Congressional Democrats paid by the Iran lobby to

Posted: Sep 4, 2015

Every senator who accepted money from the Iranian American Political Action Committee (IPAC) should be impeached and removed from office — or at very least, soundly defeated the next time he or she comes up for reelection. But the Enemedia, true to form, will cover for them and do everything it can to keep them on the government payroll. One of the many unanswered questions about P5+1 agreement with Iran is why so many Congressional Democrats are rallying behind the President on this issue when recent polls show the majority of Americans want Congress to reject the deal. Partrt of the reason is obvious: they are supporting a president from their own party, but a not-so-obvious reason may be that there is a “nefarious” lobby trying to control American foreign policy, and for a change the anti-Semites can’t blame the Jews. Iranian lobbyists are making big campaign donations to Democrats and are funding pro-deal propaganda. Writing in Front Page Magazine, Daniel Greenfield pointed out that many of the Democratic legislators who announced their support for the deal are getting money from the Iran lobby, specifically the Iranian American Political Action Committee, IPAC, which maxed out its contributions to Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) and Al Franken (D-Minn) — each received $5,000 in the 2014 election cycle. “Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), the Iran lobby’s third Dem senator, didn’t bother playing coy like her colleagues. he came out for the deal a while back even though she only got half the IAPAC cash that Franken and Markey received.” Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), who represents the state with the largest Jewish population in America, surprised many with her support of the deal. In addition to IAPAC cash, “Gillibrand had also picked up money from the Iran lobby’s Hassan Nemazee,” Greenfield reports. “Nemazee was Hillary’s national campaign finance director who had raised a fortune for both her and Kerry before pleading guilty to a fraud scheme encompassing hundreds of millions of dollars. Nemazee had been an IAPAC trustee and had helped set up the organization.” Barbara Boxer, who also came out for the deal, also Iran lobby funds. Getting IPAC cash on the House side were Mike Honda (D-CA), Andre Carson (D-IN), Gerry Connolly (D-VA), Donna Edwards (D-MD) and Jackie Speier (D-CA). Each of them supports Obama’s P5+1 turkey. But the Iran lobby’s biggest wins weren’t Markey or Shaheen. The real victory had come long before when two of their biggest politicians, Joe Biden and John Kerry, had moved into prime positions in the administration. Not only IAPAC, but key Iran lobby figures had been major donors to both men. “That list includes Housang Amirahmadi, the founder of the American Iranian Council, who had spoken of a campaign to ‘conquer Obama’s heart and mind’ and had described himself as ‘the Iranian lobby in the United States.’ It includes the Iranian Muslim Association of North America (IMAN) board members who had fundraised for Biden. And it includes the aforementioned Hassan Nemazee. “A member of Iran’s opposition had accused Biden’s campaigns of being ‘financed by Islamic charities of the Iranian regime based in California and by the Silicon Iran network.’ Biden’s affinity for the terrorist regime in Tehran was so extreme that after 9/11 he had suggested, ‘Seems to me this would be a good time to send, no strings attached, a check for $200 million to Iran’. Another part of the Iran lobby pushing the deal is the Ploughshares Fund. Ploughshares is not pushing the deal directly, but it’s financing many of the other groups pushing Congress to vote “yes.” Michael Rubin exposed the Plowshares money in a recent Commentary piece. According to Rubin, Ploughshares Fund is “a multimillion-dollar group which defines itself as a foundation seeking nuclear disarmament but which has, for several years, taken a consistently apologetic line toward Iran.” Ploughshares has been throwing its weight behind influential organizations such as the National Iranian American Council, the Arms Control Association, and the Atlantic Council, among others, in an attempt to garner support for the deal, Rubin reported. Ploughshares gave $150,000 to the National Iranian American Council for “advocacy” about the Iran Deal, $210,000 to the Arms Control Association to “influence US policy toward Iran,” and another $25,000 to fund an “expert workshop” and press briefings, according to Rubin. Per its annual report, Ploughshares also gives money to the anti-Israel group, J Street ($100,000) that has not only fought additional sanctions over recent years but also that has worked to promote the Iran agreement. J Street’s support also comes from the fact that it was President Obama, not the Jewish community who gave the group legitimacy. Pamela Geller;