Former AIPAC Staff Member Says It Should Register As A Foreign Agent

The American Israel Public Affairs committee (AIPAC) should register as a foreign agent, argues former AIPAC Staff member M.J. Rosenberg in The Forward (March 2, 2018). He notes that, “Every foreign government represented in Washington by foreign agents must register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Under its terms, the country in question is absolutely banned from participating in or influencing American elections. every contact the agents have with Congress must be reported to the Department of Justice...But it does not apply to the Israel lobby as represented by AIPAC, which is heavily involved in our political system, funding candidates who are perceived to be ‘, good for Israel, ’ and defunding incumbents who fail to subscribe to the favored foreign state’s agenda.”

WAIPAC gets away with this, Rosenberg points out, because it's founder, I.L. Kenen “came up with a legal loophole by which AIPAC is defined not as a lobby for a foreign state but for Americans who support that state...I worked for AIPAC directly for Kenen back in the 1970's...He told me that he came up with the AIPAC formula...so that AIPAC would be legally permitted to engage in politics...After Kenen retired, AIPAC took a right turn and he saw the mistake he made. Toward the end of his life, Kenen was outraged by the AIPAC leadership’s unquestioning support of the occupation of the West Bank...and other Israeli right-wing policies. He hated what he saw.”

Over the years there have been frequent calls for AIPAC to register as a foreign agent. In the 1970's, Sen. J. William Fulbright (D-Ark), then chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, argued that this should be done, as have other U.S. foreign policy and intelligence analysts.

Rosenberg writes that, “Now is the time to undo Kenen’s mistake. It is time to require AIPAC to register as what it is: a foreign agent. It will still be able to educate for Israel but as an Israeli lobby which admits to getting its marching orders from the Israeli government. What it would not be able to do is direct campaign money to politicians.

Let’s see how many Vice Presidents, senators and representatives show up at its conferences then...”*