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The Guardian newspaper reported that the Israeli government has sought legal advice on a US federal law requiring disclosure of foreign-backed lobbying campaigns, fearing that implementing the law could ensnare US groups that work in coordination with the Israeli government, according to leaked documents reviewed by the newspaper.
Emails and legal memos from the Israeli Justice Department hack, as reported by Lee Fang and Jack Paulson for the newspaper, show that officials feared that advocacy efforts by the Israel in US To raise the issue of US law governing foreign agents.
Indeed, as the documents show, officials proposed creating a new American nonprofit in order to continue Israel's activities in the United States while avoiding scrutiny under the law.
Create a non-profit organization
A July 2018 legal strategy memo noted that compliance with FARA would damage the reputation of many American groups that receive funding and direction from Israel, and force them to meet onerous transparency requirements, so donors are reluctant to fund groups registered under FARA.
FARA requires people working on behalf of a foreign government to register as foreign agents with the U.S. Department of Justice, and to avoid that, the memo says, the law requires registrants to “report any piece of propaganda distributed to two or more parties in the United States with a disclaimer stating that it was delivered by a foreign agent, and then provide a copy of it to the U.S. Department of Justice within 48 hours.”
The legal advisers suggested channeling the money through a third-party American nonprofit. “Although the nonprofit will not be formally run by Israel, we will have means of oversight and management, through grant-making, informal coordination mechanisms, verbal meetings and updates,” said Liat Glazer, then the legal adviser to Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs.
Discussions of the FARA law have focused on a “public relations commando unit” formed by Israel’s Strategic Affairs Ministry in 2017 to improve Israel’s image abroad, known as “Israel Voices,” whose primary mission was to undermine Boycott movement Targeting Israel with campaigns of boycott, divestment and sanctions in protest of its policies towards the Palestinians.
Anti-boycott
Throughout its history, the group has supported American nonprofits that advocate for anti-boycott laws against Israel, and has coordinated campaigns to block pro-Palestinian activities on American college campuses.
The newspaper pointed out that the leaked emails and documents were published by Distributed Daniel of Secrets, a non-profit organization responsible for publishing a number of high-profile hacks in recent years, and the original source of the documents was a group calling itself Anonymous for Justice, a group that describes itself as an “activist hacking group.”
Earlier this year, The Guardian exclusively reported that Voices of Israel was relaunched shortly after the outbreak of the war. GazaAs Amichai Chikli, Minister of Diaspora Affairs, reported, Likud Party In the Knesset The group was preparing to “attack” American students protesting the Gaza war.
An Israeli legal memo in July 2018 noted that “in the past, FARA has been applied to countries hostile to the United States,” such as Russia andPakistanand warned that the new climate of enforcement, given the relations between the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu And the Republican candidate Donald Trumpmay lead to a formal investigation by the US Department of Justice.
Fara risks
In response, the documents show, the Israeli government hired Sandler Reif, a leading Washington election and campaign law firm, to analyze the FARA risks posed by Concert and other Israeli advocacy efforts to shape American policy and public opinion.
Another memo from 2018 said the increased public interest in FARA was due to “the investigation into Donald Trump and officials in his administration suspected of acting as foreign agents of the Russian government.”
According to the document, senior Israeli advisers, who assert that “donors are not interested in donating to groups registered under FARA,” advised the creation of a new American nonprofit through which Israel Voices could funnel funds.
The necessity of confidentiality
The documents point to concerns from American groups about the launch of FARA, concerns that officials say have hampered their ability to conduct advocacy in the United States, with several American Jewish organizations even declining funding over FARA concerns.
In an email sent by Glazer in 2019, she noted that if it became public that Israel had sought legal advice on FARA, it could “raise allegations that Israel seeks to interfere unacceptably in American affairs and spark a public debate about a sensitive issue in Israeli-American relations.”
To avoid potential public relations fallout, Glazer urged secrecy surrounding the Israeli government's appointment of Sandler Reif, the American law firm retained to study the case, warning that “revealing the name of the law firm could jeopardize the entire relationship.”
The documents show grants from Israel Voices to several American advocacy groups, including Christian Zionist organizations that have been involved in helping pass state anti-boycott laws that penalize Americans for engaging in certain forms of boycotts targeting the Israeli government.
In 2018, the Department of Strategic Affairs approved a $445,000 grant to the Institute for the Study of Antisemitism and Global Policy, which has expanded its advocacy role in recent months, said to have influenced a controversial congressional hearing with elite college presidents and met with leaders of Congress Regularly and urged investigations into pro-Palestinian student demonstrators.
