Posted with permission of Think Progress
The Washington- and Jerusalem-based pro-Israel lobby organization The Israel Project (TIP) claims to be dedicated to “get(ting) facts about Israel and the Middle East to press, public officials and the public.” But it appears that the group is not [...]]]>
Posted with permission of Think Progress
The Washington- and Jerusalem-based pro-Israel lobby organization The Israel Project (TIP) claims to be dedicated to “get(ting) facts about Israel and the Middle East to press, public officials and the public.” But it appears that the group is not always particularly interested in getting the facts out. A ThinkProgress investigation has revealed that not only is TIP connected to an Iran-focused media group allegedly based in London, but also the pro-Israel group appears to be trying to cover up those ties.
Last year, a LobeLog investigation of TIP revealed ties between the group and a European media organization called Réalité-EU, a group that “focuses on developments in Iran and the Middle East which pose a global threat.” When asked about Réalité-EU’s connections to The Israel Project, TIP co-founder and president Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi intimated that the reporter (this post’s co-author, Eli Clifton, now at ThinkProgress) was a conspiracy theorist and asked that he “pls [sic] check your facts before you make me/TIP into some scary boogie man.”
Now, ThinkProgress has learned that in 2008, the Réalité-EU project received a quarter-million dollars through a donation made to TIP by the Marcus Foundation. According to the foundation’s tax filings [PDF], TIP, at its K Street address, received the $250,000 for “Iran Media Project – Realite-EU,” which was listed as the “Project Title.” A screen capture of the grant can be viewed below:
While TIP is focused on Israel first and foremost, the group also regularly focuses on the Iranian threat to Israel and the U.S. However, Réalité-EU is more narrowly focused on the Iranian threat in general. TIP has made no secret of its pro-Israel leanings and its mission of giving a “more positive public face” to Israel and Israeli government policies. But Réalité-EU has never presented itself as a pro-Israel organization or publicly associated with pro-Israel organizations like TIP.
Despite this clear evidence of TIP’s connection to Réalité-EU, neither side will admit the relationship exists. ThinkProgress asked all parties involved about the Marcus Foundation grant to TIP for the Réalité-EU project, but no one proffered answers to repeated inquiries. Gerlinde Gerber, a communications associate at Réalité-EU, answered a London, U.K. telephone number for the project, but said she was in Washington, D.C. When asked about connections between Réalité-EU and TIP, Gerber told ThinkProgress she is “not authorized” to speak about the topic.
When asked if she was based at TIP’s Washington office, Gerber again refused to answer. ThinkProgress then called TIP’s main switchboard and asked for Gerber. We were told, “Sure, hold on one second.” After a couple minutes on hold, the line went dead. On a second try, a new receptionist answered and told ThinkProgress no one with that name was at TIP.
TIP president Mizrahi also did not answer direct e-mail inquiries or multiple messages left with her organization regarding the Marcus Foundation grant and TIP’s communications director Alan Elsner refused to discuss the issue and hung up.
Mizrahi had previously lashed out when asked by LobeLog about Réalité-EU’s connection to TIP, writing, “I goggled [sic] you and it seems you are a blogger who sees war mongering Jews all over the place. Oh, what a danger! I hope the world will be safe from them!” Mizrahi claimed she was a “peace activist” and pleaded that she not be painted “as some right-wing crazy.” She then passed along a quote from the organization’s “web guy” saying the two groups are “not connected.”
But Mizrahi has a history of associations with right-wing activism. In her personal capacity, Mizrahi gave $25,000 to the neoconservative think tank the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD). Staff members at FDD, which is heavily focused on Iran, regularly advocate for a military strike against Iran. And generally, TIP has espoused extreme views on Israel. Recently, the organization has suggested that talking heads should refer to the effort to end settlements in the West Bank as “ethnic cleansing.” And a guide produced by the group instructs its American allies to stoke fear of immigrants and 9/11 when discussing Israel’s “right of return” debate.
Separately, a ThinkProgress investigation recently revealed that TIP has paid at least $140,000 to disgraced Christian right lobbyist Ralph Reed, who is currently promoting right-wing Israeli policies in the Republican Party.
Just as Mizrahi’s associations with advocates for war with Iran and far-right-wing opponents of a two-state solution should raise questions about her bona fides as a “peace activist,” TIP and Réalité-EU’s inability to answer basic questions about their organizations and their ties to each other should raise questions about their mission to inform media and the public about the “facts” in the Middle East.
]]>Réalité-EU is a group which claims to be [...]]]>
Réalité-EU is a group which claims to be “a website and e-newsletter for journalists, leaders and key analysts that focus on developments in and around the Middle East which pose a threat to Europe and beyond,” and “is supported by individuals concerned with the growing threat of Iran and extremism in Europe and the Middle East.” The group gained prominence in 2007 when it compiled a “backgrounder” of radical and inflammatory statements made by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The compilation found an audience on a number of right-wing and anti-Islam websites.
Réalité-EU’s website serves a clearinghouse, of sorts, providing information for journalists about sanctions and Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons program. Réalité appears to have a European management and target audience, judging from its list of “expert sources” who are primarily based in the EU.
But a closer examination of their website raises questions about whose interests the organization is representing.
First, the domain name “realite-eu.org” has the following registration details:
Registrant Name:Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi
Registrant Organization:The Israel Project
Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi is the president and founder of The Israel Project (TIP), a group which describes its mission as giving a “more positive public face” to Israel.
TIP often presents right-wing and neoconservative views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and, in recent years, has spearheaded a push for escalating measures against Iran.
A 2007 TIP press conference on the “Iranian threat” included a number of neoconservatives including Frank Gaffney—who was recently deemed too Islamophobic for the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), a venue with a history of tolerating bigotry against Muslims.
I asked Mizrahi for an explanation of why she had registered Réalité-EU’s domain name.
She contacted her webmaster who told her:
Realite isn’t registered to TIP. Both Realite-eu.org and theisraelproject.org are registered under an account with register.com (a company that millions of organizations and corporations use to register thier domains). They are not connected, but are listed as separate domains under an umbrella account.
When asked if her webmaster could explain why Register.com chose to attach her and TIP’s name to the Réalité domain, she responded:
I asked him. He has no idea.
Btw – I know and like Realite and a whole host of other groups that support sanctions on Iran. It is all important lifesaving/war-avoiding work. Sanctions are a true path to peace.
During the 2009 Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, DC, Réalité staff handed out thumb drives to journalists entering the summit’s security checkpoint while TIP blanketed the local CNN broadcasts with this commercial.
After a bit more research, I found that the domain name wasn’t the only piece of Réalité’s website tied to TIP. Réalité hosted conference calls (promoted on Réalité’s homepage) which are recorded as MP3 files and can be streamed to anyone accessing the Réalité website.
It turns out that those MP3 files are stored on tipmedia.org (see here, here and here), a website registered by TIP and used to store TIP media files (see here and here).
I contacted Mizrahi for an explanation for why recordings of Réalité-EU conference calls were stored on a TIP website but I have yet to receive a response. (This post will be updated if and when I receive an answer.)
Back in 2009, SpinWatch identified that Réalité, which claimed to be based out of offices in London, was sending out emails using a mail server registered to the Washington, DC, offices of B’nai B’rith International. B’nai B’rith denied any connection with Réalité when called for comment by SpinWatch.
When pressed about the use of a B’nai B’rith server, Réalité acknowledged that the organization rents “services and space on their server for cost saving reasons.” Réalité did not respond to a call for comment when SpinWatch asked them why their London phone number forwarded to a voicemail box of The Israel Project in Washington. (B’nai B’rith and The Israel Project appear to share office space.)
There is plenty of evidence to suggest that Réalité-EU is directly tied to TIP and, as Mizrahi’s name is listed on Réalité’s domain name registration and TIP hosts recordings of Réalité conference calls, there would appear to be far more than just a coincidental sharing of server space for “cost saving reasons.” But there is strikingly little evidence to suggest that Réalité has much of a connection to London or Europe, where it seeks to inform European policymakers and journalists about “developments in and around the Middle East which pose a threat to Europe and beyond.”
A search of the UK’s Companies House and Charity Commission show no record of Réalité ever being registered as a legal entity in the UK. Réalité was reported to be a project of International Media Intelligence Analysis (IMIA) which was a registered entity in the U.K. But as of April 14, 2009, IMIA was dissolved.
Mizrahi, in email correspondence with me, did not respond to questions regarding the relationship or institutional link between TIP and Réalité.
The mounting evidence would appear to suggest that Réalité is either in close partnership with TIP or a project of the organization. Why would TIP be listed on the domain name registration and host MP3 files of conference calls for an organization seeking to promote hawkish Iran policy to European policymakers and journalists? More importantly, if Réalité is indeed a TIP project, why is there no public acknowledgment of the relationship?
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