Source: Senate panel probing ‎possible Obama administration ties to anti-Netanyahu effort

Posted on March 14, 2015 by Curt ( 1 comment. )

Steven Edwards:

A powerful U.S. Senate investigatory committee has launched a bipartisan probe into an American nonprofit’s funding of efforts to oust Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the Obama administration’s State Department gave the nonprofit taxpayer-funded grants, a source with knowledge of the panel’s activities told FoxNews.com.

The fact that both Democratic and Republican sides of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations have signed off on the probe could be seen as a rebuke to President Obama, who has had a well-documented adversarial relationship with the Israeli leader.

The development comes as Netanyahu told Israel’s Channel Two television station this week that there were “governments” that wanted to help with the “Just Not Bibi” campaigning — Bibi being the Israeli leader’s nickname.

It also follows a FoxNews.com report on claims the Obama administration has been meddling in the Israeli election on behalf of groups hostile to Netanyahu. A spokesperson for Sen. Rob Portman, Ohio Republican and chairman of the committee, declined comment, and aides to ranking Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill, of Missouri, did not immediately return calls.

The Senate subcommittee, which has subpoena power, is the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs’ chief investigative body with jurisdiction over all branches of government operations and compliance with laws.

“The Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations does not comment on ongoing investigations,” Portman spokeswoman Caitlin Conant told Foxnews.com.

But a source familiar with the matter confirmed for FoxNews.com that the probe — undisclosed until now — was both underway and bipartisan in nature.

According to the source, the probe is looking into “funding” by OneVoice Movement – a Washington-based group that has received $350,000 in recent State Department grants, and until last November was headed by a veteran diplomat from the Clinton administrations.

A subsidiary of OneVoice is the Israel-based Victory 15 campaign, itself guided by top operatives of Obama’s White House runs, which seeks to “replace the government” of Israel.

“It’s confirmed that there is a bipartisan Permanent Subcommittee inquiry into OneVoice’s funding of V15,” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity about the American group, which bills itself as working for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

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Ditto

9 years ago

DEVELOPING: Bibi Netanyahu Is About to Lay the BOOM on Obama’s Attacks Against Him

According to the Jewish newspaper, Algemeiner, the Likud party has a 26–23-seat lead in the run-up to the parliamentary election. The other political factions, The Zionist Union and The Jewish Home, would receive 21 and 13 seats, respectively.

Based on the parliamentary system of government, a Likud majority means the party’s leader, Netanyahu, would remain prime minister of Israel.

It must stick in Obama’s craw that Netanyahu will remain on the scene, continuing to repudiate the president’s Middle East foreign policy.

It seems that Obama only seems to want regime changes that will make the world less secure from Islamic radicalism.

Arab pundit unites with Israel’s Netanyahu; calls Obama ‘one of the worst American presidents’

Israel and Saudi Arabia are mortal enemies, but a columnist at a pro-government newspaper in Saudi Arabia this week praised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a friend to peace in the Middle East and branded President Obama “one of the worst American presidents” over his negotiations with Iran.

Writing in the pro-government newspaper Al-Jazirah before Netanyahu’s speech Tuesday, columnist Ahmad Al-Faraj praised the Israeli prime minister – something that doesn’t get done often in any Arab country.

And he bashed Obama, according to a translation by the Middle East Media Research Institute.

“The Obama administration does not suffice with condemning Netanyahu’s visit. Obama has announced that he will not meet with Netanyahu on the grounds that he does not meet with state leaders a short while before elections take place in their countries, [though] elections in Israel will take place weeks after the visit!! Likewise, American Vice President Joseph Biden, whose presence at Netanyahu’s speech in Congress is expected by virtue of his constitutional role as Senate president, announced that he would be on a trip abroad [on the day of] Netanyahu’s speech!! U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry also said he would be in Switzerland meeting with the Iranians on the nuclear dossier and therefore would not be able to attend Netanyahu’s speech!!

This isn’t like a columnist or a blogger writing in the United States. Saudi Arabia doesn’t have a First Amendment – if opinions like this are making it into the “mainstream” press, it’s because they reflect the views of the government.

(Snip)

The column’s ending is damning.

“Since Obama is the godfather of the prefabricated revolutions in the Arab world, and since he is the ally of political Islam, [which is] the caring mother of [all] the terrorist organizations, and since he is working to sign an agreement with Iran that will come at the expense of the U.S.’s longtime allies in the Gulf, I am very glad of Netanyahu’s firm stance and [his decision] to speak against the nuclear agreement at the American Congress despite the Obama administration’s anger and fury. I believe that Netanyahu’s conduct will serve our interests, the people of the Gulf, much more than the foolish behavior of one of the worst American presidents. Do you agree with me?”