The American – Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is considered one of the most famous and powerful lobbies in Washington. On its website, it describes its role as merely to provide information to America’s decision makers. In addition to this, it claims to refrain from placing any kind of pressure upon American politicians to support Israel. Yet, last week, a federal jury in Alexandria, Virginia accused both Stephen Rosen and Keith Weissman of using their official positions to develop a relationship with an analyst in the US Department of Defense in order to gain access to secret information beneficial to foreign authorities. In reaction, AIPAC fired these high-ranking employees on the grounds of their involvement in espionage on behalf of Israel. It took this decision after two incidents in the past year where FBI agents broke into its offices due to this case.

In response, Daniel Ayalon, Israel’s ambassador to Washington, stated that Israel does not need to spy due to the already concentrated and strong cooperation between the two countries. On the other hand, Gigi Goldenberg, the editor – in – chief of the Jewish newspaper Forward, states that AIPAC exerts strong influence on America’s foreign affairs policy, trying hard to ensure that US’s decisions are in favor of the Israeli point of view particularly regarding the Middle East conflict and international affairs in general.

Details of the history and workings of AIPAC, which is considered one of the most powerful centers in the American political arena, follow in this issue of the Washington Report. Indeed, its power is directly related to its current activities all over the United States. There is no doubt that many powerful elements make up AIPAC and its many representative local offices outside of Washington. It is powerful elements such as these that guarantee the success of any political organization in the U.S. Indeed, the attendance of such important political personalities as Condoleezza Rice, Ariel Sharon, Hillary Clinton, and majority and minority leaders from the Senate and the House of Representatives including the Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert, at its annual meeting last summer attests to the great power of AIPAC.

 

Meanwhile, AIPAC still faces big challenges related to the espionage scandal surrounding two of its distinguished employees, Stephen Rosen –former policy director, and Keith Weissman – a former analyst, who were expelled after facing accusations of providing classified information about the U.S.’s policy towards Iran to an Israeli official and specialist in Iranian affairs. Yet, this is not the first time in which AIPAC has faced such pressures. It is worth noting that David Steiner, the former president of AIPAC, was forced to resign in the early nineties, after a recorded tape showcases his voice was brought forth as evidence that he was negotiating with the Clinton election campaign team to ensure the assignment of a supporter of Israel’s policies to the office of Secretary of State. Many opposing organizations consider this scandal as a kind of betrayal. However, many analysts view this incident as more proof of the strong relationship between this organization and America’s political decision makers. Indeed, it is a truly a committee whose relations are steered by its “administration”—in every sense of the word.

 

At its founding, its name was merely the American Relation Committee. As an institution, Sy Kenen officially established AIPAC in 1951. During this period, supporters of Israel were unable to conjure up assistance for the newly founded Zionist country from the U.S. Department of State. For this reason, they needed to convince the members of Congress to approve and authorize foreign assistance to Israel. Indeed, when Israel succeeded at defeating Arab troops, this institute began to draw the attention of the American political leaders. Consequently, the members of the political field complied with the institute developing American relationships with Israel and convinced that Israel was the U.S.’s best ally in the region due to its military strength and democratic principles.

Yet, the golden age of AIPAC’s development took place during Reagan’s presidency when its members increased from a mere 8,000 to 50,000 during the period from 1981 to 1993 in addition to the increase in its annual budget from one million to 15 million dollars. On the source of this funding, it either originates from Israeli-American parties or from the subscription fees and sales of the organization’s publications. It has been said that AIPAC even played such an important role in the eighties that it is credited with convincing Congress to authorize the amount of 3 billion dollars of annual assistance to Israel. In 1985, AIPAC further expanded by establishing its well-known think tank, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, to present research in favor of Israel’s position and its state security.

 

Today, as stated on its website, AIPAC has around 100,000 members across the U.S. and its meetings with US Congress members have risen to 2000 meetings annually. On average, these meetings lead to around one hundred laws in support of Israel. Also, its annual budget is somewhere near 40 million dollars and it includes a number of regional offices outside the U.S. capitol.

 

On the subject of its current objectives, AIPAC puts forth:

(a) preventing Iran from possessing nuclear weapons,

(b) supporting and securing Israel,

(c) defending Israel from future dangers,

(d) preparing a new generations of leaders in support of Israel, and

(e) increasing congressional awareness of American-Israeli relations.

 

It aims at achieving these objectives through a variety of different political activities such as holding talks with members of Congress and maintaining close relationships with them and establishing its own educational programs like an annual program designed to increase awareness of American- Israeli relations among American youth through a training course with specific activities focused on attracting US public support for issues related to Israel.

In addition to this, AIPAC publishes a bi-weekly magazine The Near East Report that focuses on the most important current events in American-Israeli relations. Its editor-in-chief, Dr. Raphael Danziger, also authored Abd Al Qadir and the Algerians: Resistance to the French and Internal Consolidation. And, while AIPAC presents many reports that supply prominent decision makers with information about developments in the Middle East and their impact on Israeli interests and its relationship with the United States, the objectivity of such documents is doubtful.

As mentioned previously, the most important of the institute’s activities is its annual conference that is considered the largest meeting of distinguished members of Washington’s society and includes the leaders of U.S. Congress in addition to prominent U.S. decision makers. This year alone, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, current U.S. Senator (NY) and former First Lady Hillary Clinton, and the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon all presented speeches to some 4000 attendees.

 

 

Yet, as documented on Spinwatch’s encyclopedia, AIPAC currently faces competition from opposing Jewish organizations such as the Israel Policy Forum whose director of policy analysis, M.J. Rosenberg, previously acted as the editor-in-chief of AIPAC’s The Near East Report. This organization accuses AIPAC of siding with conservative rightwing trends that are unrepresentative of public opinion in Israeli society.

Also, AIPAC is facing accusations from an organization called Council on National Interest, which was founded in 1989 by a former Congressman, Paul Findlay, and aims at changing the course of American policy by eliminating its prejudice for the Israeli side. The Council on National Interest has triggered a fierce campaign against AIPAC in response to the accusations of an espionage involving members of its organization.