The Israel lobby was buying politicians and policy in 2014, and it is still doing so today. (Top of the list of recipients: Joe Biden.)
by Michael S. Rozeff, reposted from LewRockwell.com, Jan. 14, 2014
There are 58 Senators who are now co-sponsors of the bill S. 1881: Nuclear Weapon Free Act of 2013. This bill makes war with Iran more likely and peace less likely. Its aim is to jettison the successful negotiations between the U.S. and Iran that have already occurred and make further progress less likely. This bill has war against Iran as its underlying aim.
AIPAC is a very prominent anti-Iran lobbying organization.
55 of the 58 Senators who are co-sponsors of this pro-war bill have received money from AIPAC totaling $7.3 million (2007-2012). 39 non-sponsors have received AIPAC money too, their total being $5.4 million. These amounts are drawn from a list of the top Senate recipients of AIPAC funds. The per-Senator average money is almost the same for the two groups. It’s $132,795 for the sponsors and $138,024 for the non-sponsors.
These distinctions are not that important, because we know that in 2012 the Senate voted 90-1 on an anti-Iran resolution and 94-0 to tighten sanctions. Nevertheless, it’s interesting to observe that the co-sponsor group, who tend to be the most vocal and hawkish and the most willing to promote war, is the group that has been paid the most money by AIPAC.
I’ve been writing articles against the U.S. policy on Iran for 7 or 8 years now. I have to admit that when the current administration began talking with Rouhani, I thought that this pretty much ended the threat of war. Never did I dream that the American warmongers, right and left, would meet these negotiations by attempting to pass new sanctions! Never did I dream that the neocons and Israeli interests had such influence in the U.S. Senate that they would seek to counter a peaceful foreign policy conducted by a sitting President.
The hand that they have chosen to play has surprised me, but that’s because I did not fully appreciate the perfidy of the neocon policies. Having seen them already in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria, I should have known better than to think that reason and the interests of the American people might prevail for a change.
It is crystal clear at this point that we are looking at evil policies being promoted with unremitting vigor. We are looking at large numbers of traitorous Senators promoting very dangerous ideas that are expansionist and interventionist in nature.
They have built up a structure of lies, falsehoods, exaggerations, false enemies, false threats, impossible aspirations for dominance, and misperceptions.
We are looking at people who feign respectability, reasonableness, honesty, loyalty, and intelligence but who, when they promote war against a President who is succeeding in bringing a degree of peace, must be counted as among the lowest of the low, people that we must revile and reject as “leaders”, people that we must see as enemies of the interests of the peaceful pursuit of happiness.
These same people will, by and large, turn their guns against the American people and be most supportive of the national security state.
The following senators are Senate co-sponsors of this bill. Beside each name is the dollar amount of AIPAC contributions to that senator in the years 2007-2012.
[Following their 2007-2012 donations, find the career total for each of these senators, through 2024. The amounts are made available by OpenSecrets. Note that nearly every member of Congress has accepted contributions from the Israel lobby.]
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES JOE BIDEN HAS ACCEPTED $4,223,393 FROM THE PRO-ISRAEL LOBBY.
Mark Kirk 2007-2012 $925,379 (CAREER TOTAL $2,294,469)
John McCain 2007-2012 $771,012 (CAREER TOTAL $1,493,816)
Mitch McConnell 2007-2012 $430,925 (CAREER TOTAL $1,953,910)
Robert Menendez 2007-2012 $344,670 (CAREER TOTAL $2,501,847)
Kirsten Gillibrand 2007-2012 $326,937 (CAREER TOTAL $896,706)
Mary Landrieu 2007-2012 $296,409 (CAREER TOTAL $824,305)
Benjamin Cardin 2007-2012 $267,542 (CAREER TOTAL $913,285)
Charles Schumer 2007-2012 $248,149 (CAREER TOTAL $1,726,824)
Robert Casey 2007-2012 $192,550 (CAREER TOTAL $1,027,939)
Roger Wicker 2007-2012 $158,861 (CAREER TOTAL $705,014)
Mark Warner 2007-2012 $149,151 (CAREER TOTAL $359,611)
Susan Collins 2007-2012 $139,518 (CAREER TOTAL $647,758)
Mark Pryor 2007-2012 $138,250 (CAREER TOTAL $267,170)
John Thune 2007-2012 $123,725 (CAREER TOTAL $461,724)
Roy Blunt 2007-2012 $120,500 (CAREER TOTAL $408,778)
Joe Manchin 2007-2012 $117,110 (CAREER TOTAL $277,110)
Pat Roberts 2007-2012 $116,900 (CAREER TOTAL $305,700)
Bob Corker 2007-2012 $114,770 (CAREER TOTAL $168,083)
David Vitter 2007-2012 $112,619 (CAREER TOTAL $212,055)
Kelly Ayotte 2007-2012 $111,899 (CAREER TOTAL $522,014)
Michael Bennet 2007-2012 $109,126 (CAREER TOTAL $462,940)
John Cornyn 2007-2012 $107,000 (CAREER TOTAL $488,929)
Saxby Chambliss 2007-2012 $103,650 (CAREER TOTAL $145,400)
John Barrasso 2007-2012 $99,050 (CAREER TOTAL $241,189)
Orrin Hatch 2007-2012 $91,500 (CAREER TOTAL $203,383)
Jeff Sessions 2007-2012 $86,550 (CAREER TOTAL $215,450)
Marco Rubio 2007-2012 $86,200 (CAREER TOTAL $1,013,563)
Lisa Murkowski 2007-2012 $85,900 (CAREER TOTAL $436,022)
Lindsey Graham 2007-2012 $84,515 (CAREER TOTAL $1,000,580)
Daniel Coats 2007-2012 $82,733 (CAREER TOTAL $119,800)
Richard Blumenthal 2007-2012 $80,640 (CAREER TOTAL $389,981)
Joe Donnelly 2007-2012 $72,911 (CAREER TOTAL $142,183)
Dean Heller 2007-2012 $71,100 (CAREER TOTAL $203,992)
Richard Burr 2007-2012 $70,850 (CAREER TOTAL $234,336)
Robert Portman 2007-2012 $68,815 (CAREER TOTAL $326,046)
John Hoeven 2007-2012 $67,535 (CAREER TOTAL $334,296)
Mike Johanns 2007-2012 $63,635 (CAREER TOTAL $81,785)
James Inhofe 2007-2012 $60,000 (CAREER TOTAL $253,275)
Charles Grassley 2007-2012 $57,600 (CAREER TOTAL $502,541)
Jerry Moran 2007-2012 $53,400 (CAREER TOTAL $285,735)
Thomas Coburn 2007-2012 $47,445 (CAREER TOTAL $54,782)
Michael Crapo 2007-2012 $45,750 (CAREER TOTAL $327,673)
Mike Lee 2007-2012 $45,030 (CAREER TOTAL $368,778)
James Risch 2007-2012 $41,750 (CAREER TOTAL $255,787)
Patrick Toomey 2007-2012 $40,500 (CAREER TOTAL $330,245)
Ted Cruz 2007-2012 $39,354 (CAREER TOTAL $1,277,790)
Mark Begich 2007-2012 $36,727 (CAREER TOTAL $174,539)
John Boozman 2007-2012 $34,250 (CAREER TOTAL $309,860)
John Isakson 2007-2012 $31,600 (CAREER TOTAL $158,900)
Michael Enzi 2007-2012 $31,600 (CAREER TOTAL $121,825)
Richard Shelby 2007-2012 $27,250 (CAREER TOTAL $274,215)
Deb Fischer 2007-2012 $26,400 (CAREER TOTAL $474,580)
Chris Coons 2007-2012 $20,774 (CAREER TOTAL $258,166)
Tim Scott 2007-2012 $15,310 (CAREER TOTAL $378,896)
Ron Johnson 2007-2012 $10,400 (CAREER TOTAL $347,043)
RELATED READING:
- The craziest ‘pro-Israel’ votes on the Hill today
- Here Are the Top Recipients of AIPAC Money
- What Harris’s Jewish outreach director said at a private DNC afterparty
- AIPAC: Has the pro-Israel lobby bribed and bought the US Democratic Party?
- A Deluge of Pro-Israel PAC Donations in 2024 Elections
- WATCH: Rep. Thomas Massie: Every congressperson has an AIPAC babysitter
- Billionaires for Israel started a group with 100 members to secretly work on behalf of Israel
