Finest US Senate That Israeli
Money Can Buy
From Jackie
12-19-3
The following article by Israeli Knesset member Uri Avenim, published
originally in the Israeli Daily Haaretz, was allegedly re-printed in
either the Washington Times or the Washington Post. The following was
transcribed directly from a newspaper article which had been clipped
and mailed to me several years ago, although neither the name of the
paper nor the date was shown. -Jackie
The Finest Senate That Money Can Buy
By Uri Avenim
Member: Israeli Knesset
Will the Americans pay the huge amounts of money Israel is demanding
to help alleviate the economic holocaust it has brought upon itself?
There is no doubt that the U.S. will pay. Why? Because politically
they have no choice.
Take, for example, the story of Clarence Long, member of the U.S.
Congress and Chairman of the Foreign Relations Sub-Committee and also
of sections of the Aid Committee in the U.S. Congress. He is the "man
in charge" of paying the allocations granted to Israel.
This man is well-known to hundreds of thousands of Israelis who
watched him on their TV screens when Ely Millikh Ram, the Israeli TV
correspondent, interviewed him regarding Israel's economic problems.
Like other U.S. diplomats, Long expressed the view that Israel must
take "steps and measures" -- most important of which are austerity
measures and the raising of interest rates.
Listening to him, I came to the conclusion that the man did not know
what he was saying, nor was he saying what he really felt. But the
coup de grace came when, concluding his interview, Long hinted -- not
very subtly -- that Israel would get all it had asked for, as a result
of the careful and very positive spirit in which the US had considered
its demands. This will come as a surprise to no-one.
In order to comprehend full the meaning of what he said, we have to
add one very small thing to what Long did not say in his TV interview:
that he, Clarence Long, has received, this year alone, the total of
$97,500 from Israel to support his election campaign, which means that
the above-named is no more than a paid agent employed by Israel.
Israel has not paid the amount directly to him; it has been
transferred to him, in the manner of all such transactions, by the
so-called "Political Action Committees", which play a very important
role these days in the Israeli foreign affairs system.
Where did I get my information? I have not hired spies or detectives,
there was no need for that as there is, in the U.S. a law which makes
it compulsory duty for all candidates for public office to submit
detailed and public statements showing all the donations they receive.
Such a law does not exist in Israel. The New York Times has published
a detailed press investigation on the methods used by pro-Israeli
lobbies to influence presidential elections in the US. The study
revealed that pro-Israeli institutions have allocated $4.25m to be
spent buying the minds and votes of Senate and Congress members.
It is the usual practice to spend such sums according to a very
precise and carefully calculated procedure, so that every single
dollar spent in this respect is guaranteed maximum return. The sum of
$576,000 was handed to the members of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee which backed, without any reservation, every single act by
the Israeli government. It has also been paid to new candidates,
usually running against committee members who have not submitted to
the instructions of the Israeli embassy in Washington.
Other pro-Israeli sums have been spent in 29 of the 33 Senate
constituencies scheduled to have had elections this past year, as well
as in 154 Congress constituencies of the total 435.
The largest sum spent in this direction was paid to Paul Simon, a new
figurehead who got away with $147,870 from Israel's supporters in the
US because he had decided to run in the election against Charles
Percy, the former chairman of the Congress Committee who has been
consistently critical of the Israeli government and was courageous
enough to say that the Palestinians also have their own legitimate
rights.
Another sum of $140,063 was paid to one Carl Levin, not because he is
a good Jew, as his name indicates, but because he is a member of the
Congress Military Committee.
Also, conservative Senator Jesse Helms provoked Israel's wrath because
he discussed the Palestine issue while he was a member of the Foreign
Affairs Committee. This motivated the pro-Israeli lobby to pay
$130,350 to his rival James Hart.
On one occasion while on a visit to the US and during the outbreak of
war in Lebanon, I was advised to hold a meeting with Senator Roddy
Posvic to relate to him what happened and what was said during my
meeting with Yasser Arafat in Beirut. Small wonder, for Senator Posvic
is vice-chairman of the Foreign Affairs Sub-Committee on the Middle
East. The senator's behaviour and attitude were a surprise to me, but
I have since come to know the reasons for his indifferent attitude:
from the pro-Israel lobby in the US he had already received $95,100 to
help him get re-elected.
What are these mysterious pro-Israeli circles that buy and sell
members of the Senate and Congress in the US? The best-known is "The
National Political Action Group", known as the "Israeli lobby".
Side by side with this openly publicised group, there are many secret
bodies active in the field under pseudonyms like "The San Francisco
People's Committee for a Better rule", the "Joint Action Committee for
Political Affairs", "Desert Conference", and "The Political Conference
of Disciplined Citizens".
In order to conceal the truth, none of these pro-Israeli groups
identify themselves by any names that might point to Israel, Jews or
zionists, in a clear attempt to avoid antagonising non-Jews. Nor do
they stir the issue of anti-semitism, because non-Jews may realise
that a small gang of Jews is trading in the American people's votes.
The aforementioned sums, small as they might appear, are not small at
all considering the state of affairs in the US for elections in that
country cost far less than they do in Israel. A $50,000 donation to
any candidate is considered substantial in the US, considering the far
greater advantages and returns the donor hopes to receive from the
influence of the fortunate candidate.
After the Israeli lobby in the US grants a Congress member $100,000
such a member will never dream of backing a motion which contravenes
the interests of the government of Israel.
When Prime Minister Shimon Peres arrives in the US he will expect, of
course, to receive a warm welcome. He will meet members of the
Congress and the Senate, who will urge him to take austerity measures,
to reduce bank interest rates, to reduce spending and to impose new
taxation. But Peres, on the other hand, can laugh up his sleeve,
having already received a secret report from the Israeli embassy in
Washington specifying, in great detail, the sums already paid to every
one of those Congress and Senate members who met him, to satisfy the
wishes of the Israeli government.
Israel will no doubt receive the most generous increase in aid from
the US in its history. In fact, the US grant to Israel has already
exceeded any US grant ever given to any other country anywhere in the
world. A simple calculation shows that every single American family
pays Israel well over $40 annually, and that every Israeli family
receives $2500 every year.
This would be very natural if Israel were a superpower and the US were
one of its colonies. Had there been, in a far-off planet, an
intelligence agency monitoring what was going on on planet Earth, and
had its researchers "listened" to the US-Israel transactions, they
would have undoubtedly believed that the US was no more than an
Israeli satellite and that the population of Israel was surely greater
than that of the US.
A few weeks ago the "Voice of America", a US government radio service,
arranged an interview with a PLO leader. Israel protested in the
strongest possible terms, which forced the US government to apologise
publicly to Israel, promising never to let such an event happen again.
This has been the usual practice of occupying powers; to rebuke
countries under their occupation. In the US presidential election
campaign, competition between candidates is at its fiercest when
trying to win Israel's approval and support.
Ronald Reagan and Walter Mondale lost their breath in that
competition, behaving as if they were African colonial chieftains of
the last century, who used to compete to win the favours and
sympathies of the British or French High Commissioner.
In the US Congress they talk, not only of granting Israel the money it
asks for, but also of exciting initiatives of goodwill as, for
example, the transfer of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Such steps are bound, of course, to undermine the US position and
prestige in all the Islamic states; but such considerations do not
worry most Congress and Senate members overmuch, as their sole aim is
to be re-elected.
The paying of donations to US administration officials is considered
one of the most vital sections of Israeli expenditure. Once having
paid these tributes to US officials, Israel is thus guaranteed, in
return, huge sums of money in the form of US grants.
For the $4.25m Israel has paid to prime the US Congress, Israel will
receive a US grant totalling $2.6bn. for its money, therefore, Israel
will have struck the bargain of the century, receiving an interest of
60,000 per cent on its original investment. The extra grant to Israel
will increase that interest even more.
Had it been possible to cure the Israeli economic disease with the
flood of US dollars, there would have been no problem. The problem is
that all this cash flow is to no avail for, according to many economic
experts, such arrangements make the situation even more complicated.
One thing, however, is quite clear: Israel is not the 51st state of
the United States of America, as some would like to think; rather, the
US Congress is one of the occupied areas of Israel.
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