The American Israel Public Affairs Committee and its affiliates routinely throw around tens of millions of dollars in American elections to ensure that hardline supporters of Israel are elected to the U.S. Congress on both sides of the aisle.
Rep. Thomas Massie — a Republican lawmaker with an 86.79% lifetime Turning Point Action score whom AIPAC has once again spent a fortune trying to unseat in Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District — introduced legislation on Thursday that would make AIPAC subject to the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938.
‘It simply ensures transparency.’
FARA — a law originally advanced to curb Nazi Germany’s influence in America — requires certain agents acting on behalf of foreign governments, organizations, or individuals to register with the Justice Department and to make “periodic public disclosure of their relationship with the foreign principal, as well as activities, receipts, and disbursements in support of those activities.”
There have long been calls for AIPAC to have to register under FARA. Some opponents of such transparency have argued that the organization isn’t foreign, that it’s “‘America’s pro-Israel lobby’ and not the ‘Israel lobby.'”
“For some reason they’re immune right now,” Massie said when announcing the Americans Insist on Political Agent Clarity Act, or AIPAC Act for short. “I think, not just the money that’s spent in politics but the lobbying that happens on Capitol Hill should be reported if it’s a foreign country — whether it’s Great Britain, Australia, Turkey, Qatar or Israel, it needs to be reported.”
“The Americans Insist on Political Agent Clarity Act does not ban speech, restrict advocacy, or prohibit Americans from supporting foreign allies,” Massie said in a statement. “It simply ensures transparency. If an organization is heavily engaged in influencing U.S. policy in ways that principally benefit a foreign country, it should be required to register under FARA.”
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The AIPAC Act would: clarify that U.S.-based organizations may qualify as foreign principals under FARA when their lobbying activities primarily advance the interests of a foreign power; establish “objective indicators” to determine foreign political alignment; and create a private right of action for American citizens to file complaints with the DOJ requesting probes into possible FARA violations by a foreign principal.
Massie has in recent months complained about the support his Republican challenger Ed Gallrein has enjoyed from “Israel-first billionaires Miriam Adelson, Paul Singer, and John Paulson, who himself appears in Epstein’s black book,” via a PAC called MAGA KY.
The Daily Caller reported that AIPAC and the Republican Jewish Coalition have spent upwards of $9.8 million on efforts to boost Gallrein.
Massie appears to have drawn the ire of AIPAC and leading pro-Israel activists in part due to his past criticism of aid to Israel and his criticism of American military interventions in Iran.
Blaze News has reached out to AIPAC for comment.
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