Who's Behind Efforts to Unseat Netanyahu?
JERUSALEM, Israel -- Some people would say Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu must be doing something right.
The controversy over his March 3 address on Iran to Congress, along with the U.S. State Department's complicity in a leftist campaign to unseat him, makes it clear he angers a lot of people.
What's behind the anger and the well-funded efforts to unseat him?
In an op-ed published Tuesday by Arutz Sheva, Ronn Torossian, CEO of one of America's leading public relations firms, documents the history of OneVoice, an organization in the forefront of the anti-Netanyahu campaign.
According to Israeli media, OneVoice/V15 has set up headquarters in Tel Aviv, with a Jerusalem branch in the works.
"Americans who support Israel deserve to know whether their president is actively working to remove him from office," Torossian quoted Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. "And, even more troubling, is whether U.S. tax dollars are being used to fund the campaign."
According to the report, OneVoice, also known as PeaceWorks Network Foundation (PWNF), paid $96,000 in 2011 to Howard Sumka, who served as West Bank and Gaza Mission director for U.S. Aid and oversaw a $1 million in U.S. funding to a Hamas-run university in Gaza.
OneVoice also contributes to the American Task Force on Palestine, a pro-Palestinian group that calls for "an end to the Israeli occupation and the evacuation of all Israeli settlements," as well as "a just solution for the Palestinian refugee problem in accordance with international legality and the relevant U.N. resolutions."
That certainly clarifies things a bit.
A long list of organizations funding OneVoice includes such giants as The Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund Inc., and the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, which, Torossian says "have long funded dangerous and anti-Israel organizations, including the New Israel Fund."
OneVoice is planning to send hundreds of people door-to-door throughout Israel to convince people not to vote for Netanyahu's Likud Party, Torossian explains. Funding this all-out effort to unseat him are funneled through the organization's headquarters on West 38th Street in Manhattan, which the author calls "a hodge-podge of left-wing extremists, the State Department and Palestinian Americans."
Torossian says he's not surprised that "Obama's consultants are working for the liberals in Israel and interfering in a sovereign country's elections."
Netanyahu, he concludes, is "facing an army of opponents whose interests are much different than those concerned with the prosperity and security of the Jewish state."
Meanwhile, while a number of leading Democrats, including Vice President Joe Biden and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, are threatening to boycott Netanyahu's address to Congress, others are speaking out about the illegality of foreign funding of Israeli elections.
Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., and Sen. Cruz are both sounding the alarm.
Zeldin asked Fox News' "The Kelly File" on Monday, "Why are U.S. tax dollars being sent to a nonprofit trying to overthrow an Israeli government?" Israel Hayom's Matti Tuchfeld reported. "One Voice, which is a U.S.-taxpayer-funded 501(C)(3) not-for-profit, has partnered with V15 in the effort to oust Netanyahu."
On its website, OneVoice openly states it has "partnered" with the State Department, recently receiving two State Department grants to ensure Netanyahu does not get reelected. It has also signed a contract with 270 Strategies, a political consulting firm that worked for Obama in both elections.
What is it about Netanyahu that fosters such unmitigated opposition? Is it possible that standing strong for Israel unleashes deep animosity in those who may harbor, even unknowingly, latent anti-Semitism?
There is a price to pay for standing for Israel. Bibi Netanyahu knows it well.
