Council for the National Interest

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The Council for the National Interest (CNI) is an organization advocating a reduction in what it sees as the undue influence of Israel over the formulation of U.S. foreign policy. Founded in 1989 by former Congressmen Paul Findley (R-IL) and Pete McCloskey (R-CA), the Council takes the following as its mission:

CNI seeks to encourage and promote a U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East that is consistent with American values, protects our national interests, and contributes to a just solution of the Arab-Israeli conflict, as well as to restore a political environment in America in which voters and their elected officials are free from the undue influence and pressure of a foreign country, namely Israel.

Eugene H. Bird is the organization's president (2006). Bird, a 23-year veteran with the United States Foreign Service, is the former Counselor of Embassy in Saudi Arabia and served in Jerusalem and other Middle East posts.[1]

Contents

[edit] Activities

  • CNI works to oppose foreign interest groups' influence on Congress and the White House.[2]
  • CNI has proposed a Foreign Lobby Registration Act (FLORA) which would require all lobbies working on behalf of foreign governments to disclose the sources and uses of their funds, and would put an end to their tax-exempt status.[3][4]
  • CNI conducts public hearings on Capitol Hill on issues pertinent to U.S. Middle East policy[5] and monitors the use of U.S. taxpayer funds by Israel on the West Bank and in Gaza.[6]
  • CNI's sister organization, the CNI Foundation, hosts a website which publishes frequent short commentary and reviews on Middle East issues, and includes a public forum. CNI Foundation
  • Recently the CNI has started taking out occasional full-page ads in the New York Times promoting it's position. The first of these was run on September 1, 2002, and the most recent on July 2, 2006.[7][8][9][10][11]
  • In Spring 2006 CNI members conducted a fact-finding tour of the Middle East region, meeting with heads of state and participating as international observers in the Palestinian election process.[12]

[edit] Positions

  • It is CNI's position that the Israel lobby exerts excessive control over Congress and that it works to prevent open public debate on the subject of Israeli policies.[13] The result, it argues, is harmful to U.S. interests and to Israeli interests.[14]
  • "Until Israel defines itself and becomes a good neighbor to the Palestinians and Syrians, the issue of failed Middle East peace efforts will continue to metastasize terror around the world. ... The present government of Israel is undermining long-term American interests and the war on terror."[15]
  • In reference to the Iraq War, CNI stated in 2006 that "there is strong evidence that irrational concern for Israel by U.S. policymakers continues to be a prime motivation for our military adventures."[16]
  • "It is time to deal openly with the problem of Israel's unacknowledged nuclear weapons. Israel should be pressed to join a regional program to eliminate all weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East."[17]
  • CNI states "Many Americans do not understand that Hamas is a typical anti-colonial insurgency responding to an Israeli occupation and what amounts to government terror against Palestinian civilians."[18] In February, 2006, CNI board member Peter Viering[19] said in a briefing given on Capitol Hill: "It is clearly time to reassess our decision to characterize Hamas as a terrorist organization and respect the decision of the democratic process whether we agree with the outcome or not."[20]

[edit] Paul Findley's views on the Israel lobby

Paul Findley, founding Chairman of the CNI, has also criticized the role of the pro-Israel lobby in two of his books--

  • They Dare to Speak Out: People and Institutions Confront Israel's Lobby, 3rd edition, Lawrence Hill Books, 2003.
  • Deliberate Deceptions: Facing the Facts about the U.S.-Israeli Relationship, 2nd edition, Lawrence Hill Books, 1995.

In a 2004 filmed interview[21] created by Mark Farrell of,[22] he discussed the lobby and U.S. foreign policy:

  • "Middle East policy is not treated as foreign policy in Washington. Middle East policy is treated as a domestic policy because the lobby for the state of Israel is the most powerful, most intimidating lobby in Washington — certainly in the field of foreign policy — of any of the 3000 or so lobbies which exist there." [8:09]
  • "The control that their government has had over the policy of our own government has been total. One of the great, respected, leaders of Israel, a former member of the Knesset, their Parliament, once said that 'America rules the world, but Israel rules America,' and he was right. Israel, through its lobby, has controlled public policy in the Middle East." [12:08]
  • "The lobby for Israel, in the realm of Middle East policy, owns the entire Congress, not just a select few. ... You can't find an outspoken critic of Israel anywhere in the Congress." [52:35]
  • "The media, like every other sector of our society, is thoroughly intimidated by the lobby for Israel." [61:05]

(There is substantial evidence that the attribution of the quote "America rules the world, but Israel rules America" to an Israeli leader is mistaken.[23][24][25] )

[edit] Controversy

On May 4, 2004, CNI President Eugene Bird appeared on Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's National News, suggesting that Israeli interrogators may have recommended abusive treatment at Abu Ghraib. RealVideo He said, "We know that the Israeli intelligence was operating in Baghdad after the war was over. The question should be: Were there any foreign interrogators among those that were recommending very, very bad treatment for the prisoners?" Three days later, CBC issued an on-the-air apology which concluded as follows: "The comment from the diplomat should not have been included in the report and we regret the error.";[26] (Apology Video)

On March 28, 2000, Pete McCloskey, the chairman of CNI at the time, gave the keynote address on the subject of the ADL and free speech at a conference organized by a Holocaust denial group, the Institute for Historical Review.[27][28] For further information, see the section on IHR Controversy at Pete McCloskey.

Abdurahman Alamoudi, a member of the CNIF Board of Directors from 1998 to 2004, aroused considerable media attention with statements he made in 2000. According to a 2001 article in Salon.com Magazine by Jake Tapper, "Last year, however, Clinton and Bush expressed concern not with Alamoudi's claim that the 1993 World Trade Center bombers were the victims of anti-Muslim bias, but because of his support for other terrorist organizations. At a November 2000 rally against Israel in Lafayette Park, across from the White House, Alamoudi said to the crowd, 'Hear that, Bill Clinton! We are all supporters of Hamas. I wish they add that I am also a supporter of Hizballah. Anybody support Hizballah here?' The crowd cheered."[29]

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.cnionline.org/news/election2006/Bio%20sheet.htm
  2. ^ http://www.cnionline.org/about/
  3. ^ http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/cnif/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=2678&t=
  4. ^ http://www.cnionline.org/pubs/ads/AIPACs-Agenda.pdf
  5. ^ http://www.cnionline.org/hearings/
  6. ^ http://www.cnionline.org/about/
  7. ^ http://www.cnionline.org/pubs/ads/time-to-tell-the-truth.pdf
  8. ^ http://www.cnionline.org/pubs/ads/americas-national-interests.pdf
  9. ^ http://www.cnionline.org/pubs/ads/AIPACs-Agenda.pdf
  10. ^ http://www.cnionline.org/nyt.pdf
  11. ^ http://www.cnionline.org/nyt2.pdf
  12. ^ http://www.cnionline.org/news/election2006/index.htm
  13. ^ http://www.cnionline.org/pubs/ads/AIPACs-Agenda.pdf
  14. ^ http://www.cnionline.org/nyt2.pdf
  15. ^ http://www.cnionline.org/pubs/ads/AIPACs-Agenda.pdf
  16. ^ http://www.cnionline.org/nyt.pdf
  17. ^ http://www.cnionline.org/nyt2.pdf
  18. ^ http://www.cnionline.org/nyt.pdf
  19. ^ http://www.cnionline.org/news/election2006/press_release_2-9-06.htm
  20. ^ http://www.cnionline.org/hearings/polpilgrimage/peter_viering.htm
  21. ^ http://www.honestmediatoday.com/Findley-wmv-large.wmv
  22. ^ http://www.honestmediatoday.com/
  23. ^ http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=2&x_outlet=6&x_article=34
  24. ^ http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=2&x_outlet=6&x_article=713
  25. ^ http://www.chicagoreader.com/hottype/2002/020628_1.html
  26. ^ http://www.honestreporting.com/articles/critiques/Blaming_Israel_for_Abu_Ghraib$.asp
  27. ^ http://www.ihr.org/jhr/v19/v19n3p-2_Conf.html
  28. ^ http://www.ihr.org/jhr/v20/v20n5p13_McCloskey.html
  29. ^ http://archive.salon.com/news/feature/2001/09/26/muslims/index1.html
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