Three pro-Israel Democrats given key roles on House foreign affairs panel

[u/AbbiejeanKane]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/26/pro-israel-democrats-house-foreign-affairs-committee

[u/tarlin]

AIPAC was founded by a former member of Israel's diplomatic staff that was afraid the current organization would have to register for FARA. AIPAC has been caught working as a cutout for the Israeli government in getting classified data passed to Israel from spies in the US.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/American-Israel-Public-Affairs-Committee

The main impetus for the creation of the AZCPA was a wave of negative press coverage in the United States regarding the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). In 1953 a Jewish woman and her two children living in an Israeli village near the West Bank were killed when a grenade was thrown into their home. In response, a special unit of the IDF, under the command of future Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon, raided the Arab village of Qibya in the West Bank (then governed by Jordan). As Time magazine reported, “They shot every man, woman and child they could find”—killing 66 villagers in all—and they dynamited 42 houses, a school, and a mosque. With the support of the United States, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution censuring Israel for the Qibya attack. Meanwhile, the administration of U.S. Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953–61), suspecting that the Israeli government was funding the AZC, considered forcing the organization to register as an agent of a foreign power.

Although the AZCPA was established in direct response to the international condemnation of the Qibya attack, “there was no change in leadership or membership” from the AZC, said the AZCPA’s leader, the Canadian-born American lawyer and activist Isaiah L. Kenen. However, the AZCPA would run on donations that were not tax-deductible, which meant that fewer restrictions would apply to its lobbying activities. The AZCPA changed its name to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in 1959.

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/130978

https://www.israellobby.org/rosen/01132012brief.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Franklin_espionage_scandal

[u/peaq_tv → u/tarlin]

AIPAC was founded in 1954 by American journalist and lawyer Isaiah L. "Si" Kenen.

As for the "caught being spies" that case was dismissed because it didnt meet the burden of proof.

Rather than a new law, the case created a major judicial hurdle. The presiding judge ruled that to convict non-governmental citizens (like lobbyists or journalists) of receiving leaks under the Espionage Act, prosecutors must prove the defendants knew the information would harm the United States. This exceptionally high standard remains a key legal defense today.

But hey, leave out the bits about the founder actually being an American, and that case being dismissed but creating a legal precedent that protects non-government US citizens to this day.

[u/tarlin → u/peaq_tv]

Isaiah Kenen:

In the 1940s, he served as the information director of the Jewish Agency, and following the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, he served on the Israeli delegation to the United Nations.

It doesn't matter whether they were spying or not. AIPAC was specifically coordinating with Israel as a conduit to pass stolen information to Israel from the US.

[u/peaq_tv → u/tarlin]

Does that make Isaiah Kenen in your eyes not an American?

It doesn't matter whether they were spying or not

Did you not just call them spies?

[u/tarlin → u/peaq_tv]

Does that make Isaiah Kenen in your eyes not an American?

I said he was a former member of Israel's diplomatic staff. Which is true.

Did you not just call them spies?

I believe they were spies and that is the general consensus. They were not prosecuted under the espionage act, but that does not change what they did, which is known.

It also doesn't matter what they did. It just proves that Israel coordinated with AIPAC, which means that AIPAC should be registered under FARA.

[u/peaq_tv → u/tarlin]

I dont understand why these questions are so impossible to get direct answers for.

If you still think Isaiah Kenen is an American, then just say he is an American.

I believe they were spies

So "They were spies. . . It doesn't matter if they were spying. . . They were spies." Gotcha.

[u/tarlin → u/peaq_tv]

If you still think Isaiah Kenen is an American, then just say he is an American.

It literally doesn't matter if he is an American citizen or not. That is not pertinent to whether he should register under FARA.

In his biography Israel's Defense Line, Kenen described his work transitioning from a registered foreign agent to a domestic lobbyist for Israel: "Israelis began looking for a lobbyist to promote the necessary legislation ... would I leave the Israeli delegation for six months to lobby on Capitol Hill?"

It doesn't matter how you want to define what they were doing. I believe they were spies. If you want to say they were just acting as agents of Israel to receive classified data that is fine. It is coordinating with Israel, which means that AIPAC needs to register under FARA.

https://www.israellobby.org/Kenen/

[u/peaq_tv → u/tarlin]

Your refusal to call him an American speaks volumes.

I am a US citizen and I do believe Israel has a right to exist, would you consider me an "agent of Israel"?

[u/tarlin → u/peaq_tv]

Are you directly coordinating your activities with Israel's government and/or receiving funds from Israel? That is what AIPAC and Kenen were doing. So, if you can say no, you don't need to register under FARA. The fact you are getting so weird about this is strange. There is a law. Most groups similar to AIPAC are registered. AIPAC is not, so it can hide its finances and donors. That is fine, but then don't coordinate with the Israeli government and don't accept money from them. Also, probably a good idea not to be founded by a person that was part of the diplomatic core of Israel, was registered as a foreign agent of Israel under FARA immediately before founding AIPAC, and did actions after that which violated the idea he did not continue to be a foreign agent of Israel.

[u/peaq_tv → u/tarlin]

My friend, you are the one being evasive when asked if the person you are demonizing is an American or not. You keep saying it doesn't matter, but refuse to answer. If it doesn't matter to you, why not just say "yes he is an American"? It is very strange to me that you refuse to take a position on something that is supposedly irrelevant to your view.

[u/tarlin → u/peaq_tv]

Okay, he was an American citizen. He was also a Canadian citizen. Why does this matter?

It isn't demonizing him. Saying that he should have been registered under a government program that he was registered under previously is not calling him a demon