A Friendship Dating to 1976 Resonates in 2012

By MICHAEL BARBARO
Published: April 7, 2012

The two young men had woefully little in common: one was a wealthy Mormon from Michigan, the other a middle-class Jew from Israel.

Mitt Romney speaking via satellite last month to a meeting of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Mr. Romney has criticized the Obama administration over its policies toward Israel.

But in 1976, the lives of Mitt Romney and Benjamin Netanyahu intersected, briefly but indelibly, in the 16th-floor offices of the Boston Consulting Group, where both had been recruited as corporate advisers. At the most formative time of their careers, they sized each other up during the firm’s weekly brainstorming sessions, absorbing the same profoundly analytical view of the world.

The AZC's internal "Information and Public Relations Department" reports.

Between 1962-1963 the Senate Foreign Relations Committee subpoenaed internal reports of the American Zionist Council during its investigation into the activities of registered agents of foreign principals.  They discovered that more than $5 million in tax exempt (and possibly overseas donations) had been laundered through the Jewish Agency's American Section into the American Zionist Council.  The Jewish Agency functioned as a quasi-branch of the Israeli government, received Israeli government funding, and was able to review legislation before it went to the Knesset under its Covenant Agreement.  

This violated IRS regulations on the use of tax exempt charitable funds and the 1938 Foreign Agents Registration Act. 

Jewish Agency Payments to the American Zionist Council

Documents

Between January 1, 1955 through December 31, 1962 the Jewish Agency made $5,100,001.02 in payments to the American Zionist Council.  The following American Zionist Council reports to the Jewish Agency provide summarize funding spent on education, lobbying and public relations.  The Jewish Agency failed to properly itemize these payment details on its mandatory Foreign Agents Registration Act declarations to the US Department of Justice, including payment vouchers directing Jewish Agency funding to AIPAC founder Isaiah L. Kenen who was paid $5,000 each quarter for stealth "public relations services".

Stewart David Nozette and economic espionage against the United States

Dr. Stewart David Nozette (born May 20, 1957) is an American scientist and astronomer. He has worked for the United States Department of Energy, the United States Department of Defense, and NASA. His research has resulted in multiple publications in the journal Science. The FBI arrested him October 19, 2009, charging him with attempted espionage, after a sting operation. Nozette attempted to sell U.S. classified information to someone he believed was an Israeli Mossad operative, but was in reality an undercover Federal Bureau of Investigation employee. He pleaded guilty to one charge of espionage and was sentenced, under the terms of a plea bargain, to thirteen years in prison.

Nozette was born in Chicago, Illinois on May 20, 1957, to Helen and Morris Nozette. He grew up in Chicago’s heavily Jewish West Rogers Park neighborhood. His parents were involved in the local reform temple. However, Stewart showed little interest in Jewish matters as an adult.

US State Department investigates AIPAC Director Morris Amitay's acquisition of classified Hawk missile data

US Department of State investigation files reveal the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's (AIPAC) director received classified US national defense information. In 1975 the Ford administration tried to sell improved Hawk anti-aircraft missiles to Jordan and duly sent notification containing classified Department of Defense data to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee. AIPAC's Director Morris Amitay reviewed the classified document after being informed "secretly by aides of Senator Clifford P. Case, Republican of New Jersey, and Representative Jonathan B. Bingham, Democrat of New York" according to the New York Times.

According to criminal investigation files released on January 20, 2012, this disclosure to AIPAC was "unauthorized" and included the dollar amounts and quantitative configurations of the missile system. The State Department considered "The specific details of Jordan's military equipment needs are information provided us in confidence by that government. The classification of the documents in question was, in our view, substantively proper."

Paris university pulls plug on "Israeli apartheid" talk by David Cronin

A Paris university has withdrawn permission for a Palestine solidarity conference at the behest of the Zionist lobby.

In a statement issued today, the authorities at the University of Paris 8 said that the title of the conference – “Israel: an apartheid state?” – was “of a strongly polemical character.” Because there had been strong reactions to its theme, the university predicted there could be a “serious risk posed to public order” if the event scheduled for 27 and 28 February went ahead.

The complaint against the conference was made by the representative council for Jewish organizations in France, or CRIF as it’s better known. It had objected to the participation of Omar Barghouti, coordinator of the Palestinian campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel.

The Friends of Israel Initiative (European Lobby)

The Friends of Israel Initiative (FOII) is an international effort, to "seek to counter the attempts to delegitimize the State of Israel and its right to live in peace within safe and defensible borders", initiated and led by former Prime Minister of Spain and People's Party leader José María Aznar in 2010.

It was co-founded by twelve other international figures. They include Republican Party former United States Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton, Forza Italia's former President of the Italian Senate Marcello Pera, former President of Czech Republic Václav Havel, Peru’s former President Alejandro Toledo, and billionaire financier, Robert Agostinelli and British Conservative Party peer, former First Minister of Northern Ireland and Nobel Peace Prize winner David Trimble.

Liberal Democrat Friends of Israel (British Parliamentary Group)

Liberal Democrat Friends of Israel is a group whose stated objective is to 'maximise support for the State of Israel within the British Liberal Democrat Party', and to 'promote policies which lead to peace and security for Israel within a Middle East peace settlement'.
President of Liberal Democrat Friends of Israel is Rt Hon Alan Beith MP, Chairman is Councillor Monroe Palmer OBE, others include Lord Jacobs, Lord Carlile of Berriew, and Evan Harris.

Labour Friends of Israel (British parliamentary group)

Labour Friends of Israel (LFI) is a parliamentary group affiliated to the Labour Party promoting support for a strong bilateral relationship between Britain and Israel. It also seeks to strengthen ties between the British and the Israeli Labour party. 

Labour Friends of Israel supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with Israel recognised and secure within its borders and the establishment of a viable Palestinian state.

Founded in October 1957 at a public rally at the Labour Party Conference, it has developed into one of the largest special interest groups in the Labour Party, drawing wide support from Members of Parliament and Government Ministers. Labour Friends of Israel has a large membership, organised into local branches. Seeking to strengthen the bond between the British Labour Party and the Israeli Labor Party, it organises meetings in both the UK and Israel between senior figures. In 2003 it described itself as "a Westminster based lobby group working within the British Labour Party to promote the State of Israel".

Conservative Friends of Israel (The British parliamentary group)

Conservative Friends of Israel, abbreviated to CFI, is a British parliamentary group affiliated to the Conservative Party and dedicated to strengthening business, cultural and political ties between the United Kingdom and Israel. CFI is an unincorporated association.
It was founded by the late Conservative MP for Bury and Radcliffe, Michael Fidler.
According to the Channel 4 documentary "Dispatches – Inside Britain's Israel Lobby" around 80% of Conservative MPs are members of the CFI.