By Jamal Kanj

In his 1787 farewell speech, George Washington warned, “… foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government.”

Washington’s compatriots were more specific. Later in the same year, John Adams wrote a letter to Thomas Jefferson sharing his apprehension “of foreign Interference, Intrigue and Influence.” Adams posited that foreign meddling correlates with election cycles. “As often as Elections happen,” Adams wrote, “the danger of foreign Influence recurs.”

The Founding Fathers’ premonition did not come out of a vacuum. Following their victory against the army of the Crown, the revolutionaries had to defeat the internal enemy manifested by the Loyalists in the colonies.

Confronted with the dual allegiance of Loyalists, high number of the new Americans with strong ties to their original countries, the Founding Fathers were perceptively concerned with the influence of foreign powers on US electorates.

Almost two hundred and fifty years later, the bane of foreign influence on US elections today is as real as the days following the revolutionary war.

Despite all the hoopla, Russian interference in US elections is a trifle compared to the entrenched and systematic single-issue influence that had shaped the outcome of US elections, at least since the late 1970s.

Long before Russia, Israel has been the most egregious foreign government meddling in US elections through organized webs of “Parnas” in every state, every district, and every precinct.

Webs of single-issue dual Israeli-American citizens and bona fide American Zionists target their contributions to tame Democratic and Republican candidates. Unlike Russia favoring one side, Israel’s webs support candidates on both sides of the spectrum, guaranteeing Israel wins no matter who loses.

American Zionist casino magnate, Sheldon Adelson and Israeli wife Mariam―Awarded the Presidential Medal of Honor by Trump―jokey the GOP agenda, while dual Israeli-American citizen Haim Saban’s money domesticates the Democratic Party. Their money filters out Republican and Democratic candidates who fail to muster the Israeli litmus test.

Notwithstanding, Haim’s and Adelson’s apparent diametric views on what is best for America, they manage to wholeheartedly agree on what is best for Israel. They diverge on all other issues, but unite in steering most of America’s financial foreign aid (per capita) to Israel, and monopolize America’s prestige and credibility to serve Israel.

Most recently, and according to a filing with the Federal Election Commission, a self-proclaimed pro-Israel Democratic organization spent close to $800,000 on a 30-second ad attacking Democratic front runner Bernie Sanders.

Sanders, who is a Jew, refused to bow to the special interest of the Israeli lobby and condemned Israeli racism against Palestinians.

Israel’s unabashed interference is not limited to the US, but UK elections too. Chief British Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis joined hands with prominent Israel lobbyist Joe Glasman to wage coordinated Israeli efforts to undermine labor party leader, Jeremy Corbyn.

Glasman was sanguine following Corbyn loss claiming credit and chirping, “The beast is slain … we defeated him … They tried to kill us …We won.”

The UK Israeli lobby and the Chief Rabbi helped “slain” Corbyn not because they disagree on the country’s welfare, Brexit or the economy. They smeared his character for promising to recognize the state of Palestine and criticizing Israeli malevolent siege against Gaza.    

Israel-first donors in America mimic the corrupt strategy of big corporations, such as pharmaceutical or climate polluters: bestow largesse on both political spectrum to preserve special status, protect monopoly and profit.

To supplement Israeli firsters on the mainland, the Zionist lobby in the USA franchised to Israel by financing the iVoteIsrael initiative to organize Americans who became settlers in the “Jewish only” colonies in Israel/Palestine.

Contrary to what the name might imply, iVoteIsrael’s objective is to increase Israeli absentee ballots in swing states such as Florida, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. The initiative is a subsidiary of a US registered non-profit organization funded by US tax-deductible contributions from wealthy pro-Israel Jewish Americans.

The once organization’s British-born campaign strategic manager Aron Shaviv described iVoteIsrael to the New Jersey Jewish News: “We… encourage people… to think about what (American) candidate is best for Israel.”

In response to an article by the Times of Israel questioning iVoteIsrael’s partisan, Shaviv wrote, “We don’t care who you vote for – Republican, Democrat or Independent – as long as you have taken the time to vet the candidates on their position toward Israel.”

Regarding the source of iVoteIsrael funding, Shaviv told +972 magazine: “Much of the donated money comes from the (Sheldon) Adelsons of the world”.

It’s worth mentioning that in April 2019 Shaviv’s name was mentioned in a subpoena issued by the Senate Intelligence Committee in connection with its probe into the 2016 US election.

Like in the case of the British Chief Rabbi, supposed US civil rights Jewish organizations such as B’nai B’rith and ADL work as an extension to billionaires by waging an intellectual terror campaign to silence critics of Israel and aspersing their characters as anti-Semitics, or self-loathing Jews.

To put this in context with contemporaneous political discussions, what if a group of Russian-Americans created an iVoteRussia initiative financed by US Tax-deductible donations to vet candidates “on their position toward Russia”, what if a major US presidential candidate held a campaign fundraiser in Moscow for dual Russian-American citizens, or become a recipient of large contributions from dual US-Russian citizens?

Most likely, the candidate would be admonished vehemently―certainly before Trump―lose the election, shamed or impeached by the other party. And like Lev Parnas, the donors could be arrested for violations of campaign finance law.

In the case of Israel, however, there is no need to imagine anymore. In 2012, a major US presidential candidate (Romney) held a $50,000 plate fundraiser for dual Israeli-American citizens in Jerusalem. In 2016, Adelson and Saban vetted and donated generously to Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, respectively.

What makes, though, the prospect of a Russian intervention in US election a “baneful foe,” but the factual Israeli interference, Kosher?

This normalized symbiotic relationship between the two-party system and foreign interest advocated by the likes of the Sabans and the Adelsons, is the “the danger of foreign influence” the Founding Fathers had predicted.

In his frequent visits to Moscow, Israeli Benjamin Netanyahu better advises his friend Vladimir Putin to learn from the Israeli lobby by not betting on one horse in US elections, else, risk infuriating the competing jockey.

In American elections, the Israeli lobby owns the two horses, thus, guaranteeing Israel a winning jockey.

– Jamal Kanj (www.jamalkanj.com) wrote for several years a weekly newspaper column and published on several websites on Arab world issues. His latest co-authored book “Bride of the Sea” published in Germany and Poland. He contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle.