On morning when Sen. Judicial Com. begins Foreign Agency Registration Act hearings on Russian agents working in the US, Blankfort reminds listeners of last FARA hearings held by Sen. JW Fulbright in 1963 that determined that the American Zionist Council that morphed into AIPAC was acting on behalf of Israel which led Pres. Kennedy to have the Justice Dept, order it to register as a foreign agent. The AZC's lawyers were able to block Justice's efforts to do so until assassination of JFK made the issue moot.
Blankfort notes that had Grant Smith of IRMEP not wrote about the hearings they would have been a footnote in history since experts on Israel-Palestine like Noam Chomsky and Phyllis Bennis, never mention them.
He then switches to the AIPAC crafted âIsrael Anti-Boycott Act,â as example of what not requiring Israel to register as a foreign agent has led to, the integration of Israel into a dominant insider position in America's political culture. Blankfort cites ACLU critique of House and Senate bills, claiming they are an attack on the First Amendment.
He points as further proof, Congress's awarding Israel an additional $705 million in National Defense Authorization Act as if there was no separation between defense of Israel and the US.
Blankfort then reports on Trump's attacks on Hezbollah in Tuesday's press conference with Lebanon PM Saaed Hariri, suggesting that it is a prelude to US or Israeli attack on Lebanon.
He continues with report that cease fire agreement in Southwest Syria between Trump and Putin is holding and that Russia is setting up checkpoints around its perimeter and that Netanyahu is against it because it doesn't mention Iran or Hezbollah.
He goes from there to situation at Al-Aqsa mosque and updates the refusal of Palestinians to accept security cameras that would identify those entering the area. He notes the violence on part of Israelis last week.
Finally, he reports on Gaza, and cites Palestinian professor in Gaza, Haidar Eid and the Al-Shabaka Palestine Network website that condemn Mahmoud Abbas, Fatah, and the PA for their role in creating Gaza's electricity crisis, designed to bring Hamas to its knees. Eid explains why a desperate Hamas felt pressed to turn for help to Egypt and ally itself with former Fatah security chief in Gaza and a known collaborator with the CIA and Shin Bet, Mohammad Dahlan, in responding to the PA.
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