Paul Findley
Encyclopedia
Paul Findley is a former United States Representative from Illinois
, representing its 20th District. A Republican
, he was first elected in 1961. Findley lost his seat in 1982 to current United States Senator Dick Durbin. Findley attended Illinois College
and is a member of Phi Alpha Literary Society
. He is a cofounder of the Council for the National Interest
, a Washington, DC advocacy group, and a board member of If Americans Knew
. He resides in Jacksonville, Illinois
.
.
According to the New York Times, in 1982 Findley narrowly lost his bid for re-election for a number of reasons: "a competent opponent, redistricting, the economic recession, and pro-Israel groups support to his challenger," which allowed Findley's challenger to match him in spending. During the campaign, "a former AIPAC president called him 'a dangerous enemy of Israel.'" Findley confirmed that his 1982 campaign raised "almost exactly the same sum" as that of his opponent.
finds itself reviled in most countries because it provides unconditional support of Israeli violations of the United Nations Charter
, international law
, and the precepts of all major religious faiths."
Findley has claimed that the 2003 invasion of Iraq
was launched primarily to benefit Israel, at the behest of the Israel lobby in the United States
.
. In 1985, Findley wrote the best selling book "They Dare to Speak Out: People and Institutions Confront Israel's Lobby
" in which he states that the pro-Israel lobby
, notably AIPAC
, has vast undue influence over the United States Congress
. He refers to the lobby as "the 700-pound gorilla in Washington". He closes his book with this plea:
The Washington Post reviewing They Dare to Speak Out
said: "Stripped of all the maudlin martyrdom, former congressman Paul Findley's message is straightforward and valid: Israeli influence in the United States, including in the inner sanctums of government, is very strong." The New York Times
review by Adam Clymer
, described the book as "an angry, one-sided book that seems often to be little more than a stringing together of stray incidents ... [it] does not really accept the idea that people of any political point of view are entitled to organize, support their friends and try to defeat the people they think are their enemies".
Findley lists the Israeli lobby as one of the factors contributing to his narrow defeat in 1982, alongside the serious national recession of 1982 and the substantial change of his district's boundaries after the 1980 census. "In seeking gains for Israel, they rigorously stifled dissent and intimidated the entire Congress. They still do. They defeat legislators who criticize Israel. Senators Adlai Stevenson III
and Charles H. Percy
, and Representatives Pete McCloskey
, Cynthia McKinney
, Earl F. Hilliard
, and myself were defeated at the polls by candidates heavily financed by pro-Israel forces. McKinney alone was able to regain her seat in Congress." (McKinney lost her seat again two years later.)
Findley spoke to NPR about the publication of Mearsheimer
and Walt
's controversial 2006 working paper, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy
: "You can't imagine how pleased I was [...] I think I can pose as a foremost expert on the lobby for Israel, because I was the target the last three years I was in Congress."
(UAE), resulting in a UAE proposal to build a property in the United States to serve as an endowment for CAIR. This proposal amounted to tens of millions of dollars in UAE donations.
has criticized the Council for the National Interest
, of which Findley is a founder, as an "anti-Israel organization" that "disseminates demonizing propaganda about Israel to academics, politicians, and other audiences." The Anti-Defamation League alleges that as a member of the Council for the National Interest that they have disseminated cartoons with anti-Semitic based themes by Khalil Bendib
. Additionally, the Anti-Defamation League has quoted Paul Findley from an article in 2003 as blaming Israel for the September 11 Attacks: "Nine-eleven would not have occurred if the U.S. government had refused to help Israel humiliate and destroy Palestinian society." Paul Findley continued in the same article stating that "America suffered 9/11 and its aftermath and may soon be at war with Iraq, mainly because U.S. policy in the Middle East is made in Israel, not in Washington." A number of columnists have pointed out that Israeli government policy was and continues to be that the Iranian government is the primary threat and Iraq under Saddam Hussein
was only tertiary and largely unimportant.
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, representing its 20th District. A Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
, he was first elected in 1961. Findley lost his seat in 1982 to current United States Senator Dick Durbin. Findley attended Illinois College
Illinois College
Illinois College is a private, liberal arts college, affiliated with the United Church of Christ and the Presbyterian Church , and located in Jacksonville, Illinois. It was the second college founded in Illinois, but the first to grant a degree . It was founded in 1829 by the Illinois Band,...
and is a member of Phi Alpha Literary Society
Phi Alpha Literary Society
Phi Alpha is a men's Literary Society founded in 1845 at Illinois College in Jacksonville, Illinois. It conducts Business Meetings, Literary Productions, and other activities in Beecher Hall, the oldest college building in the state of Illinois....
. He is a cofounder of the Council for the National Interest
Council for the National Interest
The Council for the National Interest is a 501 organization in the United States advocating a "new direction for U.S. Middle East policy." With its sister organization the Council for the National Interest Foundation it works to educate about and promote what it describes as "even handed...
, a Washington, DC advocacy group, and a board member of If Americans Knew
If Americans Knew
If Americans Knew is a nonprofit organization that focuses on the Arab–Israeli conflict and the Foreign policy of the United States regarding the Middle East, offering analysis of American media coverage of these issues. Its mission, according to the group's website, is to provide "what every...
. He resides in Jacksonville, Illinois
Jacksonville, Illinois
Jacksonville is a city in Morgan County, Illinois, United States. The population was 18,940 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Morgan County....
.
Career
Findley served 11 terms in Congress, but lost to Dick Durbin, in his bid for reelection in 1982. He was known in Congress as an advocate of the farmers of his district and as a strong proponent of the Palestinians and the Palestine Liberation OrganizationPalestine Liberation Organization
The Palestine Liberation Organization is a political and paramilitary organization which was created in 1964. It is recognized as the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people" by the United Nations and over 100 states with which it holds diplomatic relations, and has enjoyed...
.
According to the New York Times, in 1982 Findley narrowly lost his bid for re-election for a number of reasons: "a competent opponent, redistricting, the economic recession, and pro-Israel groups support to his challenger," which allowed Findley's challenger to match him in spending. During the campaign, "a former AIPAC president called him 'a dangerous enemy of Israel.'" Findley confirmed that his 1982 campaign raised "almost exactly the same sum" as that of his opponent.
United States foreign policy
A year after September 11, Findley published an article saying that this attack would never have occurred were it not for the United States' uncritical support of Israel. In that same article, he wrote that "U.S. policy on the Mideast is made in Israel, not in Washington," and that "once beloved worldwide, the U.S. governmentFederal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
finds itself reviled in most countries because it provides unconditional support of Israeli violations of the United Nations Charter
United Nations Charter
The Charter of the United Nations is the foundational treaty of the international organization called the United Nations. It was signed at the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center in San Francisco, United States, on 26 June 1945, by 50 of the 51 original member countries...
, international law
International law
Public international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states; analogous entities, such as the Holy See; and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...
, and the precepts of all major religious faiths."
Findley has claimed that the 2003 invasion of Iraq
2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...
was launched primarily to benefit Israel, at the behest of the Israel lobby in the United States
Israel lobby in the United States
The Israel lobby is a term used to describe the diverse coalition of those who, as individuals and as groups, seek and have sought to influence the foreign policy of the United States in support of Zionism, Israel or the specific policies of its government...
.
Criticism of US-Israel Relations
Findley is a frequent critic of U.S. foreign policy regarding IsraelIsrael
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. In 1985, Findley wrote the best selling book "They Dare to Speak Out: People and Institutions Confront Israel's Lobby
They Dare to Speak Out
They to Dare Speak Out: People and Institutions Confront Israel's Lobby is a bestselling book that was written in 1985 , had a second edition published in 1989 and a third in 2003 They to Dare Speak Out: People and Institutions Confront Israel's Lobby is a bestselling book (nine weeks a...
" in which he states that the pro-Israel lobby
Israel lobby in the United States
The Israel lobby is a term used to describe the diverse coalition of those who, as individuals and as groups, seek and have sought to influence the foreign policy of the United States in support of Zionism, Israel or the specific policies of its government...
, notably AIPAC
American Israel Public Affairs Committee
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee is a lobbying group that advocates pro-Israel policies to the Congress and Executive Branch of the United States...
, has vast undue influence over the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
. He refers to the lobby as "the 700-pound gorilla in Washington". He closes his book with this plea:
The government of the United States must assert, at long last, its own national interests in the Middle East. ... The world views our nation - accurately - as Israel's essential partner in its military adventurism and its suppression of human rights. America must clear its good name of this complicity. ... The next logical U.S. steps: declare that the people in occupied territories have the right to self-determination and, if they choose, independent statehood; demand that Israeli forces cease the detention of Palestinians without due process, as well as halt the beatings of Palestinians, the destruction of their homes and the use of plastic bullets and other lethal weapons against them; demand that new Israeli settlements in the occupied territories be prohibited. The United States has ample leverage with which to force compliance with these demands. At some point - the sooner the better - the United States must issue a clear ultimatum: notify the Jewish state that all U.S. aid will cease unless Israel, in exchange for border guarantees, withdraws its forces from Arab territories."
The Washington Post reviewing They Dare to Speak Out
They Dare to Speak Out
They to Dare Speak Out: People and Institutions Confront Israel's Lobby is a bestselling book that was written in 1985 , had a second edition published in 1989 and a third in 2003 They to Dare Speak Out: People and Institutions Confront Israel's Lobby is a bestselling book (nine weeks a...
said: "Stripped of all the maudlin martyrdom, former congressman Paul Findley's message is straightforward and valid: Israeli influence in the United States, including in the inner sanctums of government, is very strong." The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
review by Adam Clymer
Adam Clymer
Adam Clymer is an American journalist.-Career:He was with The New York Times from 1977 until July, 2003, and served as its national political correspondent for the 1980 presidential election, polling editor from 1983 to 1990, political editor for George H. W...
, described the book as "an angry, one-sided book that seems often to be little more than a stringing together of stray incidents ... [it] does not really accept the idea that people of any political point of view are entitled to organize, support their friends and try to defeat the people they think are their enemies".
Findley lists the Israeli lobby as one of the factors contributing to his narrow defeat in 1982, alongside the serious national recession of 1982 and the substantial change of his district's boundaries after the 1980 census. "In seeking gains for Israel, they rigorously stifled dissent and intimidated the entire Congress. They still do. They defeat legislators who criticize Israel. Senators Adlai Stevenson III
Adlai Stevenson III
Adlai Ewing Stevenson III is an American politician of the Democratic Party. He represented the state of Illinois in the United States Senate from 1970 until 1981.-Education, military service, and early career:...
and Charles H. Percy
Charles H. Percy
Charles Harting "Chuck" Percy was president of the Bell & Howell Corporation from 1949 to 1964. He was elected United States Senator from Illinois in 1966, re-elected through his term ending in 1985; he concentrated on business and foreign relations...
, and Representatives Pete McCloskey
Pete McCloskey
Paul Norton "Pete" McCloskey Jr. is a former Republican politician from the U.S. state of California who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1967 to 1983. He ran on an anti-war platform for the Republican nomination for President in 1972 but was defeated by incumbent President...
, Cynthia McKinney
Cynthia McKinney
Cynthia Ann McKinney is a former US Congresswoman and a member of the Green Party since 2007. As a member of the Democratic Party, she served six terms as a member of the United States House of Representatives. In 2008, the Green Party nominated McKinney for President of the United States...
, Earl F. Hilliard
Earl F. Hilliard
Earl Frederick Hilliard is a politician from the U.S. state of Alabama.Hilliard was born in Birmingham, Alabama, and graduated from Morehouse College. He was elected as a Democrat to the Alabama House of Representatives in 1974 and served from 1975 until 1981 and in the Alabama Senate from 1981...
, and myself were defeated at the polls by candidates heavily financed by pro-Israel forces. McKinney alone was able to regain her seat in Congress." (McKinney lost her seat again two years later.)
Findley spoke to NPR about the publication of Mearsheimer
John Mearsheimer
John J. Mearsheimer is an American professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago. He is an international relations theorist. Known for his book on offensive realism, The Tragedy of Great Power Politics, more recently Mearsheimer has attracted attention for co-authoring and publishing...
and Walt
Stephen Walt
Stephen Martin Walt is a professor of international affairs at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. Among his most prominent works are and . He coauthored The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy with John Mearsheimer.-Education and career:In 1983, he received a Ph.D. in...
's controversial 2006 working paper, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy
The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy
The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy is the title of a book by John Mearsheimer, Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago, and Stephen Walt, Professor of International Relations at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, published in late August 2007...
: "You can't imagine how pleased I was [...] I think I can pose as a foremost expert on the lobby for Israel, because I was the target the last three years I was in Congress."
Support of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
Findley has supported the efforts of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) to improve the image of Muslims in America. In a conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Findley said that "the cancer of anti-Muslim and anti-Islamic sentiments was spreading in American society and requires corrective measures to stamp out this malaise." In May 2006 Findley led a CAIR delegation to the United Arab EmiratesUnited Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...
(UAE), resulting in a UAE proposal to build a property in the United States to serve as an endowment for CAIR. This proposal amounted to tens of millions of dollars in UAE donations.
Criticism
The Anti-Defamation LeagueAnti-Defamation League
The Anti-Defamation League is an international non-governmental organization based in the United States. Describing itself as "the nation's premier civil rights/human relations agency", the ADL states that it "fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects...
has criticized the Council for the National Interest
Council for the National Interest
The Council for the National Interest is a 501 organization in the United States advocating a "new direction for U.S. Middle East policy." With its sister organization the Council for the National Interest Foundation it works to educate about and promote what it describes as "even handed...
, of which Findley is a founder, as an "anti-Israel organization" that "disseminates demonizing propaganda about Israel to academics, politicians, and other audiences." The Anti-Defamation League alleges that as a member of the Council for the National Interest that they have disseminated cartoons with anti-Semitic based themes by Khalil Bendib
Khalil Bendib
Khalil Bendib is an Algerian fine artist and political cartoonist. Born during the Algerian revolution, Bendib spent 3 years in Morocco before returning to Algeria aged 6. After receiving his Bachelor's degree in Algiers, he left Algeria at the age of 20...
. Additionally, the Anti-Defamation League has quoted Paul Findley from an article in 2003 as blaming Israel for the September 11 Attacks: "Nine-eleven would not have occurred if the U.S. government had refused to help Israel humiliate and destroy Palestinian society." Paul Findley continued in the same article stating that "America suffered 9/11 and its aftermath and may soon be at war with Iraq, mainly because U.S. policy in the Middle East is made in Israel, not in Washington." A number of columnists have pointed out that Israeli government policy was and continues to be that the Iranian government is the primary threat and Iraq under Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
was only tertiary and largely unimportant.
See also
- American Israel Public Affairs CommitteeAmerican Israel Public Affairs CommitteeThe American Israel Public Affairs Committee is a lobbying group that advocates pro-Israel policies to the Congress and Executive Branch of the United States...
, or AIPACAmerican Israel Public Affairs CommitteeThe American Israel Public Affairs Committee is a lobbying group that advocates pro-Israel policies to the Congress and Executive Branch of the United States... - Council for the National InterestCouncil for the National InterestThe Council for the National Interest is a 501 organization in the United States advocating a "new direction for U.S. Middle East policy." With its sister organization the Council for the National Interest Foundation it works to educate about and promote what it describes as "even handed...
External links
- Council for the National Interest (CNI), Paul Findley is the Founding Chairman.
- Rep. Paul Findley Dares to Speak Out Paul Findley discusses the Israeli lobby in the US.