Israel Matzav

Group raising money to break Gaza 'blockade' connected to US double agent

Throughout this summer and fall, the anti-Israel group “U.S. to Gaza” held many fundraisers around the United States, seeking to raise as much as $370,000 to join a “peace flotilla” to run the Israeli blockade of Gaza.

A Pajamas Media investigation has determined that the non-profit organization which accepts the public’s donations and will pay for all of its activities is a shadowy and virulently anti-American group innocuously called the Institute for Media Analysis. The Institute’s founders are considered the forerunners to WikiLeaks, which unabashedly releases classified national security documents. For forty years, the Institute’s leadership deliberately exposed the names of thousands of CIA officers to the public. They bragged that they have been dedicated to “a worldwide campaign to destabilize the CIA through exposure of its operations and personnel,” putting thousands of CIA officers at grave risk.

It is likely that many of those donating to the “peace” cause do not realize the history of the group that will be handling their contributions. Nor is it likely they realize the controversial reputation of the foundation’s leadership and their persistent efforts to harm American CIA officers. But it’s possible the scandal which once enveloped the Institute’s leadership could affect the reputation of “U.S. to Gaza” itself and weaken the group’s claim that it is non-violent.

The “U.S. to Gaza’s” tax exempt foundation, based in New York, is run by long-time radicals William Schaap and Ellen Ray. Their defiant and continued disclosures of CIA field officers ultimately led to the passage of the U.S. Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982, which made it a federal crime to intentionally reveal the identity of a covert intelligence officer.

An advisor to the Institute’s president and board — Philip Agee — has been linked to the assassination of a CIA station chief by terrorists. Mr. Agee’s activities also may have spurred a machine gun attack on an American intelligence official in Jamaica. In 1981, the New York Times described the work of the foundation’s leaders as “malicious and incredible.”

Labels: CIA, Gaza blockade

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:36 PM