Over 25 years ago, Jan. 26, 1979, the US Department of Justice recommended that a case against American government employee, Stephen Bryen, who later worked for the American Israel-Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), be sent to an investigative grand jury. The Justice Department memorandum stated that questions to the grand jury regarding Bryen included his “gathering classified information for the Israelis”, “acting as their unregistered agent” and “lying about it.” Nathan Lewin, Bryen’s attorney, was able to assist Bryen in that case and the grand jury never met. The case against Bryen was eventually dropped.
Last week, the FBI raided AIPAC headquarters in Washington, D.C., and searched for information regarding AIPAC’s current role in supplying information to the Israelis. Four AIPAC officials, including Executive Director Howard Kohr, have been subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury on this matter. The attorney that is representing AIPAC in this matter is Nathan Lewin.
The current case against AIPAC erupted last August when news stories reported that US Defense Department employee, Lawrence Franklin, was put under investigation for passing classified information to Israel through two AIPAC officials. AIPAC is not accustomed to being put under the scrutiny of a grand jury and Lewin is known for winning most of the cases that he defends. Will AIPAC and their associated “friends of Israel” finally be exposed to the American public for their indiscretions and possible illegalities in their relationship with the State of Israel? This is not very likely with the power that AIPAC asserts and the winning ways of Attorney Nathan Lewin.
AIPAC was founded in the 1950s and currently claims about 50,000 members. It has a budget of over $33 million and a powerhouse board of American Jewish leaders from all over the United States. Though AIPAC itself does not make campaign contributions to elected officials, its 50 board members certainly do. According to the Washington Post, the AIPAC board which “represents a cross section of influential figures in Republican and Democratic politics and in civic affairs across the country”, since 2000 has given an average of $72,000 per board member to campaigns and political committees.
Money talks in American politics and even after the August story about AIPAC broke just before the Republican National Convention, many American political leaders from both parties immediately rushed to the rescue of AIPAC with statements of support.
In Hebrew, the word “hasbara” means advocacy. In addition to AIPAC, there are scores of other American organizations that advocate Israel’s cause. AIPAC is probably the best known and given the most credit for its success in advocating Israel’s cause, its “hasbara” for Israel. If one calculates just the financial return to Israel for the $30-plus million AIPAC budget, we find that their lobbying efforts give an almost 100-1 return. Israel, which has a higher per capita income than some European countries, receives almost $3 billion in free foreign aid from the American taxpayer every year. Hasbara pays off. But, according to a recent article in the New York Jewish Week, hasbara needs to go further.
In late November, a new reality show titled “The Ambassador” premiered in Israel. On the opening show, 14 Israelis aged 25 to 30 began competition to “make the best case for Israel in a largely hostile world.” One contestant is fired at the end of each show. The winner will receive a one-year posting in New York as a communication expert for Israel At Heart, an advocacy group launched two years ago by businessman and Jewish philanthropist Joey Low.
Israel is serious about its image and an internal Foreign Ministry report, leaked recently to the media, warned that Israel’s standing could “deteriorate in the next decade to the level of South Africa during the apartheid.”
Joey Low has spent about $1 million since he started Israel at Heart two years ago. His efforts to improve Israel’s image have focused on “bringing groups of young, articulate and attractive post-army men and women from Israel to speak to college students across the US as well as in Europe and South America.” A natural outgrowth of this effort is the creation of the TV show, the Ambassador.
Low and his fellow travelers state that even though Israel has a very high approval rate in American opinion polls, they feel that support is on the “soft side.” Low stated, “The perception that Americans loved Israel was never true. They sort of liked Israel.” He did mention also, however, that Americans generally have negative views of Arabs.
So while AIPAC is spending over $30 million and has most of the US Congress eating out of its hand and Israel’s budget for worldwide hasbara is allegedly about $9 million, supporters are still not satisfied. The Ambassador TV show will try to assist the hasbara effort on another level. We will wait to see whether Nathan Lewin will represent Low’s efforts if the Ambassador TV show and Israel At Heart ever get into unexpected hot water.
