Israel Lobby Damage Assessment

American journalist Ali Abunimah is co-founder of the Electronic Intifada and author of "One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israel-Palestine Impasse'' and "The Battle for Justice in Palestine." He discussed post-election administration policy on key issues. Will the administration demand any pause to illegal Israeli settlements? Will Israel be successful in continuing to use the coercive power of the U.S. State Department and other key agencies to demand Arab nations establish formal ties with Israel? Will the drive to label human rights organizations as "anti-Semitic” prevail?

Abunimah also discussed growing social media censorship of Palestinians and their allies. Facebook has repeatedly shut down the Gaza Health Ministry even as the COVID-19 pandemic began taking its toll. In addition, Facebook colludes with the Israeli occupation authorities—including appointing an Israeli government spokesperson to its "oversight board"—to shut down the accounts of dozens of Palestinian publications and journalists "on the Israeli-supplied pretext that criticism of Israel and its crimes against Palestinians constitute ‘incitement.’”

Meanwhile, Facebook has given free reign to Israel lobby influence and disinformation campaigns across its platform. But Americans can successfully fight back. Abunimah discusses his own winning tactics and strategies for pushing back against censorship by American social media giants.

Grant F. Smith is the author of seven books about the Israel lobby, and research director of IRmep. His most recent books are "Big Israel: How Israel's Lobby Moves America" (2016) and "The Israel Lobby Enters State Government: Rise of the Virginia Israel Advisory Board" (2019). Continuing an election year tradition, Smith presented his most recent research findings about Israel affinity organization legislative, executive agency and state government lobbying initiatives. He discussed in depth the trajectory, roles and relative importance of Jewish establishment lobbying (such as AIPAC and the Zionist Organization of America) vs. relatively more recent Christian Zionist lobbying. Smith also explored the Israel lobby's latest major program—importing and subsidizing Israeli companies to compete with domestic U.S. companies. As a case study, Smith gave an update on recent initiatives and the cloud of corruption enveloping the Virginia Israel Advisory Board.

Historian and author Walter Hixson answers cross disciplinary questions about foreign policy, the Israel lobby and settler colonialism. What are the core objectives of settler colonialism? Why must the population targeted for removal be the object of hatred and portrayed as primitive, uncivilized and "savage?" Massacres can exist without genocide, but can genocide exist without massacres? Are indigenes ever allowed to avail themselves of the colonizer's means of communications and justice system to argue their case? What Is perpetrator trauma?

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Interview with Jeremy Rothe-Kushel of the program "Understanding Israel-Palestine" on the rise of the Israel lobby in America, prominent figures, Israeli nuclear weapons espionage and related topics. Check out other IRmep content at https://IRmep.org

A conversation with the Virginia Coalition for Human Rights. Fighting questionable edits to VA textbooks, the case against VIAB, and the expansion of Israeli human rights violator Energix in Virginia. Check out other IRmep content at https://IRmep.org

David Swanson, host of Talk Nation Radio, interviews Grant F. Smith to discuss his latest and ninth book about the Israel lobby called The Israel Lobby Enters State Government: Rise Of The Virginia Israel Advisory Board. Find the paperback at Middle East Books & More. Check out other IRmep content at https://IRmep.org

Grant F. Smith of the Institute for Research for Research: Middle Eastern Policy discusses the findings of his new book, The Israel Lobby Enters State Government: Rise of the Virginia Israel Advisory Board at Middle East Books and More. Check out other IRmep content at https://IRmep.org

IRmep presentation at the Palestine Center’s annual conference. It covered the how the Gallup Organization’s misleading polls about U.S. "sympathy" for Israel would have been deployed to falsely claim Americans support the Kushner-Friedman-Greenblatt Middle East "Deal of the Century," much like they have been used by the Congressional Research Service to insinuate Americans support massive U.S. foreign assistance to Israel. How Gallup was confronted until it finally admitted its bellwether poll was biased. What most Americans really think about the principle of the economic "Deal of the Century." How Virginians view their own mini "Deal of the Century" advanced by Israel partisans placed inside their own state government by Israel lobby campaign contributions. The relative policy influence potential of the public opinions of the American majority vs economic elites and interest groups, in this case the U.S. Israel advocacy ecosystem. 

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Grant Smith elaborates on his May 20th article, “”Lesson from FBI’s ‘Niger Uranium Forgeries’ File: There will be no consequences for twisting intelligence to attack Iran.” It was based on his obtaining, through FOIA, and analyzing the 640 pages of FBI records In which he describes then FBI director, Robert Mueller stifled efforts to investigate possible Washington (obviously neocon) links to the forgery of documents ostensibly from Niger purporting to have offered to sell and ship 500 tons of yellow cake uranium that could only have been used in the production of nuclear weapons.

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Grant F. Smith, director of research at IRmep, exposes the IRS's long history of aiding and abetting billions of dollars of U.S. charitable contributions flowing through tax-exempt charities into illegal West Bank settlements during a live broadcast with the IRS Taxpayer Advocate.