President Donald Trump’s White House is being put in the awkward position of having to choose sides between major donors and its own senior staffers. On Wednesday night, a right-wing, pro-Israel lobby group funded largely by the Adelson family — which also gave millions to Trump’s presidential campaign and inauguration — launched a broadside attack against National Security Adviser Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster.
The Zionist Organization of America announced Monday that it was undertaking a review of McMaster’s record on Israel, according to an “exclusive” story in the right-wing website, Breitbart. On Wednesday, the group released a statement calling for McMaster to be reassigned from the National Security Council because, according to the ZOA, he “purged from the NSC those officials who were carrying out President Trump’s policies of combating Iranian and radical Islamist transnational threats.”
“Gen. McMaster’s record during these past few months can only lead to the conclusion that McMaster is opposed to President Trump’s basic policy positions on Israel, Iran, and Islamist terror,” ZOA president Morton Klein said in the statement. “Gen. McMaster is not the appropriate person to serve the Trump White House as top national security adviser. The ZOA strongly recommends that Gen. McMaster be reassigned to a different role in this administration, unrelated to these critical issues.”
The White House has shown a willingness to act — and act fast — to stay in Republican mega-donor Sheldon Adelson’s good graces. When then-press secretary Sean Spicer went on a bizarre rant declaring Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad to be worse than Adolf Hitler, for instance, Spicer picked up the phone afterward and personally called Adelson to apologize. But the latest rift with an Adelson-backed group appears to be more severe and will likely take more than a simple phone apology to resolve.
Breitbart, which first reported the inquiry and its results, is also linked to a top Trump donor — Robert Mercer invested at least $10 million in the site — as well as Steve Bannon, Trump’s former campaign chair and now one of his top political strategists. Bannon, who once ran Breitbart, leads a “nationalist” faction in the White House that clashes frequently with what these “nationalists” have deemed “globalist” forces in the halls of power — those, such as McMaster and others, who are willing to engage in international diplomacy and trade.
The ZOA’s attack on McMaster pits Adelson and Mercer, two extreme right-wing Trump backers, against Trump’s new chief of staff, retired Gen. John Kelly, who is widely seen as bringing some discipline and order to a White House that constantly finds itself in chaos. Kelly is said to be closely allied with McMaster.
In its statement, the ZOA pointed to McMaster’s personnel changes at the NSC. “Gen. McMaster has appointed officials who are holdovers from the Obama administration, who favor the Iran nuclear deal and are hostile to Israel — officials who are diametrically opposed to President Trump’s policies,” the statement said.
McMaster had long opposed the appointment of a trio of anti-Muslim ideologues to the NSC staff, but his bid to remove the staffers was thwarted until Kelly was elevated last month from running the Department of Homeland Security to chief of staff. Two of the staffers, Ezra Cohen-Watnick and Derek Harvey, were reportedly the most outspoken Iran hawks within the NSC.
Adelson, for his part, has been a consistent backer of hawkish groups on Iran, once even remarking that he would like to launch nuclear weapons against the Islamic Republic.
McMaster’s controversial statements, according to the ZOA, were reported by the Jerusalem Posts’ Caroline Glick. “According to senior officials aware of his behavior, [McMaster] constantly refers to Israel as the occupying power and insists falsely and constantly that a country named Palestine existed where Israel is located until 1948 when it was destroyed by the Jews,” Glick, another far-right, pro-Israel figure, had written on Facebook.
The ZOA statement cited Glick’s statements, as well as a litany of article from frequently Islamophobic websites, such Frontpage Mag, in its condemnation of McMaster’s personnel changes. Neither the White House nor the ZOA responded to requests for comment.
The extent of the ZOA’s reliance on funding from Adelson, who is also Trump’s biggest donor, has remained largely shrouded in secrecy. Breitbart acknowledged that the ZOA receives some backing from the Adelsons. And I have previously reported on the Adelsons’ extensive support of the ZOA. Documents obtained by The Intercept, however, detail the degree to which ZOA has remained dependent on the fortune Adelson built from his gambling empire.
The ZOA’s 2015 Schedule A form, which is filed with the IRS but not intended for public disclosure, shows that Miriam Adelson, Sheldon wife, contributed $4,533,870 to the group in a period spanning the 2011 to 2015 tax years. The group’s second-largest donor over the same period was the MZ Foundation, which contributed less than $1 million. According to the ZOA’s 2015 Schedule B form, which is also not intended for public disclosure, Miriam Adelson contributed $1 million to the group during the 2015 tax year alone, more than twice as much as the next largest contributor.
The ZOA has emerged as one of the few defenders within the Jewish community of Trump’s White House and its “alt-right” members when they have faced charges of anti-Semitism. The group even invited Bannon, a seminal figure of the “alt-right,” to its annual dinner in November. Other Jewish groups and self-proclaimed anti-Semitism watchdogs have taken a hard line against Bannon’s appointment in the White House; the Anti-Defamation League declared Bannon’s work at Breitbart “hostile to core American values.” Ultimately, Bannon did not attend.
The ZOA has made a point to fete the Adelsons and even speak on their behalf. In 2009, the group awarded Sheldon Adelson the “Herzl Gold Medallion for outstanding achievement in Zionism.” And, in 2014, Klein acted as Adelson’s spokesperson after New Jersey governor and then-GOP presidential hopeful Chris Christie made the gaffe of referring to the West Bank as “occupied territories.” Christie personally apologized to Adelson.
In 2015, the ZOA also came out to defend Mike Huckabee — whose daughter, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, serves as Trump’s press secretary — against an avalanche of denunciations from Jewish groups, who condemned his statement comparing the Iran nuclear agreement to the Holocaust. Huckabee had said that then-President Barack Obama would “take the Israelis and march them to doors of the oven.”
The Adelsons gave $35 million the Future 45 Super PAC to support Trump’s candidacy, enough to make the Adelsons Trump’s biggest campaign supporter. The influx of Adelson’s money corresponded to a noticeable change in tone by then-candidate Trump.
Top photo: A pro-Israel demonstrator, wearing a military style kipa and holding a U.S. flag, attends a demonstration outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
Finally, the most powerful branch of our government has spoken up.
I don’t see why the Israelis and their Zionist allies in the USA don’t simply acknowledge the fact that they have nuclear weapons and make it clear that if Iran wants to get into it with them, even if they manage to wipe Israel off the map, the nukes will continue to come from submarine based launchers until Iran no longer exists. Mutual Assured Destruction kept the peace between the USA and USSR for 45 years and is the cleanest way to make Iran a non-issue. Israel has been obsessed with Iran while Saudi Arabia has been slowly undermining and Islamifying the West. Even without the Iran threat, does Israel think it will be secure when much of Europe and possibly the USA are being manipulated by vocal Muslim minorities playing the same influence-buying games that made the Jews so powerful?
“Mutual Assured Destruction kept the peace between the USA and USSR for 45 years and is the cleanest way to make Iran a non-issue.” Actually, pure dumb luck kept the peace–that we didn’t destroy ourselves with that insane policy is nothing short of a miracle.
It isn’t Iran who is threatening Israel, but the other way around. The Mossad had said this much in a report commissioned by Sharon. The rest is propaganda.
shadow party, name soros gave to his taxpayer funded unaccountable govt employee labor union rioters
I understand the confusion; many people are likewise deluded.
Mr. Adelson is not supportive of Israel in the abstract.
He is supportive of a fascist, racist version of Israel.
I find this whole story surrounding Gen McMaster to be remarkably short on details.
Or else these people are so petty that a small slight is blown out of proportion.
Reading the Higgins memo this morning explains more about the former NSC chief, General Flynn, and his staff’s, bizarre worldview gives context to them, but not necessarily about McMaster.
Then again, my device kept cutting off the edges, so I should read it again for batter flow.
http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/08/10/heres-the-memo-that-blew-up-the-nsc/
Hungry for war? Fight to the death, you miserable bastards. Whittle down your own depraved denizens. There isn’t enough money and power for all of you.
Israel needs to leave Ian alone, there is no justification in it. It parallels the US always carry on on about N Korea as a threat– neither of them are threats unless you are a puny 8th rate country! Devalue yourself so?
It sounds like Zoa is Israel’s very own neo-Nazi party, claiming oppression by all of those who don’t acknowledge them as the chosen ones. They talk as if Hitler’s entire aim was to eliminate the Jewish ‘race’ , while world domination was his true aim. The Nazis eliminated anyone – intellectuals, politicians, Gypsies – anyone who opposed them.
Israel is the unfortunate result of greed and separatism by a small group of people who claim God loves them best; they are the pariahs, not Iran. Israel needs to learn some humility, as does the U.S.
All any of these people need to do is remember who they work for
I’m not even sure what the NSC actually does or what these individuals were tasked with doing on the NSC. After reading some of its history, it looks like no one else is really sure what it is supposed to do either. Must be something important, since everybody is fighting over it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_United_States_National_Security_Council
Excellent work.
Let’s dig deep. Zionistas, a criminal enterprise operating under the color of religion, engage in bribing officials from other countries for their business operations which may include casinos. These businesses, when within a US publicly traded company, are subject to the jurisdiction of the Foreign Practices Act. However US federal law is now only a weapon applied to politically disconnected (the general population) or political enemies. Interestingly, the ZOA and AIPAC affiliates shadow political groups and non-bribe party members of any political party and influence US elections thru any legal undemocratic means to get their whoys elected to do their bidding, like a master to a slave.
General McMasters is not a member of the CFR and neither a political whoy. That scares some people who only cultivate political whoys and wallstreet wannabe’s. McMasters is not a qualified whoy. And he is IRISH.
Since the elected whoys have so badly screwed up America, the boiling kettle of the evil pimps has given rise to the raft which floated to the top as a somewhat untested frankenstein.
That’s anti-sheititic! You must embrace the propaganda; love the propaganda! Zionists are the only hope for Jews! What would Jews do without them?!
Ich, Du-ju-jitsu!
And just look at all the good they did for the Jews by allying themselves with Hitler! And with Stalin!
And domestic spying on activists and others in the US, of course….which has led us to where we are today in a demolished republic:
https://psmag.com/news/kings-garbage-76228
Zionists are like the visible cancer on a corpse
The repeated use of the term “pro-Israel” for right wing expansionist warmongers who threaten the viability and legitimacy of Israel does not seem to make sense.
A reevaluation of the concept may be in order.
It is ironic that you think and Apartheid regime is either viable or legitimate.
Yes, it may appear healthy by sucking on the resources of the denied population, but the cancers of racism and oppression eat it from the inside even if the resistance of the denied population is suppressed by a superpower.
Um, I think you missed the point.
And bigly at that ….
Thanks to both of you for jumping in there for me.
He did indeed miss it, but RP’s comments are usually excellent, and he wouldn’t be wrong if I was saying what he thought I was saying… and I could have phrased my comment a little better.
No harm, no foul.
#RepealReplaceCitizensUnited!
“HealthCare for Bribery!”
#RepealReplaceCitizensUnited!
“The HealthCare for Bribery!”
The Republican and Democrat mott:
“I’ve never seen a Bribe that I would not take!”
One thing I noticed during the primaries was that Trump never went to beg Adelson for approval or donations which all the other repugs did. When Trump swept the primaries and showed he could win the election Adelson came to him and offered, for him a small, donation to get a seat at the winner’s table.
why isn’t john kelly firing Bannon?
What really happened, was that McMaster fired this one guy called Rich Higgins, because he wrote Anti-Muslim stuff. Then McMaster started firing people from the NSC who were brought on by Michael Flynn, and to have his own team. He tried to fire this one guy Ezra Cohen-Watnick, and was unable to do so. That got the IC curious as to who this guy Ezra Cohen-Watnick was that couldn’t be fired by the head of the NSC. But eventually McMaster did get him fired. So now AIPAC and ZOA and this woman Caroline Glick are pissed at McMaster and want him gone.
More on Ezra Cohen-Watnick here.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/07/ezra-cohen-watnick/534615/
Thanks for the link. By all appearances, Ezra Cohen-Watnick is a more or less average guy whose career progression was at a more or less average rate, who happened to get the attention of Flynn. From that point on he became a pawn in the power struggles that are going on in the west wing. His history does not rule out the possibility of his being an Israeli agent, however, a suspicion that is reinforced by all the fuss over his dismissal.
Given his lack of experience, and especially the narrowness of his prior exposure to inter-agency coordination, it is not surprising at all that McMaster would want to replace him. But as we have seen over and over again, Trump’s evaluation criteria are loyalty, loyalty, money, loyalty, and subservience, in that order. So it is understandable that when a loyal donor wants someone kept in place, Trump will oblige.
McMaster fired two pro Israel people from the NSC. So naturally he is now a big threat to the National Security of the …. United States.
http://mondoweiss.net/2017/08/mcmaster-solidifies-supports/?utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_content=5986333a04d30159b980598e&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter
Irrespective of anything relating to McMaster: phuk Adelson.
Hmm.veeelly innn..tell .eessting
Netanyahu’s Billionaire Backer May Help Bring Him Down
The growing corruption scandal threatening Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political future now includes casino mogul Sheldon Adelson
http://therealnews.com/t2/story:19739:Netanyahu%27s-Billionaire-Backer-May-Help-Bring-Him-Down
FIRE ADELSON
I’ve always wondered if Mossad has their tentacles in Shel like the CIA has their tentacles in Fethullah Gülen? ..and visa versa?
Each man has their own private schools, they both live in the USA,
I know George Soros has a notorious reputation for funding many govt. sponsored programs and NGO’s.
Nothing new about this kind of behavior in America; I think, ever since the USA became the USA, even before, ..the rich and powerful have always been the puppeteers
I wonder if Bannon is involved behind the scenes in this. Could this be a move on his part to enhance his standing, or simply revenge for being removed from the NSC? I know, Bannon and Adelson are strange bedfellows, if one believes that Bannon is antisemitic, but stranger things have happened in Washington. But too bad reporter Eli Clifton did not wonder about the move against McMaster being first aired on Bannon’s old rag, Breitbart. A strange thing, in itself.
In any event, it is encouraging to see the Zionists enraged by the NSC. Perhaps things are not so bad as they appear to be. And I am wondering if any of the hasbra folks out there could explain to me how ZOA is not an oxymoron.
“But too bad reporter Eli Clifton did not wonder about the move against McMaster being first aired on Bannon’s old rag, Breitbart. A strange thing, in itself.”
Are you assuming that, or did you ask him?
Look at how they quarrel amongst themselves.
They are clearly not a good fit for self-government.
That’s brilliant logic at work here. Israel can’t possibly be responsible for the suffering of an entire country because said country never even existed in the first place. It was actually a lapse in the fabric of time and space until God fixed it because of the Holocaust.
Ha. Try reading a history book instead of your lefty blogs. There was different occupying powers controlling the area over the Centuries. Even when Israel was created the UN called for 3 areas; Israel, Arab, and for Jerusalem/Bethlehem to be International. Nothing about Palestine.
Ha, except that all of the Jews that left Europe before 1948, for what is today Israel, went to British Palestine. Why don’t you try reading a history book, or even two.
Most of the Jews of Europe who started Israel were Russian. Meanwhile, naming occupied lands as something other than apartheid is a lie.
You two are so funny. If someone said Palestine back in the day they were talking of Jews. I know, I know…super lefty article tells you otherwise.
You talk of European Jews, what about all those that left Arab Countries?
Apartheid? Ridiculous. Did black South African’s have government officials who paid the families of suicide bombers? Did black South African’s preach hate in their schools and mosques? Did black South African’s elect leaders who called for the destruction of others?
Adelson is a casino owner in las vegas as well as being very rich. If McMaster is fired anytime in the near future the blame should be on the BIG Money donors and others who try to buy politics. another good reason that super PACS should be barred from elections. McMasters is a great person, He was my commander in IRAQ and he was well loved by all of his troops. He is not anti anything we destroyed the Terrorist all because of him and his Plan to take the city of Tal afar and give it back to the peoples of Iraq. alderson the heart attack waiting to happen needs to go read the comics in breitbart news and stay out of politics
Tal afer was ethnically cleansed.
Yes, that did pacify the city.
Still, ethnic cleansing is a crime against humanity.
What’s the motto of AIPAC? Fuck with us and we will roast your ass alive.
Agreed. I like this quote from the article:
“In 2009, the group awarded Sheldon Adelson the “Herzl Gold Medallion for outstanding achievement in Zionism.”
Well, either Zionism is an idea whose time never came, or else it is an idea that likes the support of the like of Sheldon Adelson. You can’t have it both ways. Playing the alpha-predator and the victim at the same time is getting quite old. You can’t claim to be a democracy and play the dictator at the same time. Even our poor nation of dupes hasn’t fallen for that one yet.
Did Sheldon ever serve?
Thanks for this article. Let’s hope that there are many more military personnel like McMaster who have the sense to counter crazy ideas percolating in the White House, especially when those ideas can lead to more wars.
They are one of the owners of the country. They have bought and paid for a government they like.
Why should they not be allowed to run this country as they want?
Dark money in action… you want it, you got it, stop whining.
If that weren’t the case you would do/have done something about it!
It is telling that the campaign to get him replaced is based on the notion that being an informed and knowledgeable person is a bad thing.