AIPAC (The American Israel Public Affairs Committee), has a long record of supporting Islamophobes and anti-Arab racists and bigots. It has now been revealed that they donated $60,000 to Frank Gaffney‘s Center For Security Policy (CSP). Gaffney, has made a career out of demonizing Islam and Muslims, and hyping so-called conspiracies, such as a “Muslim Brotherhood” plot to take over the US, and pushing deeply flawed poll “research” trying to paint Muslim Americans as violent fifth-columnist.
An organization operating under AIPAC, the powerful pro-Israel lobby in Washington, contributed tens of thousands of dollars to a right-wing think tank that has been accused of promoting a racist agenda against Muslims. The funds were donated to the Center for Security Policy in 2015, as part of the fight against the nuclear deal with Iran. The contribution was revealed Wednesday by the website Lobelog.
As part of its public fight against the nuclear deal, AIPAC set up in 2015 Citizens for a Nuclear Free Iran, an organization that invested close to $20 million in ads, publications and other initiatives meant to influence U.S. public opinion against the deal. Tax filings show that $60,000 of the group’s budget went to the controversial Center for Security Policy. An AIPAC official told Haaretz that the money was used for ads against the nulcear deal, stressing that it was a relatively small amount out of the organization’s overall $20 million budget.
The CSP, headed by Frank Gaffney, has been accused by its critics of promoting anti-Muslim policies and conspiracy theories. Gaffney’s work was cited by U.S. President Donald Trump during the Republican primaries in December 2015, when Trump first began calling for a total ban on Muslims entering the United States. Gaffney later served as an adviser to Trump’s transition team, and was involved in the push by some of the president’s staff to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization.
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