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
