Senator Biden Criticizes AIPAC; JFK Wanted AIPAC Members to Register as Foreign Agents

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enator Biden Wrong: AIPAC Does Represent the Government of Israel - IRmep

Last update: 9:29 a.m. EDT Sept. 5, 2008
WASHINGTON, Sep 05, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Joe Biden publicly chastised the American Israel Public Affairs Committee on Wednesday. Accused of not backing AIPAC sponsored legislation, Biden told reporters, "They think they know the Senate better than I do. They don't know the Senate better than I do...AIPAC does not speak for the State of Israel."
The outspoken Senator Biden, often compared to president John F. Kennedy, is wrong. Newly declassified documents reveal that before his death, JFK's most pressing concerns were registering the Israel lobby as foreign government agents and inspections of the Israeli nuclear weapons program.
Isaiah L. Kenen worked as the registered foreign agent of the Israeli Ministry of Affairs in New York until he established what would become AIPAC in 1951. In his words, Kenen left because "Israelis began looking for a lobbyist to promote the necessary legislation...would I leave the Israeli delegation for six months to lobby for aid on Capitol Hill?"
When Kenen told the Justice Department's Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) office he was leaving to perform public relations for the Israeli Government, he was advised to re-register. Kenen never did, even as he founded and distributed the Near East Report lobbying newsletter with $38,000 in Israeli funds.
Senator J.W. Fulbright and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy discovered the same Israeli organization funneled millions for stealth lobbying and public relations activities into the US. This lobbying for massive foreign aid to Israel succeeded despite lack of broad American taxpayer support. The US Attorney General ordered the Israel lobby to register as the agent of a foreign government in 1962.
Observers of the Biden-AIPAC showdown can review select declassified documents from the new book, "America's Defense Line: The Justice Department's Battle to Register the Israel Lobby as Agents of a Foreign Government" at http://irmep.org/fara.htm. AIPAC, the current regeneration of the Israel lobby, still refuses to register.
"America's Defense Line" is available at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, MiddleEastBooks.com and other fine bookstores. The book's ISBN number is 0-9764437-2-4.
About the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy, Inc.,
http://www.IRmep.org: IRmep is a Washington-based nonprofit that studies US policy formulation toward the Middle East. IRmep's Center for Policy & Law Enforcement examines how balanced and vigorous law enforcement can improve trade, economic development and America's international standing.
SOURCE Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy