US AID : Unwelcome Meddling
Todd Warnick of Jerusalem Central and I were pro-Israel activists together at the University of Washington in the 1970s. Todd made aliya way before me and is one of Israel’s best known (but now retired) basketball coaches…He and I still see eye to eye on political matters. Here’s his latest on the outrageous pressure campaign being funded by (y)our tax dollars…
The problem isn’t necessarily the US Government supporting a 2-state solution – though one would think that this is an inappropriate use of taxpayer money and USAID funds – but look how they’re doing it: a big picture of 7 leaders of the Palestinian Authority with the caption: “We’re Partners. And You?”. This begs the question, of course: Do you think there is a similar campaign at work all over Judea, Samaria and Gaza, i.e. pictures of Bibi, Barak, Lieberman and the rest of the 7 members of the Inner Cabinet that says in Arabic: “We’re Partners. And You?” The answer is rather obvious. More inappropriate meddling by foreign governments in Israel – at least a new law going through the Knesset a la the US Foreign Agents Registration Act would make this kind of funding more transparent.
Here is also the link to the Geneva Initiative web site indicating as well support from USAID, which has provided “US economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide for more than 40 years”. As to the story in today’s Yediot Ahronot, p.7:
Big picture across the top of the page (l to r):
Sufian Abu Zeideh, Yasser Abu Rabo, Saeeb Erekat, Abu Mazen, Salam Fayyad, Riad Al-Malki, Jabril RajoubCaption OVER the picture: “We Are Partners. And You?”
Headline: Campaign Funded by the White HouseSubhead: The Geneva Initiative Organization Produces, the Americans Are Paying, the Heads of the Palestinian Authority Star in a Political Campaign That Will be Open This Morning and Will Try to Convince Israelis That Peace is Possible
By Itamar Eichner”We are partners – and what’s with you”? asks the organizers of the Geneva Initiative of the People of Israel in a new (advertising) campaign that will open this morning, and it turns out that the Americans are also joining.
Saeeb Erekat, Jabril Rajoub, Yasser Abd Rabo and the Palestinian foreign minister (sic) Riad Malki will appear from this morning on billboards throughout Israel, in newspaper advertisements and in network spots – and will try to convince you that there is with whom to speak on the other side.
At first glance it appears just like any other initiative of a movement in favor of a 2-state solution, but when you check who gave the main funding for this campaign it turns out to be none other than Washington, D.C. One million shekel (~ $260,000: TW) has been invested in financing the campaign, whose goal is to encourage Israelis to support a Palestinian state, and most of which came from the American assistance agency, USAID – a federal agency that usually funds humanitarian activities in the world, e.g. assistance for victims of the earthquake in Haiti, food supplies for flood victims in Pakistan, and for the hungry and starving in Africa. The organization is active in Israel and the Palestinian Authority, but never – until today – did it ever finance a project that is connected to political organizations and to the peace process in the Middle East. Moreover – this will be the first time that the American Government supports financially, even if indirectly, in an initiative of this kind.
The Geneva Initiative is an organization that promotes a permanent Israeli-Palestinian solution on the basis of the Clinton Parameters of December 2000. “Yediot Ahronot” became aware that it is the organization that turned to Washington with a request to receive financial support for producing the campaign, and it was agreed upon there to respond positively. “We are showing the partners as they are”, said yesterday Geneva Initiative CEO Gadi Baltiansky. “I am happy that those who support a solution of two states are also assisting in passing on the message”.
Sources in the Israeli Foreign Ministry said last night that the decision of the American Government to fund this campaign is in their eyes extremely odd. “This this is fact a campaign of the Palestinian Authority with funding from the US Government”, said the source.
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