.
10/3, "
More J-Street Revelations; Moneymen and more Soros connections," American Thinker by Ed Lasky
"When Eli Lake's story regarding J Street's donor list was published the role of George Soros created controversy. Soros has a long history of funding anti-Israel activism so
- his role at J Street was deliberately hidden by the group for years.
Now more revelations have started to leak. I did a bit of further research (hat tip: Cheryl Lewin) about another donor and supporter of J Street: Gail Furman. She sits on its advisory council and is a donor listed on its Form 990.
a group of wealthy donors and liberal activists created with the goal of tipping elections
- (so is another J Street donor and member of the advisory council,
- Deborah Sanger) .
Among their projects was the Secretary of State project-designed to elect secretaries of states in key battleground states (these are the officials charged with ensuring the integrity of the voting process). The Democracy Alliance funds various 527 groups and political candidates, as well.
But returning to Gail Furman - is there more to be learned?
She is president of the Furman Foundation, a major donor to the Soros-backed Tides Center
- and the Media Matters for America as well as other activist groups.
She has a son who is highly placed in the Obama administration: Jason Furman, was the top economic campaign advisor to Barack Obama and now serves as the Deputy Director of the National Economic Council.
Furman has been quoted quite often over the years of Barack Obama's rise to the pinnacle of power.
- Funny how all these relationships are created and endure.
A major backer of J Street has a son who played a key role in the election of Barack Obama.
And there's more on the J Street-Soros connections -
- a tangled web when one seeks to deceive....
J-Street's advisory council has included...Sheldon Drobny, who co-founded the Soros-funded Air America Radio;
- Maria Echaveste, a Senior Fellow at the Soros-funded Center for American Progress, a Board of Directors member of the Soros-funded People for the American Way, and a Board of Advisors member of the Soros-funded American Constitution Society;
Eli Pariser, Executive Director of the Soros-funded, Democratic Party; promoting MoveOn.org; and Robert Malley, a Director of the Soros-funded International Crisis Group who grew up at the foot of Yassir Arafat."
J-Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami: "J-Street does not reveal the names of donors to its 501 (c) (4) corporation or the amounts of their contributions. Neither do all such entities in the United States. The law guarantees donors their privacy and confidentiality."...
- (Obama has been adamant that the very idea of this practice is an outrage. To the point he berated United States Supreme Court Justices (present as guests) on worldwide television as if they were naughty children who should be sent to their room without dinner.) ed.
Reference re Democracy Alliance: 7/17/06, Washington Post, "A new alliance of Democrats spreads funding, but some in party bristle at secrecy and liberal tilt," by VandeHei and Cillizza
from the article on Democracy Alliance donor secrecy:
"The group requires nondisclosure agreements because many
Wade added. Some donors expressed concern about being attacked on the Web or elsewhere for their political stance; others did not want to be targeted by fundraisers.
said Guy Saperstein, an Oakland lawyer and alliance donor....
But some consider Democracy Alliance's hidden influence troubling, regardless of its ideological orientation. Unlike election campaigns, which must detail contributions and spending,
"It is a huge problem," said Sheila Krumholz, the acting executive director of the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. She noted that
for decades "all kinds of Democrats and liberals were complaining
- that corporations and individuals were carrying on these stealth campaigns to fund right-wing think tanks and advocacy groups.
Just as it was then, it is a problem today.""...
- Soros at the center of facilitating acceptance of UN sanctioned Goldstone Report:
9/29/10, Washington Times: "Israel lobby (J Street) aided hill visits for UN report author," by Birnbaum and Lake
"The Goldstone Report is widely viewed as slanderous toward the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) among the American Jewish community and in Israel. It accuses the IDF of deliberately targeting civilians in the ground and air war in Gaza, which resulted in at least 1,000 Palestinian deaths. The White House also has criticized the report.
J Street, in its public statements on the Goldstone Report, has neither condemned nor endorsed its substance.
In a statement provided to The Washington Times this week, Mr. Ben-Ami said, "J Street did not host, arrange or facilitate any visit to Washington, D.C., by Judge Richard Goldstone."
He went on to say, however, that "J Street staff
- spoke to colleagues at the organizations coordinating the meetings and, at their behest,
He added, "We believed it to be a good idea for him and for members of Congress to meet personally, but we declined to play a role in hosting, convening or attending any of the meetings."
When asked later how many congressional offices had been contacted, a J Street staffer told the Times that it was "two or three." Mr. Ben-Ami later said he did not remember reaching out to Congress at all.
- A senior officer of J Street (president of Soros' Open Society Institute) however, played a central role in arranging Judge Goldstone's visit.
Judge Goldstone told The Times in an interview that he had sought the meetings after a discussion with longtime friend Morton H. Halperin — president of the Open Society Institute (OSI) and one of five senior officers at J Street, according to the group's federal tax returns. Those forms list Mr. Halperin as a "director," and say he spends 10 hours a week on J Street ( business.
- "He suggested — and I agreed — that it would be a good idea for me to meet with some of the leading members of Congress," Judge Goldstone said. "I thought it was important to correct the misimpressions." He added that
Mr. Halperin had hand-delivered a personal letter he had written to members of Congress.
Judge Goldstone said he remembers attending "10 or 12" meetings. J Street co-founder Daniel Levy, who accompanied the judge to several of the parleys, said that the New America Foundation (NAF) — whose Middle East Task Force he co-chairs — had also hosted a lunch with Judge Goldstone for "a group of analysts and Middle East wonks."
- The judge, Mr. Levy, and J Street all declined to identify the members of Congress.
All three organizations associated with Judge Goldstone's visit to Washington —
- J Street, NAF and OSI — receive substantial funding from Hungarian-born billionaire
OSI controls nearly $2 billion in assets provided by Mr. Soros over the years. NAF, in turn, received $855,000 from OSI in 2009, though the money was not set aside for the think tank's Middle East program. The Times disclosed last week that J Street had received $750,000 from Mr. Soros and his family despite repeated denials from the group that it had received any funding from Mr. Soros in the past.
- Judge Goldstone said that he "was keen to meet with [members of Congress] because of what I considered to be both an unfortunate and factually incorrect resolution." J Street said at the time that it was "unable to support" the resolution as written.
It subsequently passed the House by a vote of 344-36."...
