WASHINGTON--(Business Wire)--
A FBI file reveals the Israeli embassy passed stolen classified US government
information to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). In 1984
Israel and AIPAC jointly lobbied Congress to secure preferential Israeli access
to the US market against widespread American industry opposition.
The declassified FBI report may be downloaded from the Israel Lobby Archive at:
http://www.irmep.org/ila/economy/03071986INTERVIEW.pdf
The FBI file, kept secret for 25 years, was recently released to the Institute
for Research: Middle Eastern Policy (IRmep) through Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA) requests. The declassified files, their historical context, and long term
impact on jobs and exports are detailed in the new book "Spy Trade: How Israel`s
Lobby Undermines America`s Economy." "Spy Trade" also analyzes AIPAC`s long
history of guidance and material support from the Israeli government.
Under the 1938 Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) organizations acting as
agents of foreign principals in a political capacity in the US must openly
declare their relationships to the FARA registration unit of the
Counterespionage Section of the U.S. Department of Justice.
In 1962, U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy ordered AIPAC's parent
organization, the American Zionist Council (AZC), to register as an Israeli
foreign agent. The AZC had been found moving funding from the Jewish Agency in
Jerusalem into lobbying startup groups across the US, as well as to AIPAC's
founder, Isaiah L. "Si" Kenen. Kenen was briefly a registered foreign agent of
the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs before moving to lobby for the AZC.
After the FARA order the AZC shut down and passed lobbying functions to its
"Kenen committee" currently known as AIPAC.
According to IRmep research director Grant F. Smith, AIPAC FARA activity
disclosures are long overdue. "Based on our research, AIPAC is simply the
rebranded American Zionist Council. Today all American voters and industry
groups should have access to nearly a hundred FARA activity reports detailing
AIPAC`s other secret activities on behalf of Israel. Americans are legally
entitled to this information under FARA."
The Israel Lobby Archive, http://IRmep.org/ila, is a unit of the Institute for
Research: Middle Eastern Policy in Washington. The Archive digitizes
declassified documents obtained through Freedom of Information Act filings with
law enforcement and intelligence agencies. IRmep is a Washington-based nonprofit
that studies U.S. Middle East policy formulation.
Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy (IRmep)
Grant Smith, 202-342-7325
info@irmep.org
Copyright Business Wire 2009
