Top officials at the U.S. embassy in
Tel Aviv met in late January with one of the main progressive groups working to
tip the upcoming Israeli elections against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
and helped facilitate the organization’s visit to the United States this week
to learn political organizing techniques.
The State Department helped the
nonprofit group Givat Haviva secure last-minute visas for a delegation of
Arab-Israeli mayors, which is in the United States this week meeting with civic
leaders and attending discussions on voter outreach and community organizing.
The delegation arrived on Feb. 4.
Givat Haviva is part of a coalition
of U.S.-funded progressive groups working to influence the Israeli elections.
The organization, which has chapters in both the United States and Israel, is
leading an effort to increase voter turnout among Arab Israelis, who
traditionally oppose right-leaning parties such as Netanyahu’s Likud.
Top American diplomats met with Givat
Haviva and the Arab-Israeli mayors at the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv on Jan. 29,
where they discussed the plans for this week’s visit. U.S. officials at the
meeting included the deputy mission chief, the CIA station chief, and the
cultural attaché, according to an attendee.
The Givat Haviva Institute’s
co-executive director Mohammad Darawshe, the main organizer of the delegation, said
that the meeting was just a “farewell greeting from the embassy staff after
they helped with getting the visas.”
Givat Haviva was also scheduled to
meet with the State Department’s Bureau of Near East Affairs in Washington,
D.C., on Monday, but the meeting was abruptly canceled following inquiries from
the Free Beacon.
Moti Kahana, an Israeli American
businessman who funded the delegation visit, said he was not sure why the
meeting was canceled.
The State Department, which has
provided funding for Givat Haviva in the past, said last week that it would not
be meeting with the mayoral delegation.
“The State Department, including [the
Middle East Partnership Initiative], had no involvement in organizing or
funding the trip, and will not be meeting with the delegation,” said a State
Department official.
The agency did not respond to request
for comment when asked specifically about the scheduled meeting on Monday. The
delegation organizer Darawshe had previously said they had no meetings
scheduled with U.S. officials.
The State Department declined to comment
on whether it helped expedite the mayoral delegation’s visas. However, internal
Givat Haviva correspondence indicates
that the delegation received special attention from U.S. officials.
On Jan. 22, Darawshe wrote to other
trip organizers and asked for the names and information about the mayors
planning to attend the trip.
“State Department Program Specialist
Manal Haddad from the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv is ready to help get the visas
for mayors,” wrote Darawshe.
The delegation received its visas one
week later. The State Department said that the approval process for travel
visas from Israel typically takes around 12 weeks to complete.
American involvement in the Israeli
elections recently came under scrutiny when President Obama’s reelection team
and the U.S. nonprofit group OneVoice started to help the V15 campaign to oust
Netanyahu. OneVoice, which received State Department funding last year,
described its work as a nonpartisan get-out-the-vote effort.
On Thursday, the Free Beacon published a confidential strategy proposal
drafted by U.S.-based group Ameinu, which outlined a “massive” $3 million
get-out-the-vote initiative funded by American donors. The campaign would
target Israeli communities that traditionally oppose right-leaning parties such
as Likud.
According to the memo, Obama’s
reelection team was involved in the effort. Givat Haviva was “chosen to carry
out the Arab community Get-Out-the-Vote (GOTV) initiative.”
Givat Haviva has had a close
relationship with the State Department for many years, according to Darawshe. “Givat
Haviva has been an awardee of the State Department grant for more than 20 years
already,” he said.
Givat Haviva did receive State
Department funding in 2011, 2012 and 2013, according to public records. U.S.
ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro gave a keynote address at the group’s
conference last May.
“The United States has a long history
of partnership with Givat Haviva, through our Embassy in Tel Aviv, the USAID
Conflict Management and Mitigation program, and the Middle East Partnership
Initiative,” said Shapiro.
In addition to the meetings with the
State Department, Givat Haviva’s mayoral delegation also attended discussion
sessions on political organizing at George Mason University. Jeremiah Baronberg
hosted a reception for the delegation at McKenna, Long & Aldridge LLP.
Special guests at the reception included
Howard Dean, Thomas Pickering, and former Washington mayor Anthony Williams.
According to the confidential
strategy memo published last week, Givat Haviva’s GOTV effort in Israel would
include bi-weekly polling, messaging, an advertising effort, grassroots
outreach, and an operation to bring targeted voters to the polls on Election
Day.
The memo stressed the urgency of securing
funding in a timely manner and indicated that the plan would be put into place
immediately.
“As of the writing of this document
on December 17, there are only 91 days until the election,” said the document.
“We need to raise the necessary funds immediately to allow the operations to
get established in order to maximize the remaining time until voting day.”
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