FDD and AIPAC need adult supervision
Philip Giraldi • November 20, 2018
Depending
on what criteria one uses, there are between 200 and 600 groups in the
United States that wholly or in part are dedicated to furthering the
interests of Israel. The organizations are both Jewish, like the Zionist
Organization of America, and Christian Zionist to include John Hagee’s
Christians United for Israel, but the funding of the Israel Lobby and
both its political and media access comes overwhelmingly from Jewish
supporters and advocates.
Many
of the groups are registered with the Internal Revenue Service for tax
purposes as 501(c)3 “educational” or “charitable” foundations, which
enables them to solicit tax exempt donations. One might dispute whether
promoting Israeli interests in the United States is actually
educational, but as of right now the Department of the Treasury believes
it can be so construed, protected by the First Amendment.
But
there is a more serious consideration in terms of the actual
relationships that many of the groups enjoy with the Israeli government.
To be sure, many of them boast on their promotional literature and
websites about their relationships with the Benjamin Netanyahu and his
cabinet, so the issue of dual loyalty or, worse, acting as actual
Israeli government agents must be considered.
