Following allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election, Russia Today’s US subsidiary (RT) had to register as a “foreign agent” under FARA (the Foreign Agents Registration Act). Otherwise, a state-mandated closure of RT America was imminent. Noteworthy in this context is the speed with which this arrangement was enforced. But what exactly does this registration mean?

The FARA law was issued in 1938 to protect against German Nazi propaganda, after it had been shown that many Americans were open to the manipulative effect of German propaganda using existing anti-Semitism. Interestingly, the propaganda was not per se banned, but the executive organs, individuals or organizations had to register to make it clear to the American readership where the financing of the registered “foreign agents” came from.

In the case of RT, the decision was based on a “public intelligence assessment ” of the US intelligence services, as well as on the fact that during the Cold War, the Russian media companies with US branches were already registered with FARA.

The NATO-related think tank Atlantic Council was also particularly resourceful in its assessment :

RT is a tool for Russian political influence, designed to disseminate misinformation and undermine Western values ‹ ‹in the world. “

Anyway. No matter how ridiculous these assertions may be, no one has yet been able to provide tangible proof of Russia’s influence on the US election campaign. The whining of Hillary Clinton [about Russia] due to leaks about the [rigged] Democratic National Convention is also ignoring this scandal, as is the statement by the Atlantic Council.

But if you read a bit between the lines of the “public intelligence assessment”, then you recognize the concern that the Americans no longer want to be informed exclusively about CNN and Co.For a nation in a permanent state of war that is of course bad and potentially dangerous.

Read more: Facebook opens special “Russia portal” for the protection of US democracy

And Israel?

While RT America and Russia are being pilloried, a country that actually has a disproportionate impact on America remains, Israel.

Let’s take a look back at the year 2012, also an election year. It was all about the re-election of President Barack Obama or his Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared on September 16, 2012, close to seven weeks before Election Day, on the popular television show Meet the Press alongside Mitt Romney. There he explained to the American people how weak President Obama really was and therefore had no right to give Israel any advice as to how to behave.

JdN: I added this photo

For days, commercials fluttered across the screens in Florida, hammering Netanyahu’s warnings about Iran into living rooms, packed with the message that “America needs strength, no apologies.” These TV commercials were paid by Secure America Now , an organization that influences public opinion . Her clients include Benjamin Netanyahu , Facebook and Google .

On top of that, when Obama appealed for support and for public approval for the US Congress’ deal on Iran – after all, the Obama administration’s biggest foreign policy success in eight years – Netanyahu flew to Washington and delivered a speech to Congress.

JdN: I added this photo

His attacks on Obama and his foreign policy received a standing ovation in Congress. Just imagine what would happen if Russian President Vladimir Putin had done the same thing in Washington or in front of the Bundestag in Berlin, for example, by attacking the refugees-welcome policy of Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Apart from this obvious and direct appearance of a foreign prime minister in American politics and a presidential campaign, there are a whole series of other “agents” for Israel.

Perhaps the most powerful organization with the greatest influence is the American Israel Public Affairs Committee ( AIPAC ), which emerged as an offshoot of the American Zionist Council (AZC). Ironically, the acronym AIPAC comes from US Congressmen who led a committee of inquiry into US policy in the early 1960s on the subject of foreign influence, with a special focus on one section of the AZC: the later became the AIPAC organization.

It was found that AZC received millions of US dollars through the Jewish National Fund and the latter in turn from the Israeli state.

AZC received the initial request to register as a “foreign agent” as early as 1962.

Ten years earlier, the US Department of Justice,, notified  Isiah Kenen after he moved from the American Zionist Council to Information Director of the Israeli UN mission .

Read more: Did the Israeli Foreign Ministry launch a campaign against a member of Breaking the Silence?

 

Israeli embassy in Berlin

Over the years, AIPAC has survived numerous scandals without harm, where staff and senior staff repeatedly committed espionage and even theft for Israel . This summer, during a hearing in the US Senate that took place on the alleged influence of Russia, Senator Lindsey Graham asked the representative of the Ministry of Justice rather rhetorically, whether AIPAC should register as a “foreign agent”. Even before the officer could reply, Graham added:

“I’m not saying that AIPAC does anything wrong, quite to the contrary. They are a group of Americans who have come together to maximize their influence and speak about something of importance to them which concerns a foreign ally. So I think the AIPAC model is a good thing, and that’s not my concern, because they’re very transparent. “

Lindsey Graham is one of the largest donation recipients from the pro-Israel lobby . Only one place ahead of him in terms of donations is the Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer from New York. He was to tip the scales for President Barack Obama in the weeks and months leading up to the 2015 signing of the Iran Agreement in Geneva. Thousands of calls and mails from Jewish and Zionist groups entered his office to press Schumer against a vote for Obama. The pressure paid off: Schumer announced in early August that he would vote against the Iran deal.

What followed was pressure from Americans who scented ” betrayal ” in his decision and, because of his Jewish faith, denounced him for being disloyal to US interests. This accusation cannot be completely dismissed. After all, it was Schumer himself, who just three months before his decision not to support the agreement, spoke at a Jewish event about the double loyalty of an American Jew. At that point, he still cautiously stated that “American interests and Jewish interests are not equal in this case,” but he would do “what is right for the United States, and Eretz Israel will come after that.”

Read more: Duma is considering banning ad placements on Google

The topic of double loyalty also interests the Israeli government. For example, the State Department independently commissioned a survey of the Jewish community in the United States, which was handled by the Israeli American Council (IAC). So now the Israeli Foreign Ministry, in collaboration with IAC and its largest financier, Sheldon Adelson (the casino mogul is among the financially most important supporters of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu), has sent out a questionnaire to tens of thousands of Americans who are either of Jewish faith belong or are actually dual citizens of the US and Israel. Even more pungent about this whole matter is the fact that even the Israeli consulates in the US were involved in sending out the questionnaire. The question was asked, according to the Israeli daily Haaretz, who should get their loyalty if there should ever break out a crisis between the two allies, the United States of America or Israel?

That such organizations as AIPAC, IAC or the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) – and dozens of others – have not registered as “foreign agents” for Israel at FARA, or have not done so despite repeated requests from the US Department of Justice, speaks volumes about the double standard that is used in dealing with Russia.

The cause of this hypocritical practice could indeed be the problem of the double loyalty of persons and organizations that have disproportionate influence on parts of the US legislature, judiciary and executive branch. Very insightful is the insight that Professor Eric Alterman made possible in this, for many people, mysterious world:

Recently, I was in the Center for Jewish History (New York), where I heard Ruth Wisse, the Yiddish professor at Harvard, who happens to hold the “Martin L. Peretz” professorship there, speak before a group of Jewish journalists and instruct them to think of themselves as members of the Israeli army. 

That Israeli young people must serve in the army is known. Well, they (the Jewish journalists) do not have to serve in the army, but they should think of themselves as members of a Jewish army, support the Jewish people, support Israel, set their intellectual scruples and concerns aside about these things. 

Like about Lieberman (Avigdor Lieberman) [JdN: a hyper-radical rightwinger who preaches hatred for Palestinians: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avigdor_Lieberman].

So it happens that it ends up with that because there are so few people who want to say [the truth] and there are certainly good historical reasons why I am quoted by (John) Mearsheimer and (Stephen M.) Walt because I am the only person who says that I am a dual-loyal Jew and sometimes I actually am for Israel, because the United States can take a lot of terrible [military] blows and [being so large] still be standing. But if Israel takes a really bad punch, it could actually disappear. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Israel_Lobby_and_U.S._Foreign_Policy

Excerpt:

The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy^[1] is a book by John Mearsheimer, Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago, and Stephen Walt, Professor of International Relations at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, published in late August 2007. It was a New York Times Best Seller.^[2]

The book describes the lobby as a “loose coalition of individuals and organizations who actively work to steer U.S. foreign policy in a pro-Israeldirection”.^[3] The book “focuses primarily on the lobby’s influence on U.S. foreign policy and its negative effect on American interests”.^[4] The authors also argue that “the lobby’s impact has been unintentionally harmful to Israel as well”.^[5]

***

So there will be some cases where, if there is a conflict between the United States and Israel, I will support what is best for Israel and not what I think might be the best for the United States. 

The great fiction that permeates almost the whole discussion, and I bet it does even over at “J Street” [JdN: a pro-peace, anti-Netanyahu, liberal Jewish organization], but certainly this is true of the official organizations, is the idea that there is no such a thing that might be good for Israel and yet bad for the United States, or vice versa. 

Every single speech they hear at AIPAC or the AJC (American Jewish Council) says that ‘thank God, our interests and values ‹ ‹are perfectly aligned (so that) we can support a strong Israel and we also support a strong America.’ 

No – that will not always be the case. 

These are two different countries with two different strategic interests and different views on certain things. “