AIPAC CUTOUT: THE RISE & FALL OF THE WASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY
Please read to end. A TPM reader sends his own recollections of the Washington Institute's founding after reading my TPM Cafe piece.
I already wrote once about Bob Satloff and the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. It is, and always has been, an extension of AIPAC, created by AIPAC. Stephen Walt takes on the issue of it's ersatz independence here
In my piece yesterday, I pointed out that I was in the room when the plan for WINEP was first drawn up. I was working at AIPAC and it was Steve Rosen who cleverly came up with the idea for an AIPAC controlled think-tank that would put forth the AIPAC line but in a way that would disguise its connections.
There was no question that WINEP was to be AIPAC's cutout. It was funded by AIPAC donors, staffed by AIPAC employees, and located one door away, down the hall, from AIPAC Headquarters (no more. It has its own digs). It would also hire all kinds of people not identified with Israel as a cover and would encourage them to write whatever they liked on matters not related to Israel. "Say what you want on Morocco, kid." But on Israel, never deviate more than a degree or two.
So why does it matter?
It matters because the media has totally fallen for this sleight of hand and WINEP spokespersons appear (especially on PBS) as if WINEP was not part of the Israel lobby. Some truth-in-labeling is warranted.
This is especially true at critical moments like the continuing US-Israel conflict over settlements.
Check out Satloff here. Typical blah blah about how the settlement expansion crisis is a minor flap produced not by Prime Minister Netanyahu but by some clerk who gets to make Israeli policy, that it's a molehill not a mountain, and that America should be careful not to push Israel too hard.
And there is a new crisis brewing which WINEP will, no doubt, try to control. Israel has just announced a new policy that could be a step toward the "transfer" of Palestinians out of their own country by deeming them "infiltrators."
From Ha'aretz today:
A new military order aimed at preventing infiltration will come into force this week, enabling the deportation of tens of thousands of Palestinians from the West Bank, or their indictment on charges carrying prison terms of up to seven years.When the order comes into effect, tens of thousands of Palestinians will automatically become criminal offenders liable to be severely punished.
I don't know what this means. It sounds ominous. But, when I turn to PBS or NPR, to help me figure it out, I'd like to hear from all sides. WINEP can be there, as representing the lobby's point of view. And I always want to hear from Amjad Atallah of the New America Foundation as to what a Palestinian-American thinks, or NAF's Daniel Levy for the Israeli left. And let's hear from Israelis and Palestinians and US officials all speaking as what they are.
WINEP is the voice of AIPAC. Satloff is a predictable neocon. Just label these people correctly. Put Satloff on, but up opposite Jeremy Ben Ami of J Street (not the State Department).
FROM A READER:WINEP was created initially at a time when AIPAC was in financial trouble and having a lot of problems raising money, so it was suggested, probably by Steve Rosen. (I was at the same meeting) that we split the AIPAC research department into two parts, a minor part to service the legislative lobbying, and the major part to become a 501(C)3 that could raise big bucks tax free unlike AIPAC itself which did not enjoy that tax status.
As you wrote, it was originally in AIPAC's building and on the same floor but we started getting a lot of pressure from some of the other Jewish organizations which were worried that AIPAC would cut into their (C)3 fundraising.
As for funding, the Weinbergs were key and even worked out a deal with some big money folks who didn't want to contribute to a political operation like AIPAC but would give to (C)3's. So one could give to the (C)3 and someone else would match it for AIPAC.
This became the ultimate in interlocking directorates.
Satloff's Orwellian-labelled "peace watch" piece of a month ago is a typical smoothly stirred mulch of general all-around facts and pseudo-objectivity cloaking AIPAC camel dung droppings such as how supposedly the Obama Admin "overreached in its demand for a halt to Israeli settlements and inadvertently created its own impasse in Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy." Ho hum indeed.
But PBS and NPR should NOT be surrendered as AIPAC-and-fronts occupied territory. If they have been thusly conquered, you should fight hard for liberation MJ, and absolutely pound them if they are unwittingly or otherwise aiding and abetting Shas Lobby front deceptions. Try getting on Ray Saurez or Terry Gross (both open-minded, I think). If necessary go around them to the likes of Democracy Now. Stick to facts, avoid personality issues and attack frontally. The inherent duplicity, dishonesty, amorality, and double-speak of the Settler Lobby will trip them up sooner or later. If the settlements are only a minor issue, then PBS/NPR should be asking them why they have been repeatedly siding against America on that issue, and by the way, in his long checkered career, what has Netanyahu EVER actually accomplished for the good of Israelis, let alone Jews generally, let alone AMERICANS generally?
April 11, 2010 12:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
The expulsion (transfer) of all Muslims and Christians from Israel/ Palestine to adjacent territories has always been the Likud agenda.
Only the extraordinarily naive would believe that a Likud government under Netanyahu, Sharon, Barak, Olmert or anyone else would genuinely negotiate the establishment of an autonomous Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
The Likud unwritten manifesto is and always has been for a 'Greater Israel' extending from Lebanon to Eilat. That is why President Obama must continue with his insistence on Israeli compliance with international law and UNSC resolutions.
World peace is too important to throw away on the ambitions of self-serving, ambitious, maverick politicians.
April 11, 2010 12:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Informed once again, Thank you..I had not made the connection but it does explain my puzzlement at some of the studies and opinions!
April 12, 2010 4:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
You won't. That's a crucial part of the story here. Why is the American media, even ostensibly liberal outlets like NPR and PBS, so besotted by the Israel Lobby that only its viewpoint gets heard? Why? Another question: Why is the most balanced, most fair coverage of this issue from sources outside this country - like Ha'aetz and al Jazeera?
Even asking this question is proof, in some quarters, of my anti-Semitism.
Why?
April 11, 2010 2:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Good question. We could also ask: why is almost every front page post here at TPM Cafe by a Jewish-American writer?
April 11, 2010 11:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Good question. And it would appear that a plurality of the commenters are non-Jews.
It seems that every time a non-Jew blogs, the gentiles don't want to have anything to do with him. For example...
There was a huge cry-out for Palestinian voices. Well, we have Sam from time to time and hardly anyone comments on his posts.
The whole thing is a mystery to me.
April 12, 2010 9:39 AM | Reply | Permalink
And while we're at it...why are Jews the "only" ones who give to the Democratic party...by a HUGE margin? I don't get that.
April 12, 2010 12:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't know. Perhaps they have more money? Are we apportioning the progressive voice according to money now?
In any case, the Jewish-American contribution to the Democratic kitty, while high, is nowhere near its proportion of front page posting here at TPM Cafe.
I have no explanation of why Sam Bahour's posts are so boring. Surely there are some Arab voices that could stir things up a bit more.
April 12, 2010 6:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Tintin: I've already told you that I agree with Sam's posts. So should I cut-and-paste, "Excellent post, Sam" every time?
Seriously, I sense you feel that the gentiles are (a) not really motivated by pro-Palestinian feeling, merely anti-Zionist sentiment; or (b) paternalistically not commenting because we don't hold Sam to the same level of scrutiny as Jewish-American writers.
One, both, or neither may be correct. Speaking only for myself, my interest in the issue is purely personal (family). As for others, let me hazard a guess at their motivation: Sam actually writes from experiences in today's Palestine. Unless you question his facts, i.e., have personal knowledge of life there, it's hard to comment. Sam generally describes the difficulty Palestinian businessmen face. How should we respond? "That stinks." Not much else to say.
April 13, 2010 10:31 AM | Reply | Permalink
Myth...yes, I know, that's why I didn't direct this comment to you.
You mostly agree with MJ, as do "we" (in broad outlines). Yet, somehow, he stirs up monster conversations and rants and everything else.
I guess, if you're going to have a blog, it doesn't make much sense to have a bunch of bloggers and commenters who simply say, "Yes, I agree."
Maybe we need DIFFERENT or MORE Palestinian or Arab voices on tpmcafe.
April 13, 2010 1:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Do you really think Josh Marshall is going to allow (or at least give some prominance) to a Palestinian anti-Zionist blogger? (BTW, I haven't seen Phil Weiss around here recently.) Sam is like a Thurgood Marshall. I want to hear from a Paul Robeson or a Malcolm X.
As for diversity, I would like to see Angry Arab or even Norman Finkelstein. Even MJ hates Finkelstein, so he would definitely be an example of real diversity!
As a huge fan of Jewish intellectual life, I don't care about the ethnicity of the poster, only whether a full spectrum of views is presented. If Zionism is intellectually defensible, then it should be able to withstand the rigors of cross examination from smart opponents. In contrast, we know that Saudi Monarchism is not, which is why the Kingdom splashes the money around.
April 13, 2010 1:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
How about a J-Street critique of this , then?
Quite a lot more where that came from.
The learned elders of Wiki plainly mark various articles as contested, but not this one.
Could M. l’Ambassadeur d’Indyk in fact be workin’ for the far-flung kangaroo conspiracy? Or even dabblin’ in -- golly! -- TTTriple LLLoyalty? Or even QQQQuadruple, if that blatantly Polish surname counts for something?
"America wants to know!"
But seriously...,
That little sentence "The group is often described as being pro-Israel" distinctly reminds me of Neocomrade Dr. Max Boot pointin’ out that Dr. Gen. Petræus of Princeton and West Point spoke only of "a perception of U.S. favoritism for Israel."
The problem about this rhetoric (me judice) is that it sets only a lower bound: the Dr. Gen. has certainly committed himself to SOMEBODY finding Uncle Sam a tad less than "fair and balanced" (Pat. Pend.) about the Palestine Puzzle. There is an insinuation, but no more, that the good Dr. Gen. does not himself so perceive.
Yet some fearfully clever speaker who DID so perceive, could adopt the Petræan wording as a cynical ploy to tell the truth -- about his private views, if not necessarily about the so-called Real World -- and yet not ask too much for trouble. And unfortunately, George XLIII’s ol’ buddy ‘David’ is, well, "often described as being" fearfully clever. [*]
Similarly with WINEP and Wiki: if you know for sure what the writer of that article secretly thinks of "to advance a balanced and realistic understanding," I wish you’d tell me what you know and how you know it.
Healthy days.
___
[*] Not to shoot from ambush oneself, after lecturing against it:
I do not perceive the Dr. Gen. as much of a ‘braniac’, though of course he is no dunce either. I perceive this chiefly on the basis of all his supposed new revelations about COIN, "counter-insurgency," being indistinguishable from those of SECDEF McNamara‘s whiz kids firty years ago.
As far as I can see, that is, naturally. Mais que sçay-je?
April 11, 2010 3:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
RE:"the media has totally fallen for this sleight of hand and WINEP spokespersons appear (especially on PBS) as if WINEP was not part of the Israel lobby" - M.J.
MY COMMENT: Recently I have noticed that when individuals from WINEP appear on television (including PBS), they are often said to be from "The Washington Institute".
April 11, 2010 8:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
You know, Indyk and a bunch of other operatives actually had their security clearances pulled in 2000 when Indyk was Ambassador to Israel. I'd like to get the back story on what Indyk was passing to Israel that caused the State Department to publicly announce they had pulled Indyk's security clearance.
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Indyk was Ambassador to Israel. I'd like to get the back story on what Indyk was passing to Israel that caused the State Department to publicly announce they had pulled Indyk's security clearance.
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