America's Defense
Line

The Justice Department's Battle to Register the Israel Lobby as Agents of a Foreign Government

Published by the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy, Inc.
Calvert Station
PO Box 32041
Washington, DC 20007

First published in 2008 by the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy

7 9 10 8 6
Copyright Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy, Inc.
All Rights Reserved

Hardcover ISBN-13 978-0-9764437-2-8
Hardcover ISBN-10 0-9764437-2-4
Paperback ISBN-13 0978-0-9764437-5-9
Paperback ISBN-10 0-9764437-5-9

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Smith, Grant F.
America's defense line : the Justice Department's battle to register the Israel
lobby as agents of a foreign government / by Grant F. Smith.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Zionists--United States--Political activity. 2. Jews--United States--Politics and government--20th century. 3. American Israel Public Affairs Committee. 4. United States. Dept. of Justice. 5. United States--Foreign relations--Israel. 6. Israel--Foreign relations--United States. 7. United States--Foreign relations--1945-1989. 8. United States--Foreign relations--1989- I. Title.
E184.36.P64S65 2008
327.73009'04--dc22
2008031886

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the written permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author's rights is appreciated.


If you must break the law, do it to seize power: in all other cases observe it.
– Gaius Julius Caesar

 

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Isaiah Kenen to the US 11
Straight Journalist 13
Journalism to Politics 13
Lobbying for War 14
Herzl's Plan 17
Chapter 2: State-Building by Lobby 22
Truman and the Israel Lobby 23
Jewish Agency Wins UN Representation 33
Truman Recognizes Israel 38
Feinberg Factor 40
Israel Lobby Legacy 46
Chapter 3: Foreign Agents Registration Act 49
US State Department Enforces FARA 51
Department of Justice Takes Over FARA 53
Viereck Goes to Prison 56
1946 Lobbying Reform 57
FARA Enforcement Malaise 59
Chapter 4: Paramilitary Camps and Arms Smuggling 62
Irgun and the US Treasury Department 64
Haganah Arms Smuggling in the United States 69
CIA Detects False-Flagging in Europe 72
Chapter 5: Israel Office of Information 75
Deficient Declarations 77
Kenen Makes a Clean Break 80
Israel's American Lobbyist 84
Chapter 6: American Zionist Council 87
American Israel Public Affairs Committee Born 91
American Council for Judaism Dissents 99
Chapter 7: Near East Report 103
Israel's Plank 107
Lavon Affair Crisis 108
Compliments of I. L. Kenen 111
Chapter 8: Senate Foreign Agent Hearings 115
Kenen's Flight to Iran 116
Jewish Relief Fundraising Coup 117
AZC Funding from the Jewish Agency 120
Chapter 9: Justice Department Battles AZC 134
John F. Kennedy and the Israel Lobby 137
DOJ Forces AZC to Register as a Foreign Agent 139
FARA Ascendant 154
Dominican Republic 156
Nonproliferation and Dimona 157
Lyndon B. Johnson's Cash Cache 161
Heavies Pull Out of AZC Registration Battle 163
Caveat 166
Katzenbach's Capitulation 169
Subvention Recipient Caveat 171
Bona Fide Dispute 173
AZC's Secret FARA Registration 176
AZC Resurgent 178
Chapter 10: When Rule of Law Dies 181
Jewish Agency Metamorphosis 187
AIPAC in the 21st Century 193
Secrecy and Dissent 198
America's Defense Line 201
Appendices 207
Isaiah L. Kenen Chronology 209
Organizations 211
World Zionist Organization 211
World Zionist Organization–American Section 211
Provisional Executive Committee for General Zionist Affairs 212
Jewish Agency for Israel 212
American Section–Jewish Agency for Israel 212
United Jewish Appeal 213
American Zionist Emergency Council 213
American Zionist Council 213
Conference of Presidents 214
American Jewish Congress 214
American Israel Public Affairs Committee 214
American Jewish Conference 214
Foreign Agents Registration Act—6/8/1938-4/28/1942 215
Foreign Agents Registration Act—4/29/1942–10/03/1961 218
Israel Office of Information FARA Declaration—10/06/1948 230
Isaiah Kenen Personal FARA Declaration—09/01/1948 239
Israel Office of Information Deficiency Notice—06/17/1949 243
Israel Office of Information FARA Declaration—06/30/1950 244
Israel Office of Information Personnel—01/01/1951 252
FARA Section Memo on Kenen Visit—01/17/1951 253
Isaiah Kenen Letter to the FARA Section—02/13/1951 254
Isaiah Kenen Letter to the FARA Section—03/14/1952 255
AZC Internal Memo on Public Relations 1962-63 259
Alert to AG of Compelled AZC FARA 10/31/1962 261
FARA Registration Order to AZC 11/21/1962 263
DOJ Meeting with AZC Legal Counsel 5/2/1963 265
DOJ 72-Hour Warning to AZC 10/11/1963 268
Yeagley Memo to Katzenbach 10/7/1964 269
AZC Disclosure 4/1/1962 to 6/30/1962 sent 3/2/1965 270
Analysis of Cartoons from the Near East Report 276
Incidents and Enforcement 286
The Logan Act 289
Delayed Disclosures 1933-2008 290
Index 295
Sources 301
 

Table of Figures

Figure 1 Official Logo of the Committee for a Jewish Army 25
Figure 2 Truman Recognizes Israel 38
Figure 3 CIA: Objectives and Activities of the Irgun Z'vai Leumi 63
Figure 4 Early NER Cartoon: Arab Stereotypes 105
Figure 5 I. L. Kenen's Presentation Card 111
Figure 6 Early NER Cartoon: Armed, Mistrustful Arabs 277
Figure 7 Early NER Cartoon: Syria's Hafez Assad as Puppeteer 279
Figure 8 Early NER Cartoon: Shiite Islam Killing Values 280
Figure 9 Early NER Cartoon: Syria as the Puppeteer of Lebanon 281
Figure 10 Early NER Cartoon: Israel Jumped at the UN 282
Figure 11 Early NER Cartoon: Arabist State Department Official 283
Figure 12 Early NER Cartoon: All the News that isn't Fit 284
Figure 13 Later NER Cartoon: Arab Psyche 285
 

back to The Israel Lobby Archive