By Jeff Klein
Israel and its US supporters deploy enormous resources to influence public opinion and government policy in our country.
Lately, the Israeli government has allocated hundreds of millions of dollars – much of it recycled from US-sourced tax-free donations – for what they call “public diplomacy”. billionaire Israel advocates have been buying up US news platforms and inserting Zionist-friendly censors in social media platforms. They have targeted free speech on and off college campuses and openly punished activism which is regarded as pro-Palestinian or critical of Israel. They succeeded in making advocacy of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) nearly illegal in many states. They have widely pushed the adoption of a view that criticism of Israel and Zionism is akin to antisemitism.
By all measure, they have failed in controlling public opinion or convincing most US citizens to regard Israel favorably. Polling indicates that growing majorities of voters are opposed unlimited US political and financial support for Israel. Increasingly, Americans – especially Democrats, but now among Republicans as well – have been expressing growing sympathy for Palestinians as we are viewing an ongoing genocide in Gaza.
But among elected officials and policy makers, change has been very slow in coming.
One explanation is that lobbying organizations like AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee), as well as like-minded plutocrats, have been investing hundreds of millions of dollars in funding Israel-friendly candidates and targeting politicians regarded as unreliable in their support for Israel.
Another tool of long-standing has been the organizing and funding of lavish propaganda trips to Israel for public officials. Participation in such trips has been routine for members of Congress nationally, but also for state officials around the country.
A new piece of legislation in Massachusetts – S2109: An Act to close travel loophole in the state conflict of interest law – would help to curb this practice.
The background to the travel loophole is as follows: While state ethics rules forbid public officials from accepting gifts worth more than $50 from lobbyists, lobbying organization are allowed to underwrite travel, often international, worth up to many thousands of dollars. The recipients of these gifts have only to claim that the travel has a “legitimate public purpose”. As no explanation or supporting documentation is required, this rule, essentially, relies on “the honor system.”
Much of the travel by legislators is benign. Cultural and educational trips funded by non-profit organizations or public-interest groups are mostly harmless. Travel paid for by organizations which are not related to lobbying would be unaffected by this legislation.
But travel subsidized by lobbyists or organizations with legislative agendas at the State House is another matter. This is by its nature a conflict of interest, or at minimum the appearance of one. For example, legislators have attended conferences on state gambling policy funded by gaming interests; they attended meetings on internet regulation paid for by Google and Facebook; they traveled to meetings on regulating cable TV funded by cable operators.
Deluxe trips to Israel, organized by the Massachusetts Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) – an organization funded by recycling tax-deductible “charities” – have been the most frequent beneficiaries of the travel loophole. Over the years, scores of legislators – possibly hundreds – as well as local public officials, have taken these trips, each one typically costing more than $6,000.
Meanwhile, the JCRC lobbies for Massachusetts legislation favorable to Israel, such as an attempt to punish advocacy for BDS. Though that bill was defeated thanks to mobilization of activists, including by MAPA, the legislature later passed a budget measure allocating a quarter million dollars to promote Massachusetts business with Israel, even though that country plays a very minor role in our states trade or economy. More recently , the JCRC has successfully pushed for a Statewide Commission on Antisemitism that seems determined to curb criticism of Israel by framing it as bigoted hostility to Jews. Several members of the Commission have previously participated in Israel propaganda trips.
MAPA has advocated legislation to close the travel loophole for many years, not only because of the Israel trips but also as a matter of good government that should be insulated from influence buying.
Now, for the first time, such a bill (S2109) has been favorably reported out by the State Administration Committee. The measure is now under consideration by the powerful Ways and Means Committee, which will decide whether to approve the bill for an up-or-down vote by the House and Senate.
This is the time to contact members of the Ways and Means Committee to demand that they allow a full vote on S2109. Especially if your House or Senate member is on the committee, they need to hear from you. You can also email the Committee directly at SenateCommittee.Ways&Means@masenate.gov