Update on 'The Israel Lobby'
September 30, 2007
The New York Times
New Group Boasts Big War Chest and Rising Voice
Freedoms Watch, founded by the Republican Jewish Coalition, to raise $200 million to target 'radical Islam', Iran
by Don Van Natta, Jr
Freedoms Watch, a deep-pocketed conservative group led by two former senior White House officials, made an audacious debut in late August when it began a $15 million advertising campaign designed to maintain Congressional support for President Bushs troop increase in Iraq.
Bradley Blakeman, the president of Freedoms Watch, who left the Bush administration as an assistant deputy to the president.
Founded this summer by a dozen wealthy conservatives, the nonprofit group is set apart from most advocacy groups by the immense wealth of its core group of benefactors, its intention to far outspend its rivals and its ambition to pursue a wide-ranging agenda.
Its next target: Iran policy.
Next month, Freedoms Watch will sponsor a private forum of 20 experts on radical Islam that is expected to make the case that Iran poses a direct threat to the security of the United States, according to several benefactors of the group.
Although the group declined to identify the experts, several were invited from the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington research group with close ties to the White House.
. . . Freedoms Watch has quickly emerged from the crowded field of nonprofit advocacy groups as a conservative answer to the 9-year-old liberal MoveOn.org, which vehemently opposes the Iraq war.
The idea for Freedoms Watch was hatched in March at the winter meeting of Republican Jewish Coalition in Manalapan, Fla., where Vice President Dick Cheney was the keynote speaker, according to participants.
Next week, the group is moving into a 10,000-square-foot office in the Chinatown section of Washington, with plans to employ as many as 50 people by early next year.
One benefactor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the group was hoping to raise as much as $200 million by November 2008.
Raising big money will be easy, the benefactor said, adding that several of the founders each wrote a check for $1 million. Mr. Blakeman would not confirm or deny whether any donor gave $1 million, or more, to the organization. . . .
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September 25, 2007
I.N.N. World Report
Exclusive TV interview with Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer
Authors of "The Israel Lobby & U.S. Foreign Policy"
by Claire Brown
In an exclusive, and sometimes controversial, interview with I.N.N. World Report, Professor Stephen Walt of Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, and Professor John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago, discuss their groundbreaking book, "The Israel Lobby & U.S. Foreign Policy."
After being asked about which 2008 Presidential candidate would stand up to the Israel Lobby, Stephen Walt responded, "It's obvious already that all of the major candidates have gone through enormous lengths to demonstrate their personal devotion to Israel, and that they will do nothing to change the U.S. - Israel relationship."
VIEW at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIPv298fdRY
The New York Times
New Group Boasts Big War Chest and Rising Voice
Freedoms Watch, founded by the Republican Jewish Coalition, to raise $200 million to target 'radical Islam', Iran
by Don Van Natta, Jr
Freedoms Watch, a deep-pocketed conservative group led by two former senior White House officials, made an audacious debut in late August when it began a $15 million advertising campaign designed to maintain Congressional support for President Bushs troop increase in Iraq.
Bradley Blakeman, the president of Freedoms Watch, who left the Bush administration as an assistant deputy to the president.
Founded this summer by a dozen wealthy conservatives, the nonprofit group is set apart from most advocacy groups by the immense wealth of its core group of benefactors, its intention to far outspend its rivals and its ambition to pursue a wide-ranging agenda.
Its next target: Iran policy.
Next month, Freedoms Watch will sponsor a private forum of 20 experts on radical Islam that is expected to make the case that Iran poses a direct threat to the security of the United States, according to several benefactors of the group.
Although the group declined to identify the experts, several were invited from the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington research group with close ties to the White House.
. . . Freedoms Watch has quickly emerged from the crowded field of nonprofit advocacy groups as a conservative answer to the 9-year-old liberal MoveOn.org, which vehemently opposes the Iraq war.
The idea for Freedoms Watch was hatched in March at the winter meeting of Republican Jewish Coalition in Manalapan, Fla., where Vice President Dick Cheney was the keynote speaker, according to participants.
Next week, the group is moving into a 10,000-square-foot office in the Chinatown section of Washington, with plans to employ as many as 50 people by early next year.
One benefactor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the group was hoping to raise as much as $200 million by November 2008.
Raising big money will be easy, the benefactor said, adding that several of the founders each wrote a check for $1 million. Mr. Blakeman would not confirm or deny whether any donor gave $1 million, or more, to the organization. . . .
============================================================
September 25, 2007
I.N.N. World Report
Exclusive TV interview with Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer
Authors of "The Israel Lobby & U.S. Foreign Policy"
by Claire Brown
In an exclusive, and sometimes controversial, interview with I.N.N. World Report, Professor Stephen Walt of Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, and Professor John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago, discuss their groundbreaking book, "The Israel Lobby & U.S. Foreign Policy."
After being asked about which 2008 Presidential candidate would stand up to the Israel Lobby, Stephen Walt responded, "It's obvious already that all of the major candidates have gone through enormous lengths to demonstrate their personal devotion to Israel, and that they will do nothing to change the U.S. - Israel relationship."
VIEW at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIPv298fdRY
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