- 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
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- The Finest Senate That Money Can Buy
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- Author Unknown
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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".
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- 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".
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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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