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Israel Lobby Archive News

08/14/2020
Virginia Israel Advisory Board Deal Improper Says IG
On May 1, 2020, the Virginia Office of the State Inspector General formally notified the Secretary of Commerce and Trade of improper financial dealings between the Virginia Israel Advisory Board’s vice chairman and the executive director of the Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission. According to the notification, the action was initiated following a whistleblower complaint to the state fraud, waste and abuse hotline.

06/12/2020
AIPAC Junket Spawned 'Project Jonah'
...Working in tandem, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and the Virginia Israel Advisory Board (VIAB) targeted these state funding pools to benefit an Israeli aquaculture company. The VIAB-led effort to direct growing amounts of Virginia state funds into Israeli corporations mirrors AIPAC’s success in diverting the lion’s share of the U.S. foreign aid budget to Israel’s military...

06/02/2020
Why Wasn't Netanyahu Ever Indicted in the US?
...However, other documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act from the FBI in 2012 and additional Department of Homeland Security files released in 2017 reveal that Milchan's involvement in a nuclear weapons technology smuggling ring targeting the United States may have generated the State Department red flag.

The files reveal that Milchan, Netanyahu and American scientist Richard Kelly Smyth in the 1980s unlawfully smuggled 15 shipments containing 810 nuclear weapons triggers out of the United States to the Israeli Ministry of Defense through a network of Milchan companies. Only Smyth was ever indicted and prosecuted.

January February 2020
Partners in Corruption: The Virginia Israel Advisory Board and the Tobacco Commission
THIS SUMMER Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission Executive Director Evan Feinman struck a corrupt deal with Virginia Israel Advisory Board (VIAB) Vice Chairman Charles Lessin. Virginians emerged with $210,000 less in funding for legitimate economic development initiatives, even as VIAB forges even bigger deals to benefit Israeli companies. Other Israeli recipients of VIAB-orchestrated state grants include Sabra Dipping Company, AquaMaof, Energix, Alony Hetz and military contractor Oran Safety Glass.

02/29/2020
New Revelations: The Virginia Israel Advisory Board
Grant F. Smith of the Institute for Research for Research: Middle Eastern Policy discusses the findings of his new book, The Israel Lobby Enters State Government: Rise of the Virginia Israel Advisory Board

02/19/2020
Chesapeake should revoke Energix solar energy permits over UN designated human rights concerns
IRmep recommends the City of Chesapeake revoke its conditional use permit issued to Caden-Energix Hickory to build a 32 megawatt solar energy facility.

02/04/2020 Former Air Force Secretary pitches $100k "shark tank" swipes to Israeli military contractors - Virginia Israel Advisory Board confab entwines Israeli military contractors and DoD
Tysons Corner, VA--The premise of ABC’s business reality television series “Shark Tank” is simple. Celebrity investor “sharks” hear proposals from contestants pitching new product ideas. Winning ideas receive funding. Pitches that fall short are ripped to bloody shreds to the delight of mass audiences. How will the concept work for Israeli military contractors now that the U.S. Air Force has its own shark tank? According to Deborah Lee James, former Secretary of the U.S. Air Force, small military contractors can immediately get a $100,000 credit card swipe after successfully making a quick pitch.

01/2020 Partners in Corruption: The Virginia Israel Advisory Board and the Tobacco Commission
This summer Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission Executive Director Evan Feinman struck a corrupt deal with Virginia Israel Advisory Board (VIAB) Vice Chairman Charles Lessin. Virginians emerged with $210,000 less in funding for legitimate economic development initiatives, even as VIAB forges even bigger deals to benefit Israeli companies. Other Israeli recipients of VIAB-orchestrated state grants include Sabra Dipping Company, AquaMaof, Energix, Alony Hetz and military contractor Oran Safety Glass.

11/19/2019
Gov Northam visit to Israel deepens Virginia's human rights and trade deficit
The Virginia Coalition for Human Rights (VCHR) protests Governor Ralph Northam's November 16 trade delegation to Israel. The visit ignores Israel's growing human rights abuses and runs counter to the Commonwealth's International Trade Strategic Plan to expand trade output by 50 percent over the next 15 years.

10/23/2018
Virginians oppose taxpayer subsidies for Israeli business projects - VCHR
A plurality of Virginians (38.1%) favor ending taxpayer funding for Israeli business ventures in the commonwealth according to a Virginia Coalition for Human Rights (VCHR) poll fielded by Google Surveys.

04/16/2018
Israel advocacy groups demand questionable changes to Virginia textbooks - IRmep
A consortium of state and national Israel advocacy groups has sent a detailed set of requested changes to textbooks and teaching guides used in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

01/07/2017
Beholden to Israel and AIPAC even before running for office. YouTube video combining a fundraiser's insights with the Israel Lobby Archive's findings about the AZC battle against a Justice Department FARA order.

11/16/2017 Former National Security Division Chief Lisa Monaco asked to respond to Israel Lobby Archive obtained files revealing the AZC/ AIPAC was ordered to register as an Israeli foreign agent in 1963.

11/12/2016
YouTube video of key Israel Lobby Archive findings at the College of St Olaf.

09/08/2015
CIA releases files bout illegal weapons-grade uranium diversions from US to Israel - IRmep
The Central Intelligence Agency released 130 pages of reports, memos and other files about the 1960s diversion of weapons-grade uranium to Israel from the Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation NUMEC formerly headquartered in Apollo, Pennsylvania. (PDF of CIA files and release statement). The August 31 CIA release came in response to a lawsuit (Lawsuit PDF) filed by the director of the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy (IRmep) on February 13, 2015.

03/27/2014
Secrets about Israeli theft of U.S. weapons-grade nuclear material declassified - IRmep
On March 18, 2014 ISCAP, the highest declassification authority in the U.S., released 84 pages (PDF) of formerly secret information about investigations into the illegal diversion of weapons-grade nuclear material from a Pennsylvania plant into the clandestine Israeli nuclear weapons program. 

11/23/2013
WSJ NUMEC report "Mystery Remains on Missing Uranium" fails readers
The November 22, 2013 Wall Street Journal report by John R. Emshwiller attempts to update readers about the story of a 1960s Israeli diversion of nuclear materials from a uranium processor in Pennsylvania.  Like most reporting on the "NUMEC" or "Apollo" affair, it fails to tackle the key questions, or elaborate on why the government's decades-long cover-up of the affair is so damaging to American credibility and governance.  Belowis IRmep's elaboration on points the Wall Street Journal's report (in red)failed to explore and links to accurate source material.

05/17/2013
FBI files reveal ADL's long history spying on peace, pro-Palestinian and Arab diplomatic groups

FBI files about the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) have been released under the Freedom of Information Act. Now online at the Israel Lobby Archive, they reveal tactics of ADL operatives working undercover to infiltrate and neutralize groups the ADL deemed subversive or hostile to Israel. Files also reveal the ADL's long-term —and often unsuccessful—efforts to forge and leverage and publicize formal liaisons with the FBI.

04/03/2013
FBI files: "Hank" Greenspun parlayed profits from Israel arms smuggling into Las Vegas media empire

A 1952 FBI file reveals that after being indicted a second time for violating the Neutrality Act, Greenspun traveled to Washingtonand contacted Seth Solomon Pope .  An earlier criminal proceeding ended when smuggling defendants during the trial contacted a juror who became the only vote against conviction. Pope worked in Hawaii at the War Assets Administration, in charge of decommissioning and selling off WWII surplus. Pope was investigated on three occasions for fraudulent sales of war materiel. Greenspun and associates stole 58 crates of .30 and .50 caliber machine guns from the U.S. Navy and smuggled them from Honolulu through Mexico to Jewish fighters in Palestine in the late 1940s. After Pope transferred to the General Services Administration in Washington, Greenspun offered $25,000 to Pope "or anyone else designated by Pope" to "quash" a second Neutrality Act indictment against Greenspun. The effort failed and Greenspun was convicted of a felony and forced to pay $10,000...

03/05/2013
FBI Counterespionage video release reopens concerns about Israel Aerospace Industries
On March 21, 2012 U.S. prosecutors played FBI surveillance video in court of former NASA employee Stewart Nozette agreeing to sell U.S. government secrets to Israel.  Nozette was then sentenced to thirteen years in prison.  The FBI surveillance video, obtained by IRmep under the Freedom of Information Act, is now available on YouTube and Vimeo. An imperfect redaction reveals Nozette appearing to say he sold classified U.S. government information to "Israeli Aircraft," also known as Israel Aerospace Industries and IAI...

11/21/2012
ZOA ordered to register as Israeli foreign agent sevent times - declassified Justice Department Files
The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) was ordered on seven separate occasions to register under the 1938 Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) according to newly declassified Department of Justice (DOJ) files. On October 17, 2012 the National Archives and Records Administration released under FOIA the long-secret files, now available online at the Israel Lobby Archive.

07/28/2012
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu Linked to Nuclear Technology Smuggling Ring

The FBI partially declassified and released files linking Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to a nuclear technology smuggling ring that targeted the United States.

06/27/2012
DIA's internal Jonathan Pollard briefing video can help organizations detect Israeli espionage

The U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency has just released an internal briefing video that is now available online on both Vimeo and Youtube. TheIRmep Center for Policy and Law Enforcement obtained release under the Freedom of Information Act. Jonathan Pollard was sentenced to life in prison in 1987 after he was caught selling large amounts of highly classified documents to Israel. The 14 minute video "Jonathan Pollard: A Portrayal" produced by the Threat Countermeasures Branch of the DIA emphasizes that "eighty percent" of the documents obtained by Pollard were DIA files.

05/04/2012
US Weapons-Grade Uranium Diverted to Israel: Secret NUMEC Investigation Files Now Online
PRNewswire – Washington, DC Declassified files from long-running investigations of the Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation (NUMEC) over alleged illegal diversions of US government-owned weapons-grade uranium to Israel are now available online at http://www.IRmep.org/ila/numec

03/22/2012
800 Nuclear Triggers Smuggled to Israel, Mastermind Untouchabe - Secret FBI Files
An espionage ring smuggled 800 krytrons to the Israeli Ministry of Defense for use in the clandestine Israeli nuclear weapons program according to newly declassified FBI files. The secret documents were originally scheduled for public release in the year 2036, but were obtained under appeal to the Justice Department by the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy (IRmep).  The documents available online athttp://www.IRmep.org/ila/krytrons reveal new details about the failed effort to indict the nuclear smuggling ring's masterminds.

02/28/2012
Mossad Chief Set AIPAC Founder's First Public Relations Priorities -- Declassified FBI Files
Declassified FBI files reveal details of the founder of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's (AIPAC) early coordination with the head of Mossad and the Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs. The 198-page file, released under the Freedom of Information Act to the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy (IRmep), is now on the Internet at: http://www.IRmep.org/ila/kenen

02/06/2012
AIPAC Director's Use of Classified Missile Data Harmed National Security - US State Department
Newly released US Department of State investigation files reveal how the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's (AIPAC) acquisition of classified US national defense information harmed national security. (Web documents) In 1976 the Ford administration proposed selling improved Hawk anti-aircraft missiles to Jordan. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee received a classified Department of Defense notification of sale. AIPAC's Director Morris Amitay reviewed the classified document after being informed "secretly by aides of Senator Clifford P. Case, Republican of New Jersey, and Representative Jonathan B. Bingham, Democrat of New York" according to the New York Times.

12/13/2011
Secret trade report obtained by AIPAC and Israel compromised sensitive US industry secrets
Following a three year Freedom of Information Act battle, US Trade Ambassador Ron Kirk has been forced to publicly release a secret report about America's first bilateral trade agreement. The 1984 report predicted which US industries would be most harmed by massive trade preferences for Israel.

11/23/2011
Illicit Israeli Military Technology Transfers Continued Amidst US State Department Infighting - Audit
A newly declassified US Department of State report obtained by the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy (IRmep) reveals how political infighting and turf battles undermined efforts to reign in illicit Israeli transfers of sensitive US military technology. In March of 1992 US State Department inspector general Sherman Funk issued his "Report of Audit" about efforts to stem illegal Israeli transfers of US military technology. The report found Israel "is systematically violating U.S. arms control laws." America's "Blue Lantern" system conducted in-country inspections by deploying Customs officials and other qualified US embassy personnel to verify that "sensitive U.S. Munitions List items and technology are used only for authorized purposes."

09/20/2011
Secret CIA/FBI files of NUMEC nuclear diversions to Israel could aid $170 million toxic cleanup
Recently declassified wiretap transcripts of conversations between Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation (NUMEC) founder Zalman Shapiro and venture capitalist David Lowenthal reveal that illegal storage practices led to a dangerous nuclear spill. Obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by IRmep's Center for Policy and Law Enforcement, the files were heavily censored by the Central Intelligence Agency which blocked release of 225 pages.

05/24/2011
$6.64 Billion Damages Sought over Israeli Government and AIPAC Use of Stolen Classified US Trade Data
Today the Section 301 Committee of the US Trade Representative formally received a petition demanding $6.64 billion in compensation for US exporters. In 1984 US exporters were urged to submit business confidential data about their prices, market share, internal costs and market strategy to the International Trade Commission. The USTR guaranteed confidentiality and compiled the data into a classified report for use in negotiating the US-Israel Free Trade Agreement.

03/07/2011
Israel lobbyist funds US Presidents, Israeli Nukes, AIPAC disinformation
FBI files released under the Freedom of Information Act unveil new details about the life of influential lobbyist Abraham Feinberg (1908-1998). Feinberg is best known for funding President Harry S Truman's "whistle stop" campaign, saving Truman's 1948 election campaign from almost certain defeat. In an interview, Feinberg summarized his long success in Democratic Party politics: "My path to power was cooperation in terms of what they needed—campaign money."

According to new histories of Israel's clandestine nuclear weapons program including "Israel and the Bomb" by Avner Cohen (1998), Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion secretly named Feinberg his chief nuclear weapons fundraising coordinator in 1958. According to Michael Karpin's "The Bomb in the Basement" (2007) Feinberg and 25 others contributed $40 million to the Israeli nuclear weapons program against opposition from presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy.

11/09/2010
Israeli False Flag Attack on U.S. Motivated 1963 Senate Investigation - Newly Declassified Files
Fears of false flag and foreign funded covert operations designed to influence U.S. policy drove the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to launch exhaustive investigations and call for warranted enforcement of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). A newly declassified March 17, 1961 memo unsealed and released by the National Archives and Records Administration on October 21, 2010 outlined the Senate's rationale for investigating Israel lobbying groups and other foreign agents active across the United States.

08/18/2010
Declassified Senate Investigation Files Reveal Clandestine Israeli PR Campaign in America
Declassified files from a Senate investigation into Israeli-funded covert public relations and lobbying activity in the United States were released by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) on July 23rd, 2010.  The subpoenaed documents reveal Israel's clandestine programs for "cultivation of editors," the "stimulation and placement of suitable articles in the major consumer magazines" as well as U.S. reporting about sensitive subjects such as the Dimona nuclear weapons facility.

07/06/2010
Senator Pressures NRC to Clear NUMEC President of Illegal Uranium Diversions to Israel
The office of Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania attempted to obtain a statement from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission according to documents newly released under the Freedom of Information Act. On August 27, 2009, Arlen Specter wrote to Rebecca Schmidt asking that the NRC "issue a formal public statement confirming that he [constituent Zalman Shapiro] was not involved in any activities related to the diversion of uranium to Israel."

03/10/2010
New FBI Files Alleging AIPAC Theft of Government Property and Israeli Espionage Released
Declassified files detailing an FBI investigation targeting the American Israel Public Affairs Committee are now available on the Internet.  AIPAC was investigated after it acquired and circulated classified government information provided in strict confidence by US industry and worker groups opposed to AIPAC sponsored economic legislation.

02/04/2010
AIPAC Officials Duplicated Classified Policy Documents Before Returning to US Government - IRmep.
Top officials of the American Israel Public Affairs Those public information, command information, and community relations activities directed toward both the external and internal publics with interest in the Department of Defense. Also called PA. See also command information; community relations; public information. Committee duplicated a stolen classified US government policy document before returning it under order of the US Trade Representative.


11/16/2009
AIPAC Received Classified US Trade Docs from Israeli Embassy
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 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.

11/06/2009
Declassified FBI File Alleges an Israeli Intelligence Agent Worked at AIPAC
An agent of the Israeli intelligence service worked on the staff of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) according to a newly declassified FBI file. An August 13, 1984 secret communication from the FBI Washington Field Office (WFO) to the FBI director states, "WFO files disclose that AIPAC is a powerful pro-Israel lobbying group staffed by U.S. citizens. WFO files contain an unsubstantiated allegation that a member of the Israeli Intelligence Service was a staff member of AIPAC."

04/09/2009
Dennis Ross sidelined at State over his foreign agent status with Israel

...
In January of this year, the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy (IRmep) issued a press release on Ross and the JPPPI and its predecessor Israeli government-funded operations in the United States. IRmep stated: “In the 1960s the Senate Foreign Relations Committee uncovered a network of stealth Jewish Agency ‘conduits’ financing grassroots Israel lobby start up groups through the American Zionist Council (AZC). During 1963 hearings the Senate revealed the equivalent of $35 million went toward U.S. lobbying, including $38,000 to American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) founder Isaiah Kenen between 1960-1961.”

In November 1962, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy required the AZC to register as a foreign agent pursuant to the 1938 Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). The AZC shut down and transferred its lobbying activities to AIPAC.  Ross never registered as a foreign agent under FARA after becoming chairman of the Jewish Agency-funded JPPPI in 2002. Ross’ failure to declare himself as an agent of the Israeli government contributed, in part, to Clinton’s decision to remove his Iran portfolio.

03/31/2009
Israeli Nuclear Arsenal Prohibits US Foreign Aid Under Symington Amendment

...The declassified US Army report titled "The Joint Operating Environment 2008" identifies Israel as a nuclear weapons power. Specifically the US Army highlights "a growing arc of nuclear powers running from Israel in the west through an emerging Iran to Pakistan, India, and on to China, North Korea, and Russia in the east." Jimmy Carter became the first former President to confirm in 2008 that Israel has secretly financed, developed and deployed an undeclared arsenal of nuclear weapons.

The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 as amended by the Symington Amendment of 1976 and the Glenn Amendment of 1977 prohibit US military assistance to countries that acquire or transfer nuclear reprocessing technology outside of international nonproliferation regimes. Israel, unlike Iran, is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. If Congress wishes to provide US taxpayer funded foreign aid to Israel in compliance with US law, it may do so only under a special waiver from the office of the President as in the case for Pakistan.

02/23/2009
Documents Reveal AIPAC Trade Secrets Leak Leading to $71 Billion Export Loss

...Since the agreement was signed in 1985, US trade with Israel shifted from surplus to a cumulative $71 billion deficit (adjusted for inflation). The 2008 $7.8 billion deficit with Israel was equivalent to 126,000 US manufacturing related jobs. It is the only bilateral FTA producing multi-billion dollar losses to the US every year for the last decade but total losses are still unknown. According to IRmep director Grant F. Smith the agreement was the beginning of a chain reaction of intellectual property theft documented by industry associations and US counterintelligence agencies: "US corporations were betrayed by the leaks of their intellectual property during treaty negotiations in 1984. US pharmaceutical, defense and other industries continue to lose billions in revenue to Israeli copy-cat merchandise. We are only beginning to fully understand the larger impact of AIPAC and the Israeli government's ongoing acquisition of classified US information."

01/29/2009
Dennis Ross Chairmanship of Israeli Government Funded Think Tank Could Torpedo Iran Envoy Job

...Since 2002 former American diplomat Dennis Ross has filed no FARA activity declarations. This could be a problem according to IRmep director Grant F. Smith. "The US Department of Justice has always asked US recipients of Jewish Agency funding -- whether the American Zionist Council and its US executives, or the Jewish Agency's New York office -- to register as agents of a foreign principal. With US-Iran diplomacy and restoration of productive relations looming so urgently, now is certainly not the time to resurrect foreign agent registration battles."

12/22/2008
DOJ and Treasury Rebuff Calls to Investigate Alleged $60 Billion Israel Money Laundering Ring

...since 2005 the leadership of the US Treasury Department's Internal Revenue Service and Terrorism and Financial Intelligence units have repeatedly rebuffed requests for investigation and related inquiries. For three years the Department of Justice Counterterrorism Section, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and New York based US Attorneys have formally refused to show investigatory interest in these publicly substantiated money laundering allegations.

11/24/2008
AIPAC Founder's Newly Declassified Foreign Agent File Reveals Shift to Stealth Lobbying

Six decades ago Americans working as registered Israeli foreign agents launched New York, Washington and Los Angeles "Israel Office of Information (IOI)" branches. Newly declassified records document IOI actions that forever changed foreign government lobbying on Capitol Hill as IOI director Isaiah L. Kenen shifted Israel lobbying away from FARA oversight into stealth foreign lobbying from the American Zionist Council.

10/27/2008
Declassified Papers: DOJ Accepted AIPAC Parent's Demand for Secrecy

Papers kept secret for 43 years show that the US Department of Justice attempted to register the parent organization of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, as the foreign agent of Israel. Such a registration could have changed the course of Middle East history by giving the president, State Department and American public more insight and leverage over the Israel lobby during peace negotiations to compensate displaced Palestinians and avert Israel's covert development of nuclear weapons. How the subversion of law enforcement and oversight corrupts governance in the US.

10/1/2008
The Lobby and the Patriot's Predicament

How the subversion of law enforcement and oversight corrupts governance in the US.

09/16/2008
From Irgun to AIPAC: Israel Lobby's US Treasury Follies Hurt

A historical perspective on the Israel lobby's actions reveals how the US Treasury Department is used against the interests of the American people.

08/20/2008
Declassified Old Documents Shed New Light on AIPAC Espionage Prosecution

How the subversion of law enforcement and oversight corrupts the US political process.

06/06/2008
AIPAC report reveals long history of activities harmful to U.S.

A historical review of the AIPAC Near East Report's attempts to divert attention away from Israel's nuclear program, the corrupted trade agreement, and election fraud in the California senate race.

 

 
 
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