Posted on 02/05/2015 9:19:56 AM PST by xzins
JERUSALEM, Israel — Some people would say Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu must be doing something right.
The controversy over his March 3 address on Iran to Congress, along with the U.S. State Department's complicity in a leftist campaign to unseat him, makes it clear he angers a lot of people.
What's behind the anger and the well-funded efforts to unseat him?
In an op-ed published Tuesday by Arutz Sheva, Ronn Torossian, CEO of one of America's leading public relations firms, documents the history of OneVoice, an organization in the forefront of the anti-Netanyahu campaign.
According to Israeli media, OneVoice/V15 has set up headquarters in Tel Aviv, with a Jerusalem branch in the works.
“Americans who support Israel deserve to know whether their president is actively working to remove him from office,” Torossian quoted Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. “And, even more troubling, is whether U.S. tax dollars are being used to fund the campaign.”
According to the report, OneVoice, also known as PeaceWorks Network Foundation (PWNF), paid $96,000 in 2011 to Howard Sumka, who served as West Bank and Gaza Mission director for U.S. Aid and oversaw a $1 million in U.S. funding to a Hamas-run university in Gaza.
OneVoice also contributes to the American Task Force on Palestine, a pro-Palestinian group that calls for “an end to the Israeli occupation and the evacuation of all Israeli settlements,” as well as “a just solution for the Palestinian refugee problem in accordance with international legality and the relevant U.N. resolutions.”
That certainly clarifies things a bit.
A long list of organizations funding OneVoice includes such giants as The Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund Inc., and the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, which, Torossian says “have long funded dangerous and anti-Israel organizations, including the New Israel Fund.”
OneVoice is planning to send hundreds of people door-to-door throughout Israel to convince people not to vote for Netanyahu's Likud Party, Torossian explains. Funding this all-out effort to unseat him are funneled through the organization's headquarters on West 38th Street in Manhattan, which the author calls “a hodge-podge of left-wing extremists, the State Department and Palestinian Americans.”
Torossian says he's not surprised that “Obama’s consultants are working for the liberals in Israel and interfering in a sovereign country's elections.”
Netanyahu, he concludes, is “facing an army of opponents whose interests are much different than those concerned with the prosperity and security of the Jewish state.”
Meanwhile, while a number of leading Democrats, including Vice President Joe Biden and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, are threatening to boycott Netanyahu's address to Congress, others are speaking out about the illegality of foreign funding of Israeli elections.
Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., and Sen. Cruz are both sounding the alarm.
Zeldin asked Fox News’ “The Kelly File” on Monday, “Why are U.S. tax dollars being sent to a nonprofit trying to overthrow an Israeli government?” Israel Hayom’s Matti Tuchfeld reported. “One Voice, which is a U.S.-taxpayer-funded 501(C)(3) not-for-profit, has partnered with V15 in the effort to oust Netanyahu.”
On its website, OneVoice openly states it has “partnered” with the State Department, recently receiving two State Department grants to ensure Netanyahu does not get reelected. It has also signed a contract with 270 Strategies, a political consulting firm that worked for Obama in both elections.
What is it about Netanyahu that fosters such unmitigated opposition? Is it possible that standing strong for Israel unleashes deep animosity in those who may harbor, even unknowingly, latent anti-Semitism?
There is a price to pay for standing for Israel. Bibi Netanyahu knows it well.
On its website, OneVoice openly states it has “partnered” with the State Department, recently receiving two State Department grants to ensure Netanyahu does not get reelected. It has also signed a contract with 270 Strategies, a political consulting firm that worked for Obama in both elections.
The egotistical, pro muslim sympathizer, thin skinned sociopath leading a major country.
bttt
Obama will sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.
lol They don’t want him over here giving a speech because it’s close to the Israeli election, not wanting to play favorites in their politics, but are willing to actively involve themselves in the race to unseat him?
....mmmmkay
ping!
Must disagree. Obama may sow the wind, but the AMERICAN people are those who will, tragically, REAP THE WHIRLWIND.
Something I learned in the U.S. Navy as my ship rode out a nasty typhoon....”No matter the quality of the crew, our lives are in the hand of the man on the bridge.”
May I ask...”Who is on the Bridge of State?”
Where is the GOP leadership in the congress?
At least Doc Holliday in “Tombstone” admitted to his hypocrisy after receiving last rites:
“It appears my hypocrisy knows no bounds.”
Obama saying he doesn’t want to influence the Israeli elections causes an immediate gag reflex in me.
I hope Israel realizes he is working to give their arch-enemy a nuke.
2 Peter 2:9 - “if...the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.”
The article doesn’t give a link to the page for this. I’ve looked it over and they seem to be more with the Israel-Palestinian negotiation process than with Netanyahu’s defeat. Now, politically, the negotiations are different with Netanyahu than this organization, for sure ... but they are dealing with an ISSUE and not specifically with one politician.
If you can find the page link, please post it, because I don’t find it on their website.
Cruz has spoke out. And a congressman Lee Zeldin.
Other than that: ....(crickets)....
Although, to his credit, Boehner is giving Netanyahu a huge microphone in having him address Congress.
My guess is the author is thinking that funds are fungible.
Obama will sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.
Soon I hope. For the sake of our country and the CIVILIZED world I hope soon.
May I ask...Who is on the Bridge of State?
________________________________________________
GOD!!!! Have Faith!!!!
someday the American people will rise up and...
Well, the thing about that, is that in Israel, THIS is what that organization can’t do by law there, that is ... campaign against an individual. SO, they would be shut down by Israeli law, if they attempted to do that. What they can do is campaign about ISSUES (but not individuals).
Now, we know that different individuals have “positions” on issues (of course) but THAT ORGANIZATION cannot mention the individual’s position ... the organization can only argue “for a position” on an issue.
It’s the SAME THING in the USA with certain political organizations, in that they CANNOT campaign against (or for) an individual, but they CAN argue for a certain POSITIONS on an issue.
THAT is also ALLOWED in Israel.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.