{"id":28455,"date":"2023-09-13T21:30:57","date_gmt":"2023-09-14T04:30:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=28455"},"modified":"2023-09-13T21:30:58","modified_gmt":"2023-09-14T04:30:58","slug":"watch-the-film-the-israel-lobby-didnt-want-you-to-see","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/09\/13\/watch-the-film-the-israel-lobby-didnt-want-you-to-see\/","title":{"rendered":"Watch the film the Israel lobby didn\u2019t want you to see"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/electronicintifada.net\/people\/electronic-intifada\">The Electronic Intifada<\/a>\u00a02 November 2018 (electronicintifada.net)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Lobby - USA, episode 1\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3lSjXhMUVKE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em><strong>Update:<\/strong>\u00a0On 6 November, The Electronic Intifada published the final two episodes of<\/em>\u00a0The Lobby \u2013\u00a0USA.\u00a0<em>You can\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/electronicintifada.net\/content\/watch-final-episodes-al-jazeera-film-us-israel-lobby\/25896\">watch episodes three and four here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Electronic Intifada has obtained a complete copy of&nbsp;<em>The Lobby \u2013&nbsp;USA<\/em>, a four-part undercover investigation by Al Jazeera into Israel\u2019s covert influence campaign in the United&nbsp;States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We are releasing the leaked film simultaneously with France\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Orient&nbsp;XXI<\/em>&nbsp;and Lebanon\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Al-Akhbar<\/em>, which have respectively subtitled the episodes in&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/orientxxi.info\/magazine\/un-documentaire-interdit-sur-le-lobby-pro-israelien-aux-etats-unis,2715\">French<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/al-akhbar.com\/Home_Page\/261149\">Arabic<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The film was made by Al Jazeera during 2016 and was completed in October&nbsp;2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But it was&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/electronicintifada.net\/blogs\/asa-winstanley\/al-jazeera-denies-qatari-emir-censored-israel-lobby-film\">censored<\/a>&nbsp;after Qatar, the gas-rich Gulf emirate that funds Al Jazeera, came under intense&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/electronicintifada.net\/content\/national-security-cited-reason-al-jazeera-nixed-israel-lobby-film\/24566\">Israel lobby pressure<\/a>&nbsp;not to air the&nbsp;film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although Al Jazeera\u2019s director-general claimed last month that there were outstanding legal issues with the film, his assertions have been&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/electronicintifada.net\/blogs\/asa-winstanley\/al-jazeera-denies-qatari-emir-censored-israel-lobby-film\">flatly contradicted by his own journalists<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In March, The Electronic Intifada was the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/electronicintifada.net\/content\/whats-al-jazeeras-undercover-film-us-israel-lobby\/23496\">first to report<\/a>&nbsp;on any of the film\u2019s specific content. We&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/electronicintifada.net\/content\/censored-film-names-adam-milstein-canary-mission-funder\/25356\">followed this in August<\/a>&nbsp;by publishing the first extract of the film, and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/electronicintifada.net\/blogs\/asa-winstanley\/censored-israel-lobby-film-starts-leaking\">shortly after<\/a>&nbsp;Max Blumenthal at the&nbsp;<em>Grayzone Project<\/em>&nbsp;released&nbsp;others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since then, The Electronic Intifada has released&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/electronicintifada.net\/tags\/lobby-usa\">three other extracts<\/a>, and several other journalists have watched the entire film and written about it \u2013 including&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/orientxxi.info\/magazine\/how-israel-spies-on-us-citizens,2598\">Alain Gresh<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/972mag.com\/al-jazeera-film-us-israel-lobby\/138412\/\">Antony Loewenstein<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now The Electronic Intifada can reveal for the first time that it has obtained all four parts of the&nbsp;film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can watch the first two parts in the video embeds above and below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Lobby - USA, episode 2\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XytkI7afHcQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>To get unprecedented access to the Israel lobby\u2019s inner workings, undercover reporter \u201cTony\u201d posed as a pro-Israel volunteer in\u00a0Washington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The resulting film exposes the efforts of Israel and its lobbyists to spy on, smear and intimidate&nbsp;US&nbsp;citizens who support Palestinian human rights, especially&nbsp;BDS&nbsp;\u2013 the boycott, divestment and sanctions&nbsp;movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It shows that Israel\u2019s semi-covert&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/electronicintifada.net\/blogs\/ali-abunimah\/israel-using-black-ops-against-bds-says-veteran-analyst\">black-ops<\/a>&nbsp;government agency, the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/electronicintifada.net\/tags\/ministry-strategic-affairs\">Ministry of Strategic Affairs<\/a>, is operating this effort in collusion with an extensive network of&nbsp;US-based&nbsp;organizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These include the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/electronicintifada.net\/content\/censored-film-names-adam-milstein-canary-mission-funder\/25356\">Israel on Campus Coalition<\/a>,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/electronicintifada.net\/content\/censored-film-reveals-israel-projects-secret-facebook-campaign\/25486\">The Israel Project<\/a>&nbsp;and the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/electronicintifada.net\/content\/whats-al-jazeeras-undercover-film-us-israel-lobby\/23496\">Foundation for Defense of Democracies<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Censored by&nbsp;Qatar<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The film was suppressed after the government of Qatar came under intense pressure not to release it \u2013 ironically from the very same lobby whose influence and antics the film&nbsp;exposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Clayton Swisher, Al Jazeera\u2019s head of investigations,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/forward.com\/opinion\/396203\/we-made-a-documentary-exposing-the-israel-lobby-why-hasnt-it-run\/\">revealed<\/a>&nbsp;in an article for&nbsp;<em>The Forward<\/em>&nbsp;in March that Al Jazeera had sent more than 70 letters to individuals and organizations who appear in or are discussed in the film, providing them with an opportunity to&nbsp;respond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Only three did so. Instead, pro-Israel groups have endeavored to suppress the film that exposes the lobby\u2019s&nbsp;activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In April, Al Jazeera\u2019s management was&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/electronicintifada.net\/blogs\/asa-winstanley\/al-jazeera-denies-it-canceled-us-israel-lobby-film\">forced to deny a claim<\/a>&nbsp;by the hard-right Zionist Organization of America that the film had been canceled&nbsp;altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In June, The Electronic Intifada&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/electronicintifada.net\/content\/national-security-cited-reason-al-jazeera-nixed-israel-lobby-film\/24566\">learned that a high level source<\/a>&nbsp;in Doha had said the film\u2019s indefinite delay was due to \u201cnational security\u201d concerns of the Qatari&nbsp;government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Covert&nbsp;action<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>As&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/electronicintifada.net\/content\/israeli-embassy-used-fake-facebook-profiles-spy-students\/25841\">revealed in a clip published by The Electronic Intifada earlier this week<\/a>, the film shows Julia Reifkind \u2013 then an Israeli embassy employee \u2013 describing her typical work day as \u201cmainly gathering intel, reporting back to Israel \u2026 to report back to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Strategic&nbsp;Affairs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She discusses the Israeli government \u201cgiving our support\u201d to front groups \u201cin that behind-the-scenes&nbsp;way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Reifkind also admits to using fake Facebook profiles to infiltrate the circles of Palestine solidarity activists on&nbsp;campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The film also reveals that&nbsp;US-based groups coordinate their efforts directly with the Israeli government, particularly its&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/electronicintifada.net\/tags\/ministry-strategic-affairs\">Ministry of Strategic Affairs<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Run by a former military intelligence officer, the ministry is in charge of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/electronicintifada.net\/blogs\/asa-winstanley\/meet-spies-injecting-israeli-propaganda-your-news-feed\">Israel\u2019s global campaign of covert sabotage<\/a>&nbsp;targeting the&nbsp;BDS&nbsp;movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The film shows footage of the very same ex-military intelligence officer,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/electronicintifada.net\/tags\/sima-vaknin-gil\">Sima Vaknin-Gil<\/a>, claiming to have mapped Palestinian rights activism \u201cglobally. Not just the United States, not just campuses, but campuses and intersectionality and labor unions and&nbsp;churches.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She promises to use this data for \u201coffense activity\u201d against Palestine&nbsp;activists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jacob Baime, executive director of the Israel on Campus Coalition, claims in the undercover footage that his organization uses \u201ccorporate level, enterprise-grade social media intelligence software\u201d to gather lists of Palestine-related student events on campus, \u201cgenerally within about 30 seconds or less\u201d of them being posted&nbsp;online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Baime also admits on hidden camera that his group \u201ccoordinates\u201d with the Israeli Ministry of Strategic&nbsp;Affairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Baime states that his researchers \u201cissue early warning alerts to our partners\u201d \u2013 including Israeli&nbsp;ministries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Baime\u2019s colleague Ian Hersh admits in the film to adding Israel\u2019s \u201cMinistry of Strategic Affairs to our operations and intelligence&nbsp;brief.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u201cPsychological&nbsp;warfare\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Baime describes how his group has used anonymous websites to target&nbsp;activists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWith the anti-Israel people, what\u2019s most effective, what we\u2019ve found at least in the last year, is you do the opposition research, put up some anonymous website, and then put up targeted Facebook ads,\u201d Baime explains in&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/electronicintifada.net\/content\/censored-film-names-adam-milstein-canary-mission-funder\/25356\">part three of the film<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cCanary Mission is a good example,\u201d he states. \u201cIt\u2019s psychological&nbsp;warfare.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The film names, for the first time,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/electronicintifada.net\/content\/why-did-israel-intervene-convicted-us-felon-adam-milstein\/14117\">convicted tax evader<\/a>&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/electronicintifada.net\/tags\/adam-milstein\">Adam Milstein<\/a>&nbsp;as the multimillionaire funder and mastermind of Canary Mission \u2013 an anonymous smear site targeting student&nbsp;activists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Electronic Intifada&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/electronicintifada.net\/content\/censored-film-names-adam-milstein-canary-mission-funder\/25356\">revealed this in a clip in August<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Eric Gallagher, then fundraising director for The Israel Project, is seen in the undercover footage admitting that \u201cAdam Milstein, he\u2019s the guy who funds\u201d Canary&nbsp;Mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Milstein also funds The Israel Project, Gallagher&nbsp;states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gallagher says that when he was working for&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/electronicintifada.net\/tags\/aipac\">AIPAC<\/a>, Washington\u2019s most powerful Israel lobby group, \u201cI was literally emailing back and forth with [Adam Milstein] while he was in&nbsp;jail.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite not replying to Al Jazeera\u2019s request for comment, Milstein&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jta.org\/2018\/08\/27\/news-opinion\/united-states\/pro-israel-donor-adam-milstein-denies-report-funds-canary-mission\">denied<\/a>&nbsp;that he and his family foundation \u201care funders of Canary Mission\u201d on the same day The Electronic Intifada published the&nbsp;clip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since then, Josh Nathan-Kazis of&nbsp;<em>The Forward<\/em>&nbsp;has&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/forward.com\/news\/national\/412731\/donor-distances-itself-from-canary-mission-but-critics-say-it-doesnt-go\/\">identified several other groups<\/a>&nbsp;in the&nbsp;US&nbsp;who fund Canary&nbsp;Mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Suppressed&nbsp;film<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In March, The Electronic Intifada&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/electronicintifada.net\/content\/whats-al-jazeeras-undercover-film-us-israel-lobby\/23496\">published<\/a>&nbsp;the first details of what is in the&nbsp;film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We reported that it showed Sima Vaknin-Gil claiming to have leading neoconservative think tank the Foundation for Defense of Democracies working for her&nbsp;ministry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The undercover footage shows Vaknin-Gil claiming that \u201cWe have&nbsp;FDD. We have others working on\u201d projects including \u201cdata gathering, information analysis, working on activist organizations, money trail. This is something that only a country, with its resources, can do the&nbsp;best.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As noted in part one of the documentary, the existence of the film and the identity of the undercover reporter became known after footage he had shot for it was used in Al Jazeera\u2019s&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/investigations\/thelobby\/\"><em>The Lobby<\/em><\/a>&nbsp;\u2013 about Israel\u2019s covert influence campaign in the&nbsp;UK&nbsp;\u2013 aired in early&nbsp;2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since then, Israel lobbyists have heavily pressured Qatar to prevent the&nbsp;US&nbsp;film from&nbsp;airing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u201cForeign&nbsp;agent\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Clayton Swisher, Al Jazeera\u2019s head of investigations,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/electronicintifada.net\/blogs\/asa-winstanley\/vindicated-uk-al-jazeera-reveal-secrets-us-israel-lobby\">first confirmed in October 2017&nbsp;<\/a>that the network had run an undercover reporter in the&nbsp;US&nbsp;Israel lobby at the same time as in the&nbsp;UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Swisher promised the film would be released \u201cvery soon,\u201d but it never came&nbsp;out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Multiple Israel lobby sources&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.haaretz.com\/us-news\/.premium-qatar-to-u-s-jewish-leaders-al-jazeera-israel-lobby-film-won-t-air-1.5803936\">told<\/a>&nbsp;Israel\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Haaretz<\/em>&nbsp;newspaper in February that they had received assurances from Qatari leaders late last year that the documentary would not be&nbsp;aired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Qatar&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.gulf-times.com\/story\/580990\/Qatar-denies-it-asked-Al-Jazeera-to-drop-Israeli-l\">denied this<\/a>, but the paper stood by its&nbsp;story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Swisher\u2019s op-ed in&nbsp;<em>The Forward<\/em>&nbsp;was his first public comment on the matter since he had announced the&nbsp;documentary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In it, he refutes Israel lobby allegations about the film and expresses frustration that Al Jazeera had not aired it, apparently due to outside&nbsp;pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Several pro-Israel lawmakers in Washington have&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/electronicintifada.net\/content\/national-security-cited-reason-al-jazeera-nixed-israel-lobby-film\/24566\">piled on more pressure by pushing<\/a>&nbsp;the Department of Justice to force Al Jazeera to register as a \u201cforeign agent\u201d under a counterespionage law dating from the&nbsp;1930s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Israel lobby goes to&nbsp;Doha<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>While the film was delayed, a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/electronicintifada.net\/blogs\/tamara-nassar\/qatar-turns-israel-escape-saudi-squeeze\">wave of prominent pro-Israel figures<\/a>&nbsp;visited Qatar at the invitation of its ruler, Emir&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/electronicintifada.net\/tags\/tamim-bin-hamad-al-thani-0\">Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They have included some of the most right-wing and extreme figures among Israel\u2019s defenders in the&nbsp;US,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/electronicintifada.net\/blogs\/tamara-nassar\/qatar-welcomes-head-zionist-organization-america\">such as<\/a>&nbsp;Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz and Morton Klein, the head of the Zionist Organization of&nbsp;America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Swisher wrote in&nbsp;<em>The Forward<\/em>&nbsp;that he ran into Dershowitz at a Doha restaurant during one of these visits, and invited the professor to a private viewing of the&nbsp;film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI have no problem with any of the secret filming,\u201d Swisher says Dershowitz told him afterwards. \u201cAnd I can even see this being broadcast on&nbsp;PBS\u201d \u2013 the&nbsp;US&nbsp;public&nbsp;broadcaster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yet it appears that Israel lobby efforts to quash the film were successful \u2013 until&nbsp;now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Electronic Intifada\u00a02 November 2018 (electronicintifada.net) Update:\u00a0On 6 November, The Electronic Intifada published the final two episodes of\u00a0The Lobby \u2013\u00a0USA.\u00a0You can\u00a0watch episodes three and four here. The Electronic Intifada has obtained a complete copy of&nbsp;The Lobby \u2013&nbsp;USA, a four-part undercover investigation by Al Jazeera into Israel\u2019s covert influence campaign in&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/09\/13\/watch-the-film-the-israel-lobby-didnt-want-you-to-see\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1063],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28455"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28455"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28455\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28456,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28455\/revisions\/28456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}