ne its liberal Zionist, And I want to tell you how deeply we pro-peace process editorial line as hos- appreciate this stand of courage and tile to Israeli security needs. And by integrity.” default, he positioned Rupert Murdoch’s In December [2012], Thomas Fried- Wall Street Journal, with its relentlessly man, the Pulitzer Prize–winning New anti-Obama, pro-Bibi op-ed page, as the York Times’ former Jerusalem bureau only respectable forum for true friends chief and one of the few American col- of Israel. umnists whose opinions seriously reg- ister in the Israeli media, published an Bibi’s man in Washington uncharacteristically pointed critique of More than any other candidate in Netanyahu’s leadership. In Friedman’s the Republican presidential contest, column were two lines that incited the Newt Gingrich has hewed to Netan- wrath and fury of the prime minister’s yahu’s line on the Israeli-Palestinian of"ce. “I sure hope that Israel’s prime con!ict. In an interview with the cable minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, under- TV Jewish Channel, Gingrich declared, stands that the standing ovation he got “We’ve had an invented Palestinian in Congress this year was not for his people who are in fact Arabs and are politics. That ovation was bought and historically part of the Arab commu- paid for by the Israel lobby.” nity and they had a chance to go many Neoconservative opinion makers ex- places.” He added, “I see myself as, in ploded with orchestrated rage accusing many ways, to be pretty close to Bibi Friedman of being a self-hating Jewish Netanyahu in thinking about the dan- anti-Semite. In response, the New York gers of the world.” Times gave Netanyahu an opportunity In May 2010, when Gingrich’s presi- to respond on its opinion page. dential campaign was no more than the But rather than accept the Times’ of- subject of guarded speculation, Israel fer, Netanyahu dispatched Ron Dermer, Hayom, Bibi’s house organ, provided his key emissary to the American po- Gingrich with a Hebrew-language forum litical scene, especially to the con- to assail Obama’s policies. servative movement, now serving as Israel Hayom’s owner, Las Vegas a senior advisor on his staff, to issue Sands casino corporation chairman what amounted to a declaration of war Sheldon Adelson, is America’s eighth against the American newspaper of re- wealthiest man. At the same time he cord. Dermer’s letter was extraordinary was bankrolling Netanyahu’s career,

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Adelson also became Gingrich’s leading commiserated about Netanyahu, un- "nancial angel. The casino kingpin was aware that their voices were picked up introduced to Gingrich in 1996 through by a live microphone. “You’re fed up George Harris, a right-wing anti-tax with him, but I have to deal with him activist and Clark County, Nevada Re- even more often than you,” Obama publican chairman who helped Adel- complained to Sarkozy. Romney seized son block a unionization bid at one of on the episode as proof of Obama’s dis- his casinos. When Gingrich embarked qualifying leadership and proof of his on the presidential trail, George Harris own "tness for of"ce. “We have here yet became his campaign "nance co-chair, another reason why we need new lead- representing Adelson by proxy. ership in the White House,” Romney de- Despite Gingrich’s dismal "nish in clared. (Joining the chorus of pro-Bibi the Iowa caucuses, the opening contest attacks on Obama were the Netanyahu- in the Republican contest, Adelson has approved bloggers Breitbart, Hoft, and staunchly remained on his side, donat- Johnson). ing US $5 million to a Super PAC cre- In ramping up the effort to turn Is- ated to support Gingrich’s campaign in rael into an anti-Obama wedge issue, the key primary state of South Carolina, a group of neoconservative Netanyahu his Armageddon. allies have started a independent po- litical committee called the Emergency Bibi’s Super PAC Committee for Israel (ECI). The group’s When Gingrich quits the race, Netan- name was inspired by the Emergency yahu will not be without a candidate. Committee to Save the Jewish People of He can count on former Massachusetts Europe, an organization that Netanya- Governor Mitt Romney to carry the hu’s father, Benzion, helped lead during neoconservative banner all the way to World War II in part to raise money for election day. Of Romney’s 22 campaign the right-wing Irgun militia in Palestine. foreign policy advisers, 15 worked in The group’s board comprises a Who’s the administration of George W Bush, Who of Washington neoconservatives. and six were original members of the It is directed by Noah Pollak, a former Project for the New American Century, assistant editor of Azure, the in-house the neoconservative group that called journal of the Adelson-funded Shalem for regime change in Iraq. Center, several of whose fellows are Romney’s own Super PAC, Restore now in Netanyahu’s inner circle of ad- Our Future, credited with destroy- visers. Pollak was credited with helping ing Gingrich’s hopes in Iowa through the Israeli army launch a YouTube chan- a relentless barrage of negative ads, nel to rebut accusations that it commit- is "nanced in part by Mel Sembler, a ted war crimes in the Gaza Strip and Florida-based a multimillionaire shop- elsewhere. ping mall developer and veteran Re- This month, the ECI established a Su- publican fundraiser, appointed the U.S. per PAC in order to use unlimited cor- ambassador to Italy by President George porate contributions for political attack W. Bush. Sembler was mired in scandal ads. The group’s "rst major presidential when the federal government revoked campaign ad buy targeted Representa- the license of a chain of adolescent tive Ron Paul (R-Texas), a fervently an- treatment centers he founded after for- tiwar libertarian candidate who has mer teenage patients complained they called for an end to the special rela- were sexually abused, psychologically tionship between Israel and the United tortured, and humiliated during sadistic States. The ad features Gary Bauer, behavior modi"cation programs. Less an ECI board member, Christian right well known is the "nancial largesse leader and failed presidential candidate. Sembler has bestowed on neoconser- (Bauer endorsed former Senator Rick vative out"ts supporting Netanyahu’s Santorum, a right-wing Catholic, who policies. He is also a close friend of has declared, “All the people that live in Adelson. the West Bank are Israelis. They are not In November 2011, President Obama Palestinians. There is no Palestinian. and French President Nicolas Sarkozy This is Israeli land.”)

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Jewish concerns election cycle, not only rejected the While Obama and the Democratic unity pledge, but accused its authors of Party elite have kept silent in the face attempting to suppress pro-Israel activ- of Netanyahu’s American shadow war, ism. In a de"ant statement by its chair- its polarizing effects have prompted re- man, neoconservative activist William sistance from an unexpected place: the Kristol, the ECI proclaimed, “This at- Jewish-American establishment. tempt to silence those of us who have In October [2011], two of the U.S.’s ‘questioned the current administration’s oldest and most prominent Jewish orga- foreign policy approach vis-à-vis Israel’ nizations, the Anti-Defamation League will re-energize us.” Thus the show and the American Jewish Committee, went on. The effort to lower the tem- released a “National Pledge for Unity” perature only became another occasion urging politicians, religious leaders, and for the pro-Netanyahu operation to raise other Jewish groups aimed at preserv- the heat. As their anti-Obama campaign ing bipartisan support for Israel. “We intensi"es, Israel is being merged seam- want the discourse on U.S. support for lessly with traditional right-wing wedge Israel to avoid the sometimes polariz- issues such as abortion, gay marriage, ing debates and political attacks that and the menace of immigration. have emerged in recent weeks, as candi- In the past, America’s Israel lobby dates have challenged their opponents’ sold the U.S.-Israel alliance as a mar- pro-Israel bone "des or questioned the riage of two vibrant democracies united current administration’s foreign policy by shared liberal values. In the current approach vis-à-vis Israel,” declared Anti- environment of heightened polariza- Defamation League national director tion, the special relationship is increas- Abraham Foxman. “The last thing Amer- ingly marketed to Americans as a united ica and Israel need right now is the dis- front of besieged bastions of Western tractions of having Israel bandied about civilization against an incipient Islamic as a tool for waging political attacks.” onslaught. Rapture-ready evangelicals, The Emergency Committee for Israel right-wing ultranationalists, and Re- and the Republican Jewish Coalition, an publican Jews are far more likely to be Adelson-funded, pro-Netanyahu group attracted to this sort of alliance than that claims to raise “tens of millions” of cosmopolitan liberals. And this may be dollars for Republican candidates each exactly the way Netanyahu wants it.

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