Secret and Suppressed: Banned Ideas and Hidden History (48 page)

During the 1992 Presidential campaign, New York businessman Harry Katz telephoned David Steiner, President of AIPAC, the powerful Israeli lobby, at AlPAC’s offices in Washington, D.C.. Upset with the power and arrogance of the political action committee, Katz recorded his conversation with Steiner and sent out the startlingly blunt transcript to the media. Snippets of the conversation were printed in the Village Voice and made the wire services. Steiner was immediately forced to resign, sacrificed to spin control. AIPAC characterized Steiner’s comments as “boasts” that did not necessarily reflect the truth. But what is the truth? In a time of severe budget cuts and tax hikes, President Clinton has vowed not to touch one penny of the money earmarked for Israel.

David Steiner: L’chaim.

Harry Katz: Hello, how are you?

DS: Where are you located?

HK: I’m located in Queens, New York.

DS: Queens … Far Rockaway?

HK: Belle Harbor.

DS: Belle Harbor. I’m trying to get this list together. Would you ever get into the city?

HK: Sure, I do. Sure, you come frequently?

DS: Well, I come in from time to time. I have an office there, at AIPAC in the city. You know, I want you to understand… where did you get my name and phone number?

HK: Oh, I, urn, I called AIPAC…

DS: Yeah.

HK: And ah, I know you’re the president of AIPAC.

DS: You should understand that, the political information that I gave you, those are personal choices…

HK: Sure, I understand.

DS: AIPAC does not rate or endorse candidates, does not solicit money…

HK: Yeah, look.

DS: I want you to understand that the choices I would give you are personal choices.

HK: I understand.

DS: I wonder if before … I want to get together with you next week.

HK: Next week would be fine.

DS: But in the meantime, I wonder if I can have one of my people get together with you and talk to you about it. They’ll want to meet you and know who you are and all this. I have a … maybe if I can have Seth Buchwald call you, my New York director.

HK: That would be terrific.

DS: And we have a guy out there, Joel Schnur. And, are you Orthodox.?

HK: Ah, yes.

DS: Okay, Joel is Orthodox too. I am not.

HK: You’re reform or…?

DS: I’m reform.

HK: Okay, let me just say…

DS: I was raised orthodox but I’m reform.

HK: Okay, let me just tell you that, I’ll just hold you a minute. I’ll be happy to meet with them. I know, I’ve heard the names, I’d be happy to meet with them, as a matter of fact I could, when I’m in Manhattan … are you ever in Manhattan?

DS: Sure, today I’m going to be there, but I can’t, I’m meeting with the ambassador.

HK: Okay, I’ll just ask you very very quickly. You know, like, in New York, you know, this is your own personal opinion, like in New York we have Abrams against D’Amato.

DS: Well, let me tell you what my personal position is. Okay?

HK: Yeah.

DS: From a Jewish point of view, I believe in political loyalty.

HK: Right.

DS: And if someone has been good for Israel, no matter who, if my brother would run against them, I would support them because they’d been good to Israel because that’s an important message to people.

HK: Right.

DS: What I’m going to be doing for you…

HK: Now D’Amato, has he been good for Israel?

DS: You couldn’t have a better … listen, I think Abrams would be good too, but that’s not the message.

HK: Yeah.

DS: Ah…

HK: So the message, so the message is that ah… I agree with you all the way, that if somebody’s been good for Israel, I’ll take D’Amato. But you have no complaints with D’Amato?

DS: I have no complaints with D’Amato.

HK: Uh huh, so and ah, you know, let me tell you, Abrams might be, might be too liberal. I don’t know if Abrams supported, let’s say the ah, the war against Iraq.

DS: Yeah, I don’t know, and ah, I don’t know. But all I know is if I have a guy who is there and he’s doing it, then I don’t want to change, you know?

HK: Right. Let me ask you this very quickly and then I will…

DS: I’m going to have Seth call you because in the meantime I’m going to be preparing this list, what I’m doing is, I’ve asked my friends in the various campaigns, I’ve made about 30 calls, what I’m trying to put together who needs it the most, you know? Because you could dissipate a million dollars, but the point is to put it where it’s going to do the most, I know Bob Kasten, who’s been an outstanding friend and needs it I know…

HK: Excuse my ignorance. Bob Kasten is what state?

DS: From Wisconsin…

HK: Okay, is he Jewish?

DS: He’s for loan guarantees, he happens to be a Republican.

HK: Okay, and but, he’s good? He’s…

DS: You couldn’t have better.

HK: Is Kasten, Kasten’s been very, very good and he’s in trouble?

DS: He’s in big trouble. Les Aspin, who’s the Chairman of the Military Appropriations, a Democrat also from Wisconsin is really [unintelligible].

HK: You mean, Les Aspin is in trouble?

DS: In big trouble.

HK: I can’t believe it. I mean, I don’t, I don’t follow…

DS: Well see, what happened was, you know ah, when you get to know me, I’ll put you on my list and I’ll be sending all these things. A wealthy businessman decided to run, using all his own money. Aspin, ‘cause they sit on the finance committee for Aspin…

HK: Right…

DS: … programmed the last two weeks of, well, the last month of the campaign, for TV. This guy came in two months early and we didn’t have the money budgeted, so we’re out scratching around to raise money for him. So we, heck, I told him, I said that I’d go, I’ll sign on the bank on a loan for you, you know, that’s how important it is.

HK: Unbelievable. You know I read, I won’t hold you long, but I’d just tell you this…

DS: That’s okay.

HK: … I’ll just tell you this, I read the
New York Post,
and I don’t even read the papers too much, I don’t follow politics … are you ready for this?

DS: Yeah.

HK: Get ready for this. I read in the papers this morning, I think it was the
Post,
Barbara Boxer, in California…

DS: Yeah.

HK: … do you know who she is?

DS: I know who…

HK: She’s originally from, ah, New York I think…

DS: A friend of yours?

HK: No, no, no. She’s not a friend of mine, but she, ah, I think she’s in trouble.

DS: Yeah, in that race we’re okay either way, ‘cause Bruce Herschensohn, who she’s running against, is Jewish, and he’s very strong on our issues.

HK: Okay, but Herschensohn…

DS: Herschensohn’s a very conservative Republican.

HK: You know, he’s come out of nowhere. He was like 30 points behind…

DS: Right.

HK: He’s come out of nowhere with it.

DS: Because the truth of the matter is, she didn’t always vote for foreign aid. We had a big meeting, I had a program in L.A. I had all four senatorial candidates there, and he ripped her apart. She has always voted against foreign aid.

HK: What about the one, in ah, the one line … uh, what’s his name? I read it in the paper, it’s just a shocker, politics is a crazy game. The black woman in Chicago…

DS: Carol Mosely Braun?

HK: She was going to win by 50 points…

DS: Oh it’s down, she took the money, it’s a big problem.

HK: It’s a big problem with her…

DS: And we have a problem with another good friend. You know Daniel Inouye, from Hawaii, he’s one of our best friends. It was Kasten-Inouye on the loan guarantees, Kasten-Inouye and Leahy…

HK: I heard, I saw it on, I know Inouye’s in trouble because of, he sexually harassed his hairdresser…

DS: We commissioned a poll and got some people, and I’ve got to raise $27,000 to pay for the poll … so what I’m trying to do is make a priority list, because I don’t know how far you want to go … how old are your kids by the way? You had three children that could write checks. Do they have their own checking accounts?

HK: Yes.

DS: So that’s not going to be…

HK: How old do they have to be?

DS: They can’t be one year old.

HK: I mean, could they be 18, 17?

DS: Sure, no problem, nobody’s going to bother you, but if you had infants, a four-year-old, let’s say, it’s not a contest.

HK: Let me tell you, I was planning, I was planning to… Inouye, by the way, is in real trouble? He’s been there forever…

DS: Yeah! Well, we might lose him. There’s been such a sea change, such trouble this year, I can’t believe all our friends that are in trouble. Because there’s an anti-incumbency mood, and foreign aid has not been popular. I met with [U.S. Secretary of State] Jim Baker and I cut a deal with him. I got, besides the $3 billion, you know they’re looking for the Jewish voters, and I’ll tell him whatever he wants to hear…

HK: Right.

DS: Besides the $10 billion in loan guarantees, which was a fabulous thing, $3 billion in foreign, in military aid, and I got almost a billion dollars in other goodies that people don’t even know about.

HK: Such as?

DS: $700 million in military drawdown, from equipment that the United States Army’s going to give to Israel; $200 million the US government is going to preposition materials in Israel, which Israel can draw upon, put them in the global warning protection system So when if there’s a missile fired, they’ll get the same advanced notification that the US, is notified, joint military exercises —I’ve got a whole shopping list of things.

HK: So this is from Baker?

DS: From Baker and from the Pentagon.

HK: So, not so, not…

DS: Why did he do it, you know, why did he do it? Last year I was a bum. This year I said, “Look Jim, we’re going to fight on the F-15s. Israel doesn’t want to fight,” I said, “but some people on it are gong to come up on the floor of the Senate and the House and they’re going to fight. If you’ll do this, I think I can hold them back. But you’ve got to do it right away.” They didn’t want to fight. I said, “You don’t want a fight before the election. It’s going to hurt Bush. We don’t want a fight before the election. We don’t want to fight at all. Why can’t we work something out?” So we cut a deal. You can’t repeat this.