Lawsuit spotlights US charities that fund Israel's secret nuclear weapon program

10/28/2014

Lawsuit spotlights U.S. charities that fund Israel’s secret nuclear weapons program

WASHINGTON, October 28, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — A federal lawsuit seeks immediate release of a closely held government report about how American branches of Israeli charitable and educational institutes fund secret nuclear weapons research and development programs.

An unclassified 1987 study conducted for the Department of Defense titled “Current Technology Issues in Israel” discovered Technion University technicians developing nuclear missile re-entry vehicles and working at the Dimona nuclear weapons production facility. Hebrew University computer scientists working at the Soreq nuclear facilities were “developing the kind of codes which will enable them to make hydrogen bombs.” Israel’s Weizmann Institute “studied high energy physics and hydrodynamics needed for nuclear bomb design, and worked on lasers to enrich uranium, the most advanced method for making the material dropped on Hiroshima in 1945″ say sources attributed to the report cited in the lawsuit.

IRmep filed suit for the report in the DC District Court as part of a public-interest drive to obtain long overdue enforcement of the Symington and Glenn Amendments to the Foreign Assistance Act. The laws prohibit U.S. foreign aid to nuclear weapons states such as Israel that are not signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

A recent Google Consumer Survey (PDF) reveals that despite longstanding Israeli and US government gag orders on publicly discussing the arsenal, 63.9 percent of Americans now believe Israel possesses nuclear weapons. 60.7 percent of Americans oppose sending the largest share (9 percent) of the U.S. foreign aid budget to Israel.

Israel’s Weizmann Institute, Technion, and Hebrew University raise substantial tax-exempt charitable funding through affiliates in the United States creating a “tax gap” that must be financed by individual American taxpayers. According to their most recent IRS filings, American branches of the three organizations raise a combined $172 million in annual U.S. tax-exempt funding. IRmep’s “request for determination” filings with the IRS reveal that secret foreign nuclear weapons development has no recognized U.S. tax-deductible “social welfare” purpose.

Defendants Department of Defense, the DC US Attorney Office and Attorney General have until October 30 to respond to IRmep’s public interest lawsuit demanding release of the explosive report. The Center for Policy and Law Enforcement is a unit of the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy in Washington. Inquiries about the lawsuit or opinion poll results may be directed to Grant F. Smith at [email protected] or 202-342-7325.

Download lawsuit (PDF)
Lawsuit news release

09/30/2014

“U.S. gives too much foreign aid to Israel” say 6 in 10 Americans

Most Americans (60.7 percent) believe the United States gives “much too much” or “too much” foreign aid to Israel according to the survey report American Public Opinion on U.S. Aid to Israel (PDF) released today by the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy, IRmep. 

·        ·     33.9 percent of Americans say Israel receives “much too much” U.S. foreign aid, while 26.8 percent feel it is “too much.” The U.S. gives Israel over $3 billion annually—9 percent of the foreign aid budget and more than any other country.  Only 25.9 percent believe aid is “about right” while 6.1 percent think aid is “too little” and 7.3 percent say it is “much too little.”  Since 1970 U.S. foreign aid to Israel has grown on average 30 percent per year.

·        ·     Younger Americans are most skeptical about U.S. aid to Israel. Almost 65 percent of adults under the age of 34 said such aid is excessive.

·        ·     Only the wealthiest Americans (earning $150k and above) believe aid is “about right” at 47.6 percent.  However 42.9 percent within the same income category think aid is “too much” while only 9.5 percent think it is “too little.”

·        ·     Most Americans (63.9 percent) believe Israel has an arsenal of nuclear weapons.  This belief may make them resent costly demands to buy weapons to maintain Israel’s so-called “qualitative military edge” since Israel has long possessed the ultimate military deterrent.

·        A majority of Americans (58.5 percent) mistakenly believe that Iran also has nuclear weapons.  No western government or intelligence agency claims Iran has built a weapon.  However a sustained campaign by anti-Iran groups in the U.S. and news media failures have apparently led most Americans to believe an Iranian bomb already exists.

Download full report (PDF) 
Report news release 
Analysis at Antiwar.com: Why does IRmep survey contradict other foreign aid findings?
Radio Interview: “Push” Poll or Necessarily Detailed Survey Question?: