The AZC, AIPAC and FARA

The AZC, AIPAC and FARA

"22 U. S. C. §611
DEFINITIONS
§ 611. As used in and for the purposes of this subchapter--
(a) The term "person" includes an individual, partnership, association, corporation, organization, or any other combination of individuals;
(b) The term "foreign principal" includes--
(1) a government of a foreign country and a foreign political party;
(2) a person outside of the United States, unless it is established that such person is an individual and a citizen of and domiciled within the United States, or that such person is not an individual and is organized under or created by the laws of the United States or of any State or other place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States and has its principal place of business within the United States; and
(3) a partnership, association, corporation, organization, or other combination of persons organized under the laws of or having its principal place of business in a foreign country.
(c) Expect [Except] as provided in subsection (d) of this section, the term "agent of a foreign principal" means--
(1) any person who acts as an agent, representative, employee, or servant, or any person who acts in any other capacity at the order, request, or under the direction or control, of a foreign principal or of a person any of whose activities are directly or indirectly supervised, directed, controlled, financed, or subsidized in whole or in major part by a foreign principal, and who directly or through any other person--
(i) engages within the United States in political activities for or in the interests of such foreign principal;
(ii) acts within the United States as a public relations counsel, publicity agent, information-service employee or political consultant for or in the interests of such foreign principal;
(iii) within the United States solicits, collects, disburses, or dispenses contributions, loans, money, or other things of value for or in the interest of such foreign principal.
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"Founded in the 1950s by Isaiah L. "Si" Kenen, AIPAC's original name was the American Zionist Committee for Public Affairs. According to UCLA political science professor and author, Steven Spiegel, "the tension between the Eisenhower administration and Israeli supporters was so acute that there were rumors (unfounded as it turned out) that the administration would investigate the American Zionist Council. Therefore, an independent lobbying committee was formed, which years later was renamed AIPAC." In his book describing the early history of AIPAC, Kenen wrote that AIPAC's Executive Committee decided to change their name from American Zionist Committee for Public Affairs to American Israel Public Affairs Committee "to enlarge constituency and support."

US Department of Justice files reveal that the Kennedy administration ordered the American Zionist Council to register as the agent of Israel under the Foreign Agents Registration Act; these files were declassified in 2008.^{"
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"Consequently, Kenen organized the American Zionist Committee for Public Affairs (AZPAC) in 1954 to act as a pro-Israel lobby with control and financing independent of the AZC. It again changed its name to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in 1959; Edward Tivnan notes the name change was “thus coming to terms with the reality of the largely non-Zionist nature of Jewish politics in the United States (and depriving the “Zionist conspiracy” theorists among the nation’s anti-Semites of an easy victim).”
AZC’s early years were characterized with bureaucratic struggle within Jewish and pro-Israel movements. Its name change to the AIPAC alienated the Zionist Organization of America, and an important representative to the World Zionist Organization, which felt that AIPAC might surrender lobbying control to Jews who, while willing to help fund Jewish charities, schools, and kibbutzim were less dedicated to the traditional Zionist idea of Israel as a sovereign Jewish state. The two organizations refused to cooperate for several years. Competitive strains also existed between AZPAC/AIPAC and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, which was also founded in 1954, to act as an umbrella lobbying group. Kenen however, considered them as irresolute on matters of vital importance to Israel "because it could not move on any issue unless it had a consensus."
In 1962, attorney general Robert F. Kennedy ordered the AZC to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act or (FARA) as the foreign agent of the Jewish Agency. In 1963, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held hearings regarding its funding.
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"In the early 1960's Israel funneled $5 million (more than $35 million in today's dollars) into US propaganda and lobbying operations.  The funds were channeled via the quasi governmental Jewish Agency's New York office into an Israel lobby umbrella group, the American Zionist Council.  Senate Foreign Relations Committee investigations and hearings documented funding flows, propaganda, and public relations efforts and put them into the record.  But the true fate of the American Zionist Council was never known, except that its major functions were visibly shut down and shifted over to a former AZC unit known as the "Kenen Committee,"calledthe American Israel Public Affairs Committee (or AIPAC) in the late 1960's."
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"AIPAC was founded by Isaiah L. "Si" Kenen, springing from the American Zionist Committee for Public Affairs. Kenen registered twice with the U.S. Department of Justice under the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) as a foreign agent for Israel. On April 21, 1947 he registered as an agent of the American Section of the Jewish Agency for Israel. Si Kenen also registered at FARA as an agent for the "Israel Information Services" on October 12, 1948 through May 13, 1951.  Kenen changed the committee's name from the American Zionist Committee for Public Affairs to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in 1959, to better reflect that it, according to him, "raised its funds from both Zionists and non-Zionists."  Kenen's emphasis on a low-key, uncontroversial, and even non-descriptive organization name continued after his departure when AIPAC spawned a network of obliquely named political action committees (PACs) across the United States designed to sway the results of key elections. From a historical perspective, all of the lessons Kenen learned running the American Zionist Council with funds and guidance from the Israeli government are part of AIPAC's "institutional DNA.""
http://www.antiwar.com/orig/gsmith.php?articleid=11727
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It would appear from all this that AIPAC may be an arm of the Jewish Agency.  The Jewish Agency is without a doubt "a foreign person" in the sense of the FARA act acting on behalf of the State of Israel, a foreign country.  It appears that the government of the United States several times was on the brink of forcing AIPAC to register as a "foreign agent."
AIPAC shoud be required to register under FARA as the agent of "The Jewish Agency, the "Government of Israel,"or both.  pl