The Zionist Supremacist American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) controls not only Members of Congress but also Gentile journalists, a new report in a Jewish newspaper has revealed.
An article in the Jewish Daily Forward, titled “Laughs Aside, Junkets Raise Serious Issues,” based on the story about Congressman Kevin Yoder who went swimming naked while on a trip to Israel, pointed out that such free trips are not limited to lawmakers.
The report focuses on the operations of the American Israel Education Foundation (AIEF), an AIPAC offshoot which funds Congressional trips to Israel, but their propaganda efforts are not just directed at the so-called representatives of the American people; they also manipulate the media.
AIEF takes more than just members of Congress on trips to Israel; it takes journalists, too, on a regular basis. Discussing the latest Sea of Galilee events, Chris Matthews host of MSNBC’s “Hardball,” said on August 20: “I’ve been there a number of times, a trip sponsored by a pro-Israel group, Jewish group, very educational trips. They show you a lot about the geography of the land and the situation they’re facing with the Palestinians.”
A spokesman for AIEF would not provide details on the number of reporters hosted by the group in Israel, but there are estimates based on reports of participants indicating that dozens of journalists have participated in pro-Israel junkets throughout the years.
“It’s a super-effective strategy,” said David Plotz, editor-in-chief of the online magazine Slate. Plotz attended an AIEF trip in 2007. He noted that while the junket was “incredible fun,” with business class travel and fancy hotels, organizers packed the agenda with informative tours and “amazing interesting people,” including Israeli President Shimon Peres, top officers of the Israel Defense Forces and a senior Palestinian representative.
Participants were free to quiz their hosts and to pose tough questions, but still, Plotz said he left Israel with the impression that “Gaza is a mess, the [security] wall is serving its purpose and that — oh, my God — Iran is six months away from nuclear weapons.”
The article also reveals that “FBI agents came around asking questions of some members of Congress after the tour of 30 Republican lawmakers, sponsored by the American Israel Education Foundation, as the offshoot is known. But as it turns out, the FBI was after bigger fish than Yoder.
“Their probe, according to several reports, was aimed at another participant in the delegation, Republican Michael Grimm of New York. Grimm, a subject of federal investigation into his campaign financing, continued from Israel to another privately sponsored trip, to nearby Cyprus.
“For Grimm, public focus on the visit to Israel and the FBI investigation came at a time of other troubling news. Ofer Biton, one of his top fundraisers, was arrested for immigration fraud on August 17. The arrest of Biton, who was also once a prominent aide to Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto, a controversial Israeli kabbalist, was widely viewed as an attempt to pressure Biton into testifying against Grimm.
The Sea of Galilee incident also highlighted the major role played by the AIEF in cultivating a pro-Israel Congress by taking lawmakers to the Zionist state on fully funded VIP missions.
Congress reformed rules governing such privately sponsored trips for members in 2007. The new regulations require advance approval of a trip by the House Committee on Ethics and a full report on expenses once the trip is completed. It forbids participating in trips that lobby organizations are sponsoring to limit their undue influence on lawmakers. But the rules allow for trips to be paid for by charitable organizations, such as AIEF, even if they are closely affiliated with a lobbying group, as AIEF is with AIPAC.
AIEF was set up in 1990 as an organization that is separate yet affiliated with AIPAC. Founded as a tax-exempt and tax-deductible public charity according to provision 501(c)(3) of America’s tax code, AIEF draws its top management and board members from those who run AIPAC. The group also gets the lion’s share of its funding in the form of a grant from AIPAC. Yet, AIEF itself is not a lobbying organization and as such is allowed to sponsor tours for members of Congress, in accordance with congressional ethics rules. In 2009, AIEF raised more than $26 million and used the funds for educational programs and for funding travel to Israel.
AIEF is the largest sponsor anywhere of congressional travel, spending more than $1 million a year to send representatives and their staff members to Israel, according to disclosure forms filed with the House Ethics Committee. Most travel is scheduled for odd years, when members are not busy with their re-election campaigns. Last summer, 81 House members traveled to Israel in August. AIEF’s average cost for sending a member of Congress to Israel is about $10,000.
