Is Young America Waking Up While Old America Sleeps?

California high school student explores his country's ties with Israel.

Designs by 7heVo1d The Scale Down (Orange and Pea) by Anthony Lawson Hooks by David Dees

(BANGKOK) - One of our regular contributors and good friend, Anthony Lawson, recently sent us an interesting article, which was, in turn, sent to him by a young Californian, Nicolaus Jannasch.

The article started out as a senior English-class project, and before writing it, Nicolaus had contacted Anthony to ask if he could include some quotes from a series of videos which Anthony has put together about AIPAC, over the past few years, as well as from some of his other videos about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

When Anthony read the article he was most impressed with the writer's grasp of the subject, as well as the way it was presented, and, as Anthony put it "... particularly considering that Nicolaus is only 18, and that so many older Americans, who should be far better informed are almost totally ignorant of the stranglehold that agents of a foreign nation have over the Congress of the United States of America, as well as over their tax dollars."

AIPAC: The Israeli Lobby
Nicolaus Jannasch
English 5
27 March 2012

Lobbying is defined as the act of attempting to influence decisions made by legislative officials in government. Though lobbying is not innately wrong, and has been helpful in allowing misrepresented peoples to contact politicians directly, it has largely been hijacked from its intended purpose by those with high levels of power, money, and influence. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is one example of how power can be taken away from the majority in order to help a small minority of people follow through with their own private undertakings. AIPAC, dubbed “The Lobby” in Washington, has had a large effect on American foreign policy by winning politician’s loyalty through various forms of funding in order to pass legislation beneficial to a small influential minority. This organization has had detrimental effects both in America as well as the Middle East, allowing for crimes against humanity in Palestine, the continuation of an aggressive apartheid state of Israel, and the legal thievery of tax dollars from citizens in the United States.

AIPAC states that one of its main goals is to “strengthen the ties between the United States and its ally Israel.” On AIPAC’s website, it also emphasizes how the relationship is beneficial to both nations equally. This, however, is far from the truth.

Between 1949 and 1996, Israel received over $68 billion dollars in aid from the United States. Since then they have received almost $2 billion every year in direct aid and plans are on the books for this aid to rise to over $3 billion each year up through 2018. This aid is in the form of grants and never has to be paid back (Sharp). Though this number itself is large, the amount of aid that goes to Israel is in no way limited to these grants.

On top of this aid the United States also gives Israel about $2.5 billion dollars in loans each year. Members of AIPAC and the Israeli government often point to the fact that Israel has never defaulted on one of these loans as proof that Israel deserves to continue receiving aid. This statement however is very misleading. Many loans given to Israel are forgiven, and for the minority that are not, AIPAC has largely influenced the passing of one piece of legislature to make sure Israel never defaults on a loan. The Cranston Amendment, passed in 1983, states that aid to Israel will never dip below the amount Israel will owe in loans for that fiscal year. Since then all aid to Israel has been, by a large margin, above the amount Israel owes in loans to the United States, giving the apartheid state a blank check to “borrow” as much money as it needs from the United States whenever a need arises. Israel also has a special privilege given to no other country in that it is given all of its aid money at the beginning of the year, allowing it to invest in U.S. Treasury notes and gain interest off of its investments with the United States government (Curtiss).

Israel has taken advantage of this extensive aid many times and will continue to do so in the future. In 2010, the United States announced that Israel will most likely purchase 20 F-35 fighter jets for the high price of $2.75 billion. If the Israeli cabinet approves this deal, it will be funded entirely by US taxpayer dollars. Obama has also stated his support for $205 million of appropriations to help Israel purchase the Iron Dome missile defense system. This system is capable of stopping missile and mortar threats and is sold by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, as a subcontractor to the Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), a private company that profits off of the weapons it sells. Unlike most countries, Israel is allowed to spend a portion of it’s aid inside it’s own borders allowing for private Israeli companies like IAI to profit largely from these transactions as well as allowing large sums of money to slip away from US control (Sharp). Additionally, Anthony Lawson displayed a diagram outlining that much of this uncontrollable aid goes directly to keeping the state of Palestine subverted as well as often coming back to Washington to fund the next campaigns of the politicians who voted favorably to increase it (Lawson).

How can politicians continue to make the argument that Israel is worthy of receiving these billions of dollars in aid each year? What could lead politicians like President Obama to state at AIPAC, only months before his presidential election, that “Israel’s security is sacrosanct, non-negotiable” and that America has an “unwavering friendship with Israel and an unshakable commitment to its security”? In his speech at AIPAC in 2008, Obama stated that America should continue to support Israel largely because of our “shared stories” as well as Israel’s shared goals of spreading liberty in the Middle East. If Israel truly had these goals, aid could largely be justified. In truth, Israel is responsible for some of the worst crimes against humanity in the Middle East. In the war of 1967, Israel illegally captured and kept control over two key areas, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Here, Palestinian refugees are treated as second class citizens, and crimes against humanity occur regularly in these Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). In his speech at AIPAC on March 4, 2012, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, stated that Israel is “the only place in the middle east where minorities enjoy full civil rights” (Netanyahu). Sadly, this is no more than a blatant lie to gain support for one of the world’s most apartheid nations.

Many independent groups document how the truth, especially in the Gaza Strip, is very different from the rosy image painted by Netanyahu. One of these highly reputable groups is the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) located in Gaza. On their website, they discuss many of the hardships Palestinians must deal with in their daily lives due to Israelis. One of these is how Israel takes many needed resources from Palestinians, largely decreasing the oppressed populations quality of life. There are 1.2 million Palestinians living inside the Gaza Strip, and only 6,000 Israeli settlers. This small group of settlers however, is given almost 42% of the Gaza Strips land on which to live. This leaves the 95.5% of the population that is Palestinian only 58% of the land they once had to live on, forcing many Palestinians into crowded refugee camps. Because of this, the average Israeli settler has 699 times the amount of land allowed to a Palestinian. Land remaining for Palestinians often has large bypasses, illegal for Palestinians to use, cutting through it in order to allow for high levels of Israeli traffic. Israelis have often blocked off the crossings of these bypasses, segregating populations of Palestinians and dividing families. On top of this vast land grab, between 2000 and 2005, Israeli Occupation Forces destroyed no less than 1,200 Palestinian housing units throughout the Gaza strip, rendering thousands homeless and destroying financial futures. Often, residents would be awakened in the middle of the night with only minutes notice to collect their possessions before the bulldozers would begin their work (PCHR).

Water in the OPT is also unfairly divided. About 88% of the renewable water resources from this region are diverted to Israel and its settlements. Palestinians are not allowed to dig new wells while Israeli settlers are allowed to do so at their own discretion. Because of this, water is often four times as expensive for Palestinians as it is for Israelis, made even worse due to the large differences in income between the two peoples (PCHR).

One of the most horrifying crimes committed by the Israeli government was Operation Cast Lead, a 22 day attack on Palestine occurring in January 2009. Though Israel explained this attack as an effort to find and kill members of the Hamas terrorist group, the damage they inflicted on everyday Palestinians was horrifying. Amnesty international condemns this operation as “22 Days of Death and Destruction” and has written a paper over 100 pages long explaining the cruelty that occurred during these attacks. They write that over 1,400 Palestinians were killed in these attacks, and that most likely over two thirds of them were uninvolved civilians. F-16 fighter jets were used to launch missiles and drop high altitude bombs into crowded civilian buildings, often killing families, relatives, and neighbors who had to flee from their own homes.

Though armed with the most advanced military technologies, Israel often fired imprecise weapons, such as mortars and highly incendiary white phosphorus bombs, on crowded civilian cities, causing widespread destruction and death. Over 300 children and 115 women were killed in this short period, a number that Amnesty International refuses to dismiss as “collateral damage.” During this assault, Israel and Egypt sealed off the borders of Gaza, effectively trapping civilians in the crossfire, and often barred ambulances and humanitarian organizations from going in to help injured civilians (Amnesty International).

Anthony Lawson has narrated, edited, and researched a video on Operation Cast Lead, the main dialogue of which was written by Joe Mowrey, a social justice activist who has made two trips to Palestine. Both of these men feel that Israel was working, not so much to secure its safety from the Hamas terrorist group, but more to subvert the Palestinian people largely through destruction of their infrastructure. Mowrey reports that fliers were dropped on many cities before the attacks were commenced warning of the impending destruction, strongly disproving the Israeli claim that these bombings were meant to be a surprise to Hamas terrorists who could easily have left when the news of the attacks arrived. He states that during this attack Israel destroyed about 15% of all structures in Gaza using weapons built and financed by the United States.

Some 53,000 houses received some kind of damage and at least 21,000 buildings, 280 schools, 200 factories, 700 businesses, 8 hospitals, 26 primary health clinics, and large numbers of both sewage treatment and electricity plants, were destroyed or severely damaged during this period. The destruction of this vital infrastructure did not help Israelis in any way to track down or kill members of Hamas, raising large questions about their real intentions in Gaza. This destruction is made worse due to the fact that for years before the attack, and still today, both Egypt and Israel do not let building supplies into Gaza, forcing civilians to build homes out of mud bricks and whatever they can salvage from the rubble, and virtually halting all reconstruction in the area. (Lawson)

How does AIPAC keep congressmen, senators, and the president all in favor of sending aid to Israel in the face of such blatant crimes against humanity? One of the key ways is through the large campaign contributions AIPAC procures for politicians running for office. Campaigning in America required huge sums of money, largely due to the cost of advertisements on the radio and television. It is nearly impossible to be elected without raising a substantial amount of money and the sad truth is that because of this, politicians are usually on the lookout for the necessary funds to fuel their campaigns.

Many lobbies take advantage of this fact to control who gets into office and therefore which bills get passed, and AIPAC participates in this activity notoriously. Through controlling who gets campaign money, AIPAC has become one of the most powerful lobbies on Capitol Hill, largely controlling who gets elected and making sure they vote in favor of Israeli interests. Those who lose AIPAC’s favor will also lose their funding and will often be cycled out during the next election (Lawson).

There have been many regulations put in place to stop powerful organizations like AIPAC from having such effects in campaigns, but AIPAC has found a way to avoid them. One regulation meant to keep PACs on a level playing field states that no single PAC can give more than $10,000 to any candidates campaign. However, Richard Curtiss explains that AIPAC has been able to easily dodge this regulation by creating a swarm of sub-PACs, all of whom obey AIPAC and each of whom can give $10,000 to any campaign. He tells how these sub-PACs are often purposefully hidden to the public, going by such deceptive names as the Arizona Cactus PAC, the Wisconsin Beaver PAC, and the Delaware Valley Good Government Association. He reveals that there are no less than 125 PACs associated with AIPAC and that at least 50 have been active in every major election in the past 30 years (Curtiss). With these sub-PACs, money can be allocated to obedient candidates in amounts that can largely swing an election. Politicians readily accept this money, often for fear that their opponent will accept it instead. They will then usually follow through with their obligations to AIPAC once in office knowing that the cycle will begin again once the next election comes around. Most of those who have heavily benefited financially from AIPAC have been those most aggressively supporting Israel and denouncing Palestine. One key beneficiary is Senator Joe Lieberman. He has received over $2.2 million from AIPAC and is a strong supporter of Israel keeping its 1967 borders as well as an outspoken opponent to Palestine gaining statehood in the United Nations. Another beneficiary is John McCain of Arizona. He has received over $1.1 million from AIPAC and strongly opposed Palestinian efforts to acquire U.N. statehood. There are many others who have received upwards of $500,000 from AIPAC, all of whom have shown very powerful pro-Israel tendencies. (Annenberg News 21)

Another way AIPAC influences politicians in Washington is through the it’s affiliated organization, the American Israel Education Fund (AIEF). This organization funds educational trips for congressmen to visit Israel in order to learn about the culture. On these trips, practically vacations, they will go to seminars explaining why the United States should remain a strong supporter of Israel. Of course while there they will also stay in some of the most expensive resorts in Israel while eating thousands of dollars worth of exquisite foods during their one-week stays. These trips have been extremely expensive, some of the most lavish being in the range of $25,000 for a seven day stay. Senator Jerry Moran, a republican from Kansas who took one $28,000 trip, documented that his wife’s meals, paid for completely by the AIEF, ran up a bill of over $4000. Many politicians who have gone on such expensive trips have become some of the most avid supporters of Israel. Moran for one, co-sponsored a resolution to support Israel’s rights to its violently acquired 1967 borders as well as a resolution to instruct Palestine to stop its statehood efforts at the U.N. Others who have taken this lavish trip include Senator Barasso from New Jersey who passed a resolution that Israel should not return to its 67’ borders, Representative Geoffrey Davis from Kentucky who passed a resolution in support of Israel’s brutal 3 week bombing of Palestinian civilians, and Representative Michale Ferguson from New Jersey who has stated that Israel is one of the United States closest allies. Between 2000 and 2011 alone, AIEF has spent more the $5,000,000 on such expenditures, sending legislators on no less than 575 of these so called educational trips (Annenberg News 21).

Through it’s allocation of funds, AIPAC has been able to keep huge amounts of largely military aid headed for the apartheid Israeli state in spite of continuous humanitarian crimes occurring in Palestine. Especially now, with America poised to follow Israel into a possible war with Iran, it is shocking that many Americans either do not know or feel no need to voice their opinions on these concerns. In the face of brutalities towards Palestinians, the list of which extends drastically beyond the content of this paper, it is morally wrong for the United States to support it’s so-called ally Israel and sad that through political maneuvers a small group of individuals have been able to effectively hijack the United States government. As the taxpayer-funded aid continues to grow it is shocking that so few Americans are knowledgeable enough or willing enough to address this issue.

Works Cited

• "AIPAC: America's Pro Israel Lobby." News 21. Annenberg News 21, n.d. Web. 10 Feb 2012. http://usc.news21.com/madeline/home
• Curtiss, Richard. "The Cost of Israel to US Taxpayers." If Americans Knew. Washington Report, n.d. Web. 16 Feb 2012.
• "Israel/Gaza Operation 'Cast Lead': 22 Days of Death and Destruction." Amnesty International. Amnesty International Publications, 2009. Web. 18 Mar 2012.
• Lawson, Anthony, writ. Gaza in Plain Language—Revisited. Honoring the March to Gaza. Now on March 4th, 2011. Film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOZZ5zGAWKE
• Lawson, Anthony, writ. AIPAC: The Voice of America — Part 1: The Orange and the Pea. 2011. Film. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOZZ5zGAWKE
• Netanyahu, Benjamin. "2012 AIPAC Speech." AIPAC annual meeting. American Israeli Public Affairs Committee . Washington DC. 4 March 2012 Speech.
• Obama, Barack. "Barack Obama at AIPAC." AIPAC annual meeting.
• BarackObamadotcom. Washington DC. 04 Jun 2008. Speech.
• Sharp, Jeremy. United States. Congressional Research Service. U.S. Foreign Aid to Israel. 2010. Web.
• "Welcome to Gaza, An Introduction to Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories." Palestinian Centre for Human Rights.
• Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, 29 Jul 2003. Web. 16 Feb 2012.

You can write to Nicolaus Jannasch at: 'nweb2@mac.com'