Israel Lobby Targets
Tax Honesty Movement
Are Kidd, Becraft, Banister
and Schulz “Extremists”?
March 22, 2007
As we reported in our previous article, the
upcoming Give Me Liberty 2007 conference will examine U.S. Middle East Policy
through the prism of the U.S. Constitution. During the conference we will
examine the work of professors Mearsheimer (University of Chicago) and Walt
(Harvard University) titled, “The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy,” and the
book by Jimmy Carter titled, Palestine Peace Not Apartheid.
Substantial documentary evidence presented by
Mearsheimer, Walt and Carter supports the argument that the United States has
abandoned its own national interest and security to advance the interests of
Israel, that neither strategic nor moral arguments can justify America’s
unconditional support for Israel, that the United States has become the de facto
enabler of Israel’s unlawful expansion and military occupation of the
Palestinian Territories, and that U.S. policy in the Middle East (including
giving Israel well over $140 billion in U.S. income tax revenues) has been
driven by the activities of the “Israel Lobby.”
Their work documents how the Israeli Lobby unashamedly boasts of its control
over U.S. domestic and foreign policy and public opinion, and attacks any person
or organization that criticizes or is perceived to be a threat to Israel’s
interests.
According to Mearsheimer and Walt, “We use
‘the Lobby’ as a convenient term for the loose coalition of individuals and
organizations who actively work to shape U.S. policy in a pro-Israel
direction…The core of the Lobby is comprised of American Jews who make a
significant effort in their daily lives to bend U.S. foreign policy so that it
advances Israel’s interests.”
Referring to them as “extremists”, the Lobby has attacked
columnist Devvy Kidd, constitutional attorney Larry Becraft, former IRS Special
Agent Joe Banister, WTP Chairman Bob Schulz and others affiliated with the Tax
Honesty Movement who have developed a substantial body of documentary evidence
that conclusively proves the present federal income tax is an unlawful
(Constitutionally prohibited) direct, un-apportioned tax on the labor of
American citizens. See “Extremism
In America: Tax Protest Movement” on one of the
Israeli Lobby’s websites. (Don’t forget to click on UPDATE)
Why would the Israeli Lobby’s Anti-Defamation
League take such a keen interest in defending the method by which the U.S.
Government collects its internal revenues?
Why would the Lobby attempt to publicly
demonize American citizens who are properly exercising their Right of Free
Speech and the Right to Petition the Government for Redress of Grievances, as
expressly guaranteed by the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights?
Why would the Lobby concern itself with
“extremists” who are peacefully and lawfully defending America’s Constitution
and Founding Principles?
According to the Lobby’s website,
“[T]he Anti-Defamation League was
established in 1913 by a lawyer and fearless visionary by the name of Sigmund
Livingston…’to stop, by appeals to reason and conscience, and if necessary, by
appeals to law, the defamation of the Jewish people. . . to secure justice and
fair treatment to all citizens alike. . . put an end forever to unjust and
unfair discrimination against and ridicule of any sect or body of citizens.” See
http://www.adl.org/ADLHistory/1913_1920.asp
“The particulars may change, but the goal
remains the same: to stand up for the core values of
America against those who seek to undermine
them through word or deed.” See
http://www.adl.org/ADLHistory/intro.asp
“ADL fights hatred, extremism and terrorism.
Our goal: to make the world a safer place. Over the past few years, we have
expanded our expertise and capabilities to confront a more dangerous world.
“Our three priorities are to:
·
Gather, analyze and disseminate
intelligence on extremism and hate activity
·
Enhance law enforcement’s ability to
combat serious threats
·
Provide assistance, support and
resources on security to the Jewish community
“ADL is meeting the
CHALLENGE: we have a nationwide fact-finding infrastructure. We take ACTION:
bringing law enforcement agencies together, implementing strategies to promote
security awareness, systemically monitoring hate sites on the Internet,
providing training on extremist ideologies and building bridges between Jewish
institutions and law enforcement. In ways large and small, measurable and not,
ADL gets RESULTS. We are making this nation a safer place.” See
http://www.adl.org/main_about_adl.asp
The Lobby says its goal is “to stand up for the core values of America.”
However, the true core values and guiding principles of America are concisely
articulated in its Founding Documents, the Declaration of Independence and the
Constitution of the United States of America.
Either the Israeli Lobby is intentionally misrepresenting its purpose and
objectives, or its understanding of what constitutes America’s “core values” is
immensely different than that of our country’s Founders. There can be no other
rational explanation for why the Lobby would attempt to publicly demonize
American patriots such as Kidd, Becraft, Banister, Schulz and others who seek
only to hold the Federal Government accountable to the U.S. Constitution and the
laws of the United States.
Unlike the United States, the nation of Israel has no Constitution or Bill of
Rights that limits the power of government and guarantees the individual Rights
of its People. Israel’s government is not subject to constitutional limits on
its power, nor does it recognize, guarantee or protect the equal rights of every
person living under its military authority and control, including those
Palestinians residing in the Occupied Territories.
Israel’s government is dominated by a class of government-corporate-military
elites who exercise complete control over the country. This control over the
Israeli and Palestinian People would not be possible without the powerful
influence of the Israeli Lobby and the billions in annual financial support
received from the U.S. government. This may explain the Lobby’s attack on Kidd,
Becraft, Banister, Schulz and others who objectively criticize America’s
relationship with Israel.
Our government, unlike Israel’s, rests
upon a firm foundation of Constitutional Law designed to secure the individual
rights and freedoms of every American. The lawful authority exercised by our
government is limited to that which is delegated and derived from the consent of
the People. In America, the rights and freedoms come not from our servant
government, but from God. Unlike the State of Israel, America has a form of
government and system of justice that strictly prohibit the discrimination,
maltreatment and oppression of any person or group of people based on their
ethnic origin, religion or race.
In America, unlike Israel, we possess certain rights that cannot be denied
except by due process of law. Those rights include the right to private
property and to be secure in our homes and possessions, the right to defend our
lives and property against aggression, and the right to live our lives according
to the dictates of personal conscience so long as we do no harm, and respect the
equal individual rights of our fellow Americans.
Contrary to widely misinformed public opinion, Israel does not recognize the
concept of inalienable (God-given) individual rights for every person regardless
of ethnic origin, religion or race. Israel does not share America’s core moral
values expressed in our Founding Documents. Israel does not guarantee religious
freedom to its citizens, nor tolerate free religious expression.
Every year billions of dollars are confiscated from U.S. taxpayers by our
Federal Government and sent to Israel in direct violation of the U.S.
Constitution. This theft of the labor of American citizens is made even more
egregious by the fact that the bulk of our foreign aid to Israel is used to
expand and enforce its unlawful and immoral occupation of the Palestinian
Territories, and its subjugation and long-standing oppression of the Palestinian
People.
America’s “core values” reflect our devotion to individual liberty, and the
right of every person to live free of arbitrary government coercion and force.
However, we cannot have personal freedom without personal responsibility. Our
decisions and actions have consequences. Sometimes those consequences extend
far beyond what we anticipate, or can even imagine.
America’s blind and unconditional support for Israel over the past 40 years has
produced catastrophic consequences for our Country. The core values of our
society and the integrity of our government institutions have been thoroughly
corrupted by the influence of a foreign Lobby.
Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Thomas Paine, Patrick Henry and countless American
patriots over the past 230 years have reaffirmed our nation’s core values, while
warning of the consequences of ignorance and apathy among the People. Modern
American patriots such as Kidd, Becraft, Banister and Schulz, like our nation’s
Founders, are keenly aware that freedom cannot coexist with ignorance and
apathy. Clearly, the Israeli Lobby perceives our vigilance and love of country
to be a threat to its objectives, but why?
Other than a desire to protect at all costs the tax revenues of the U.S.
Government (as goes the U.S. income tax, so goes U.S. aid to Israel), we can
think of no reason for the Israel Lobby’s defamation of Kidd, Becraft, Banister,
Schulz and the others who have never defamed or threatened in any manner the
Jewish people or the state of Israel, who believe in justice and fair treatment
of all citizens alike and who have never engaged in discrimination against or
ridicule of any sect or body of citizens.
As
the saying goes, it would appear the Israel Lobby has gotten “too big for its
britches.”
The Israel Lobby behaves as if it can do no wrong and is untouchable. In their
paper, Mearsheimer and Walt address the Lobby’s extraordinary efforts to bend
U.S. policy in a pro-Israel direction. They address the Lobby’s extraordinary
influence in the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Executive, its extraordinary
manipulation of America’s media and think tanks and its growing efforts on
American campuses to perpetuate myths about and prevent criticism of Israel.
For more insight into the extent of the Lobby’s influence (control) in the U.S.
Congress, read the what Paul Findley, the former congressman from Illinois
reported in his article “Liberating
America From Israel.” Better yet,
read his book “They Dare to Speak Out.”
In
addition, read what James Abourezk, the former Senator from South Dakota
reported in his article “Support
for
Israel in Congress is based
on fear.”
One gets another glimpse of the Lobby’s powerful influence over people like Dick
Cheney, Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi by reading the article by Gregory Levey
titled, “Inside
America’s powerful Israel Lobby,”
in which Levey writes about his observations at the Lobby’s annual three-day
conference in Washington DC last week.
Who or what can stop the juggernaut – this terrible, irresistible force that is
destroying Palestine, threatening the stability of the world order and
endangering the American Republic and the Liberty of the American People?
In a
Carter Center press release issued on 15 December 2006 entitled "A letter to
Jewish citizens of America," Carter wrote,
“ [T]he
overwhelming bias for Israel comes from among Christians like me who have been
taught since childhood to honor and protect God's chosen people from among whom
came our own savior, Jesus Christ. An additional factor, especially in the
political arena, is the powerful influence of the American Israel Public Affairs
Committee, which is exercising its legitimate goal of explaining the current
policies of Israel's government and arousing maximum support in our country.
There are no significant countervailing voices."
In
Carter’s op-ed to the Los Angeles Times on December 8, 2006 he wrote,
"For the last 30 years, I
have witnessed and experienced the severe restraints on any free and balanced
discussion of the facts."
As
Findley wrote in
Liberating America From Israel,
“The lobby's
intimidation remains pervasive. It seems to reach every government center
and even houses of worship and revered institutions of higher learning.”
Herein lies a disturbing explanation for the reprehensible and unconstitutional
treatment that American citizens such as Irwin Schiff and Dick Simkanin (and
lawyers such as Becraft and Jeff Dickstein) have received in criminal tax
trials. The Lobby’s heavy-handed demonizing and intimidation of people for
attempting to intelligently question the origin and operation of the federal
income tax system may well be going beyond the ADL’s website, reaching into the
halls of justice.
We
take issue with Jimmy Carter’s pessimistic assertion that there are no
countervailing voices (to counteract the Lobby’s cacophony). Carter is wrong on
this. There are countervailing voices that speak in harmony, that are far
more powerful and carry far more weight in the day-to-day affairs of the United
States than does the Lobby or any other special interest.
One need only ponder the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution to
discover these countervailing voices. Listen and you will hear a harmony of the
most powerful voices of all mankind, those of Thomas Jefferson, George
Washington, James Madison, John and Sam Adams, Patrick Henry, Ben Franklin and
the rest of the Founding Fathers. In your hearts, you will feel the force of
Liberty.
We
are not to be intimidated by the Lobby. We are to be inspired by our Founding
Documents and their underlying essential principles. Each generation is on call
to defend them against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
The battle continues next week in Alexandria Virginia at GML 2007.
Unless the people we have invited to speak at the conference (representatives
from the Israel Lobby and the Governments of Israel and the United States, and
various scholars), or anyone else can effectively deny the facts in Carter’s
book and the Paper by Mearsheimer and Walt, then we, as responsible citizens of
America have a duty to defend the General Welfare Clause of the Constitution by
petitioning the U.S. Government to suspend all aid to Israel at least until
Israel ends is occupation of Arab land unlawfully seized in 1967.
If ending aid to Israel means an end to the Police State policies and programs
that have been imposed on the People of America since 9-11, and that have
resulted in a loss of Freedom, then that is what must be done.
Not that anyone would ask for our opinion regarding a lasting solution to the
Israel/Palestine conflict, but if they did we would suggest a TWO-STATE,
ONE-CONSTITUTION solution, with that Constitution protecting individual Rights,
Equal Protection under the Law and Due Process for all.
It
may be that a little “extremism” is just what the doctor ordered.
Reproduced from:
http://www.wethepeoplefoundation.org/UPDATE/Update2007-03-22.htm
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