"In every generation, the enemies rise up against us" - Passover Haggada"Your destroyers will come from your own midst" - Isaiah

Israel's enemies will use any weapon they can to attack and delegitimize Israel. There's a cottage industry led by the "Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy" that reviews declassified U.S. Government documents from the 1950s and 1960s to prove that Israel deployed various groups as "foreign agents" in order to influence U.S. policy. The Jewish Agency, the American Zionist Council (AZC), and AIPAC are primary targets of the research group.

Some documents recently declassified come from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and date back to the 1960s when the committee was headed by the anti-Israel crusader, Sen. J. William Fulbright (pictured).

The committee subpoenaed records from the American Zionist Council, a pro-Israel American umbrella group formed in 1949. One document from 1961 detailed the AZC's public relations efforts and the opposition it faced from the anti-Israel lobby. A key component of that lobby was the anti-Zionist American Council for Judaism, headed by Elmer Berger who constantly railed against pro-Israel Jewish groups.

The American Council for Judaism held as it tenets that "Nationality and religion are separate and distinct. Our nationality is American, our religion is Judaism. Our homeland is the United States of America. We reject any concept that all Jews outside of Israel are in exile..."

Here is one fascinating excerpt from the 1961 American Zionist Council report:

"The ACJ [American Council for Judaism] is today the most effective anti-Zionist and anti-Israel force on the American scene. It continues its aggressive campaign and is concentrating on the mass media and in church circles. Its success is due primarily to the fact that being a Jewish organization (they operate under the term 'Judaism') it becomes acceptable to those in the communications field who thrive on controversy and who can now present 'another Jewish point of view'. Its position also finds an echo among those Christians—who, either because of some degree of latent anti-Semitism or because of obligations to the Arabs—can now join the fray without fear of being called anti-Semitic; ('I am in good Jewish company')."

Sound familiar? This report, written 50 years ago, sounds remarkably contemporary; just substitute the letters "JSt" for "ACJ." It's not surprising that the American Council for Judaism (yes, it still exists) approves of J Street's mission and activities.

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