Grant Smith began the interview by challenging the statement of uber Zionist Jonathan Tobin in Algemeiner that trips to Israel by members of Congress were too âordinaryâ to be ânewsworthy,â to explain why they are not reported in the mainstream US media. Smith referred to a poll of 2000 voters that he just had fielded through Google that indicated that 65.7% of those questioned said the House members should have gone to their districts during the August Congressional recess as opposed to 27.4 % who thought the trips to Israel were fine.
He explained the financial background of the trips, that they were paid for by AIEF, the American Israel Education Foundation, a tax exempt âcharityâ founded by AIPAC that has no employees but allows it to fund trips for Congress members that AIPAC, as a registered lobby, is prohibited from doing.
He described it is an example of âregulatory captureâ by the Israel Lobby which, thanks to its unique link to the IRS, which he describes in detail, has enabled the AIEF to a avoid legal challenges that have been lodged against it by Smith and others.
He explained that while Ilhan Omar was technically incorrect when she accused AIPAC of providing âthe Benjaminsâ ($100 bills) to members of Congress willing to genuflect to the Lobby for Israel, AIPAC is not allowed to and doesnât contribute to congressional campaigns, but it manages to steer eligible donorsâ money to members of Congress that need it.
He described the annual conventions of AIPAC, about which not a word appears in the US media, as well as that of CUFI, Christians United for Israel, as âcattle callsâ for politicians who see the members of those organizations that come to Washington to visit their Congress reps as representing their respective organizations.
There was a general discussion of the pervasive censorship in the US media of articles that would be likely to reflect badly on Israel or not sit well with the non-Jewish general public that are, however, regularly published in the English language Israeli press.
One specific issue, the contract made between Israel and a Chinese company to run the Israeli port of Haifa for 25 years beginning in 2021, came up which has been well publicized in the Israeli press, featuring complaints about the deal from US Navy, the US Senate and a prominent pro-Israel lobbyist, but largely ignored by the US mainstream, Smith felt it would be handled by the Israelis as they have handled and defused other controversial issues in the past that threatened it.
One example was the case of known Israeli Mossad agent and arms smuggler, Arnon Milchan, the award winning Israeli born film director who decades ago was involved in the illegal shipment of krytons or nuclear triggers to Israel in which the recipient of the triggers on the Israeli side was current prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu whose name on key documents the FBI had inadvertently, failed to block out. Neither man was even remotely threatened by the exposures.
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