You Think The "Israel Lobby" Is A Problem? Check Out The "US Lobby" In Israel!

The US Agency for International Development (USAID), is hard at work in Israel, sponsoring a small group called the 'Geneva Initiative' that is creating advertisements for the 'peace process' for Israelis--and yes, in the West Bank as well. This is the group that in 2003, during the terror attacks that followed the Oslo peace process, offered its own peace plan--with funding from Sweden. The Arabs in the group were all linked to Fatah, then led by Arafat.

Despite the foreign funding, the Geneva Initiative's plan, Oslo 2, did not pan out.

Gerald Steinberg, Professor of Political Science at Bar Ilan University and president of NGO Monitor, notes about such Artificial Peace Messages:

After Sadat accepted Begin’s invitation to visit Israel in November 1977, the US did not need staged video clips in order sell peace with Egypt to the Israeli public.

The fact that now foreign money is being used to fund these sorts of efforts points toward the ongoing manipulation of Israel by foreign countries in a way that is both dishonest and manipulative:

Polls show that the Israeli public is tired of the political manipulation that, until now, has been engineered primarily by European governments, under the guise of “civil society” and non-governmental organizations. Most of these efforts are highly guarded secrets, with no information on the processes by which a few marginal figures get large amounts of money to oppose the policies of the elected Israeli government. Such direct interference by one democratic country in the internal affairs of other democracies is also a blatant violation of international norms – but these rules are ignored when it comes to Israel.

Following the negative European precedent, the USAID website makes no mention of this political campaign. The absence of full public disclosure or Congressional oversight for this unusual venture is also exceptional. To their credit, the leaders of the Geneva Initiative acknowledged that “The campaign is supported with the generous support of the American people through USAID.”

But in other ways, the behavior of the Geneva Initiative highlights the problem of secret foreign manipulation. They are funded via an organization known as H.L. Education for Peace, which is not registered with the Israeli government’s Non-profit Registrar. In this way, the NGO evades reporting requirements regarding the large-scale support received from the European Union, Switzerland and other governments.[emphasis added]

AIPAC, by contrast, is a registered lobbying group that operates in the open. supporting Israel itself, whether the leadership has been Labor, Kadima or Likud.

Here is one of the USAID sponsored ads, 'updated' by Elder of Ziyon.



Technorati Tag: Mideast Peace Talks and Saeb Erekat and USAID.