GOT MAIL ~ from the Council for the National Interest

Do you think these people are trying to intimdate me, or what?

Date: Fri, 04 Apr 2008 11:52:53 -0500

From: "Melissa"

To: annelieberman@yahoo.com

Subject: Council for the National Interest post

April 2, 2008

Boker Tov, Boulder!

Cc: ADL

Cc: Front Page Magazine

To the Writer/Editor/Publisher:

On behalf of the Council for the National Interest, I must state our collective concern at your description of our organization. The post dated Thursday, 28 December 2006 (<<http://bokertov.typepad.com/btb/2006/12/council_for_the.html>>) is misleading at best and in many places inaccurately incriminating. You cite the Anti-Defamation League and Front Page Magazine in the post, both will be receiving letters from us. On behalf of our board, staff and members, we demand that you remove the libelous material or print a retraction that will correct it with the following statements.

First of all, the Council for the National Interest is not anti-Semitic or anti-Israeli. We call for accountability as a tenet of democracy. Criticism of Israel (or any democracy for that matter) is no more anti-Semitic than criticism of George W. Bush is un-patriotic.

CNI calls for Israel to be held to the same standards as any other state receiving U.S. foreign aid.

CNI in no way advocates violence against Israel or any other party. We are especially against the use of nuclear weapons and have been outspoken in our advocacy against proliferation.

CNI does not associate with terrorists. Nor does it accept any form of funding from the U.S. or any foreign government.

CNI is NOT an off-shoot of the American Educational Trust, nor are we affiliated with the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.

Pete McCloskey and Abdurahman Alamoudi are no longer associated with CNI. Alamoudi was removed from our Board and all ties with him were severed as soon as the Board learned of his indictment. Neither of these individuals speaks for CNI, and CNI does not presume to speak for them.

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 is guided by the principles of justice, freedom and peace.

Our positions:

• U.S. Foreign Policy is inconsistent with American values and often counter to our national interest. Effective policy must be just, fair, balanced and consistent. All U.S. Foreign Policy must be guided by the American ideals of freedom, justice, and equality. These principles should serve as the foundation of America’s highest foreign policy goal: to foster democracy and human rights.
• A lasting solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict must be a top priority in U.S. Foreign Policy.
• The U.S. must take a fair and balanced approach to the Arab-Israeli peace process. We should use our role to uphold the rights of both parties equally and to demand that both parties meet their obligations. As a leader and a moderator in the peace process, the U.S. should define negotiations as a give-and-take process. Neither side should gain without a proportional willingness to give.
• The U.S. should support Israeli security as well as Palestinian security. This means not only military and security sector support for Israelis, but also the promotion of social, political and economic security for Palestinians.
• The Council for the National Interest was established to demand a change in U.S. Foreign Policy. We call for balance and accountability from our President, State Department and foreign policy officials and Congress.

Our activities:

• Education and Awareness, including:

  i. Reporting on Capitol Hill events and hearings

  ii. Reporting on Middle East legislation and policy

  iii. Hosting forums and inviting experts to speak on Capitol Hill and in Washington

  iv. New York Times advertising campaign to spread awareness on our Administration’s Middle East policies

• Advocacy and Mobilization, including:

  v. Action Alerts and Contact Campaigns encouraging citizens to voice their opinions to their Congressional representatives on specific issues and legislation

  vi. Promotion of and participation in rallies and other events aimed at changing our foreign policy

• Private Diplomacy

  The Council for the National Interest takes bi-annual diplomatic missions to the Middle East. We lead small groups of activists, scholars, and writers to Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Egypt, were the delegation meets with moderate Middle East leaders.

Thank you,

Melissa Fleissner

Program Assistant

The Council for the National Interest

1250 4th Street, SW

Suite WG-1

Washington, DC 20024

melissa@cnionlone.org

That's very nice, Melissa, but not exactly
WHAT IT SAYS ON YOUR WEBSITE:

Our Goals

• Total withdrawal of Israel from all occupied territory (the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Golan Heights).
• A shared Jerusalem, the capital of two states, Israel and Palestine.
• An end to all acts of aggression, provocation, and retaliation by Israel and the end of all violence and attempts to solve the problem by military means. This includes terrorism committed against Israelis as well as the state terrorism committed by Israel against Palestinians.
• American recognition of a totally independent state of Palestine.
• An elimination of all unaudited U.S. aid to Israel.
• Normalized relations with Israel, her neighbors, and regional organizations such as the Arab League.
• A political atmosphere in which (1) a fair and objective media covers the Middle East without fear of retaliation by advertisers and pro-Israeli groups; (2) the American electorate is unafraid to debate the issues openly and frankly; and (3) our elected officials vote their conscience.

Excuse me for interrupting but I would just like to say (before you demand that I not say what I think) that I am adamantly opposed to your first five goals, and probably would be adamantly opposed to the next two as well, if only I knew what you meant by them, behind all the smoke and mirrors.

Back to the CNI Website:

What Does CNI Do?

• CNI is the only organization of its kind striving against tremendous odds to reverse the U.S. government's one-sided, one-way Middle East policies and eliminate unaudited dollars for Israel.


• CNI works to oppose foreign interest groups' influence on Congress and the White House.


• CNI promotes the expansion of democracy in the Middle East, including constitutional guarantees of equality for all citizens of Israel and the Arab world.


• CNI monitors the use of U.S. taxpayer funds by Israel on the West Bank and in Gaza.


• CNI reaches out to the American people and like-minded institutions through:


• - efforts with local and regional organizations
  - regional chapters and activists nationwide
  - public hearings and seminars in Washington D.C. on current issues
  - networking and information sharing with grassroots activists and peace and social justice groups
  - local and national full-page newspaper advertising and the use of email lists to build the organization

Now that I think about it, maybe what CNI is really pissed at me about is this (more recent) post I called Our enemies espouse A New Moral Approach", March 16, 2007:

* * * * *

Someone doing a BellSouth picture search for "Daniel Pearl" ended up at BtB. When I went to that search page, I found at the top a big (expensive) ad that says

"Stop Aid to Israel - Demand that Congress
end $2.2 billion in military aid to Israel."

Repulsed yet intrigued, I clicked the big GO button, and found myself at the Council for the National Interest.

There you can sign this (rather dated) letter to your Representative, and they will include your signature in a petition to President Bush and Congress.

The long-term security of Israel is continually undermined by distrust felt by its neighbors in the Middle East, including Palestinians, and of the United States, its chief supporter. In order to restore credibility in America’s role in the Middle East, I strongly believe Israel must be held as accountable for its behavior as we hold other nations in the region. A new moral approach to negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians is the basis of the “Israel Accountability and Security Act,” which I urge you to support.

The “Israel Accountability and Security Act” aims to bring Israel’s actions into conformity with international laws and American laws affecting multilateral agreements, thereby bolstering the national interests of the United States throughout the Middle East.

The proposed act:

(1) Deplores the current policies of the State of Israel that endanger both American security interests in the Middle East and the long-term security of Israel itself;

(2) Reprimands the Israeli army for its targeted assassinations without due process of law, the demolition of homes, and the pillaging of the civilian and security infrastructure of the Palestinian Authority;

(3) Demands that Israel cease the settlement of Israeli colonists in the West Bank, Gaza, and the Golan Heights, which has proceeded despite protests from the United States and in violation of numerous UN Security Council resolutions; and that it dismantle those settlements constructed from 2001 onward;

(4) Demands that Israel cease construction of any security barriers, including the Separation Barrier, that are beyond Israel's internationally recognized borders, also known as the "Green Line," as has been done in Gaza;

(5) Asks that Israel enter into a regional Middle East Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons; and that it dismantle and destroy any existing weapons of mass destruction;

(6) Asks that Israel enter into serious and unconditional negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, as well as the governments of Lebanon and Syria in order to realize a full and permanent peace.

(7) Asks that Israel cooperate fully in investigating the death of U.S. citizen Rachel Corrie.

The cycle of violence in the Middle East continues to harm our national interest, and in signing this petition, I urge you to intervene more directly in the Israeli-Palestinian question in order to bring a just and lasting peace and security to both the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Readers are also invited to "Contain the Israel Lobby" by supporting FLORA, a Foreign Lobby Registration Act.

BtB encountered CNI before (when they ran a full page anti-Israel ad in the New York Times last Christmas Eve), and Soccer Dad has investigated.

We'll have to keep an eye on these fellows and their strongly held and widely publicized anti-Israel views. I am left wondering who would fall for this new morality, funded by Middle Eastern oil money?

Surely not Prius-driving American "progressives." Right?

* * * *

Or maybe it's this Very Recent one that got under their skin: Their mission in this country is to "change it" (February 18, 2008):

* * * * *

Do you remember one Christmas Eve the Council for the National Interest Foundation ran a full-page anti-Israel ad in the New York Times? I blogged about it, as well as the organization and its "sister," the CNI, Council in the National Interest.

It turns out that Abdurahman Alamoudi (whom you'll no doubt remember from my last post) was involved with the CNIF as well. Involved, as in board of directors involved.

Just to beat you over the head with this a little more, please read this quote and understand that it's from 1996. I don't know where you were in 1996, but I was oblivious. The enemy, however, was hard at work. Twelve years ago.

On December 29, 1996, Alamoudi told a meeting of the Illinois-based Islamic Association of Palestine,

"I think if we were outside this country, we can say, 'Oh, Allah, destroy America,' but once we are here, our mission in this country is to change it. There is no way for Muslims to be violent in America, no way. We have other means to do it."

You have to give credit where credit is due: They've made tremendous strides toward their objective. If you have any doubt, please note for example this Congressional Hearing... in the Capitol.

Oh and btw, you can still sign up to be a "Citizen Diplomat" with CNI on a "political pilgrimage" to the Middle East, a "16-day tour of Israel and her neighbors."

We have organized several “political pilgrimages” to the Middle East over the last ten years and would now like to extend the same opportunity to CNI Foundation supporters, friends and family who are interested in learning more about American foreign policy in the Middle East. The trip is limited to 10 people per pilgrimage; therefore, we urge those interested to apply as soon as possible.

The deadline is February 25, 2008.

If anyone has the appropriate connections in Israel, I would beseech you to pass along this backgrounder and or the one from the ADL, and let the Israeli authorities know that this "pilgrimage" is to take place within weeks, March 20 - April 5th.

* * * * *

Or it really could be the one Melissa referenced in her email, the one CNI demands that I remove or retract.

So that readers can decide for themselves, let's repost that one too - Council for [Whose?] National Interest - December 28, 2006:

* * * * *

Calling all bloggers. This story could use some traction.

Readers may or may not know that The Council for the National Interest Foundation ran a full-page anti-Israel ad in The New York Times on Christmas Eve: "Is Bethlehem Dying?"

Unfortunately, the only place I can find to look at the ad is on an anti-Israel blog called Sabbah's Blog. Click here to go there.

While others are working on the possibility of running a counter ad of some sort (a full page costs $100,000), I've been looking into the "Council."

A backgrounder at the ADL tells us that

The Council for the National Interest (CNI) is an anti-Israel organization which is opposed to U.S. aid to Israel and disseminates demonizing propaganda about Israel to academics, politicians, and other audiences.

In a December 2006 solicitation letter, CNI stated that "despite Congress's repeated attempts to characterize Hamas as an anti-Christian terrorist organization, the fact is that Hamas has just announced that they will give [money] for Bethlehem's Christmas celebration." It followed similar statements in support of the Palestinian terror organization and several meetings in the Middle East earlier in 2006 between CNI representatives and key leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah, including Khaled Mishal and Hassan Nasrallah, as well as Syrian president Bashar Assad.

CNI has run inflammatory anti-Israel ads in major national newspapers since 2002. In an ad that it published in the New York Times on November 5, 2006, it blamed Israel for the war in Iraq and accused the "Israel Lobby" of trying to of push the U.S. into a new military confrontation with Iran. The ad included a cartoon in which the "Israel Lobby" is depicted as a crooked used cars salesman and the U.S. as its gullible customer....

This gets pretty gross. The ADL informs us further that CNI's chairman is Paul N. "Pete" McCloskey, who spoke at a conference of the IHR (Institute for Historical Review), which the ADL terms a "Holocaust-denial organization."

Especially distressing is the fact that CNI was founded

in 1989 by several former U.S. government officials, including Paul Findley and McCloskey (both former U.S. congressmen), Andrew Killgore (former U.S. ambassador to Qatar), Eugene H. Bird (formerly with the U.S. foreign service) and Richard Curtiss (former U.S. Information Agency chief). CNI is an offshoot of the Washington D.C.-based American Educational Trust (AET), an anti-Israel group that publishes the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.

DiscoverTheNetwork.org has a lot more on both CNI and its "sister" organization, the CNIF, which paid for the ad.

CNI enumerates its organizational goals as follows:

• Total withdrawal of Israel from all occupied territory ...
• A shared Jerusalem, the capital of two states, Israel and Palestine.
• An end to all acts of aggression, provocation, and retaliation by Israel and the end of all violence and attempts to solve the problem by military means. This includes terrorism committed against Israelis as well as the state terrorism committed by Israel against Palestinians.
• American recognition of a totally independent state of Palestine.
• An elimination of all unaudited U.S. aid to Israel.
• Normalized relations with Israel, her neighbors, and regional organizations such as the Arab League.
• A political atmosphere in which a fair and objective media covers the Middle East without fear of retaliation by advertisers and pro-Israeli groups; the American electorate is unafraid to debate the issues openly and frankly; and our elected officials vote their conscience.

CNI seeks to help achieve the foregoing objectives by coordinating its efforts with local and regional activist organizations; making use of "local and national full-page newspaper advertising and email lists to build the organization"; and sponsoring public hearings and seminars on Capitol Hill, for which it attracts big-name speakers such as Ralph Nader and Hanan Ashrawi.

The information at DiscoverTheNetwork is a tad dated, having been adapted from a 2004 article written by Stuart Wagner and Elon Granader, and published by Front Page Magazine: Council for Islamic Interests. There, the authors go right straight to the CNIF's associations with individuals who support and preach terror.

One such individual is Abdurahman Alamoudi. Alamoudi sits in a Virginia jail cell facing a 19-count indictment, including federal charges of money laundering and illegal financial transactions with Libya.

In addition, he has allegedly provided financial assistance to both Hamas and al-Qaeda and recently revealed his role in Moammar Gadhafi’s alleged plot to assassinate Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah. Yet, Mr. Alamoudi still serves as a member of the CNIF board of directors and has done so since 1998, according to the group’s website (www.rescuemideastpolicy.com).

CNIF had to have been aware of Alamoudi’s radical views, even before his arrest. Alamoudi made national news when he publicly praised Hamas and Hezbollah at an October 2000 rally in front of the White House: “I have been labeled by the media in New York to be a supporter of Hamas…Anybody support Hamas here? Hear that, Bill Clinton? We are all supporters of Hamas. I wish they added that I am also a supporter of Hezbollah.”

You can read a long and damning profile of Alamoudi here, which btw, is also quite damning (by association) of both former President Clinton and his wife.

While I go see what else I can find out, you might want to think about how we might best act to discredit the horrendous propaganda these organizations are putting in the enemedia, that is, The New York Times in particular.

I'll just leave you with this quote. On December 29, 1996, Alamoudi told a meeting of the Illinois-based Islamic Association of Palestine,

"I think if we were outside this country, we can say, 'Oh, Allah, destroy America,' but once we are here, our mission in this country is to change it. There is no way for Muslims to be violent in America, no way. We have other means to do it."

I'm calling Lenny in Cleveland, so if you see him, tell him to listen to his messages.

(Where's the Israel Lobby when you need them?)

Answer (update): Herzliya.

UPDATES / See Also

Marty Peretz: Exodus from Bethlehem

Soccer Dad: Council for the self-interest

Israel Matzav: Council for the whose? national interest

The Council for the National Interest is also in the bracelet business, wants you to sign a petition about holding Israel's "right-wing government" [don't I wish?] accountable for their "land-hungry policies," and wants AIPAC to be required to register as a Foreign Agent... in America... in order to "Contain the Israel Lobby." UFB.

Oh, and if you have a ton of time on your hands, you should check out CNI's FAQs on the Disengagment by Diana Buttu, though it sounds a bit dated to me:

The [poorpalestinian] Ministry of Planning is currently revising its regional plan for the evacuated areas and aims to build hospitals, schools and housing projects as well as tourist locations in the areas evacuated by Israel.

Name one, Ms. Buttu.

* * * * *

Genug! It's almost Shabbos and I have lots of other stuff to do.

Comments

[Mordechai Y. Scher]

You're a gem, A.L., and the Jewish people is fortunate to have you.

[Irene]

Last time I looked, this was still a free country and the 1st amendment was still intact. You can say anything you choose. IMO, you have proven your point. Are they trying to intimidate you, of course. Hold your ground, be strong, you're right.