Paul Findley

Paul Findley
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Illinois's 20th district
In office
January 3, 1961 – January 3, 1983
Preceded by Edna O. Simpson
Succeeded by Dick Durbin
Personal details
Born (1921-06-23) June 23, 1921
Jacksonville, Illinois
Political party Republican
Alma mater Illinois College

Paul Findley (born June 23, 1921) is a former United States Representative from Illinois, who represented its 20th District. A Republican, he was first elected in 1960. Findley lost his seat in 1982 to current United States Senator Dick Durbin. Findley attended Illinois College and is a member of Phi Alpha Literary Society. He is a cofounder of the Council for the National Interest, a Washington, D.C. advocacy group, and a board member of If Americans Knew.[1] He resides in Jacksonville, Illinois.

Career

Findley served 11 terms in Congress, but lost to Dick Durbin, in his bid for reelection in 1982.[2] He was known in Congress as an advocate of the farmers of his district and as a strong proponent of the Palestinians and of opening up communication with the Palestine Liberation Organization[2] since they were the strongest and most organized representatives of Palestinian people at the time.

According to the New York Times, in 1982 Findley narrowly lost his bid for re-election for a number of reasons: "a competent opponent, redistricting, the economic recession, and pro-Israel groups support to his challenger," which allowed Findley's challenger to match him in spending.[2] During the campaign, "a former AIPAC [American Israel Public Affairs Committee] president called him 'a dangerous enemy of Israel.'"[3] Findley confirmed that his 1982 campaign raised "almost exactly the same sum" as that of his opponent.[4]

In 1989 Findley, with former representative Pete McCloskey (R-CA), formed the Council for the National Interest.[5] It is a 501 (c)4 non-profit, non-partisan organization in the United States that works for "Middle East policies that serve the American national interest."[6] Its first executive director was ten-term congressman John B. Anderson (R-Il) who ran as an Independent candidate in the 1980 U.S. presidential election.[7]

Political views

A year after the September 11 attacks in 2001, Findley published an article saying that this attack would never have occurred were it not for the United States' uncritical support of Israel.[8] Findley claimed that the 2003 invasion of Iraq was launched primarily to benefit Israel, at the behest of the Israel lobby in the United States.[9]

Findley is a frequent critic of U.S. foreign policy regarding Israel. Findley is the author of They Dare to Speak Out: People and Institutions Confront Israel's Lobby in which he states that the pro-Israel lobby, notably AIPAC, has undue influence over the United States Congress. He refers to the lobby as "the 700-pound gorilla in Washington".[10]

A review of the book in the Washington Post stated: "Stripped of all the maudlin martyrdom, former congressman Paul Findley's message is straightforward and valid: Israeli influence in the United States, including in the inner sanctums of government, is very strong."[11] The New York Times review by Adam Clymer, described the book as "an angry, one-sided book that seems often to be little more than a stringing together of stray incidents ... [it] does not really accept the idea that people of any political point of view are entitled to organize, support their friends and try to defeat the people they think are their enemies".[12]

Findley lists the Israeli lobby as one of the factors contributing to his defeat in 1982, alongside the national recession of 1982 and the change of his district's boundaries after the 1980 census. "In seeking gains for Israel, they rigorously stifled dissent and intimidated the entire Congress. They still do. They defeat legislators who criticize Israel. Senators Adlai Stevenson III and Charles H. Percy, and Representatives Pete McCloskey, Cynthia McKinney, Earl F. Hilliard, and myself were defeated at the polls by candidates heavily financed by pro-Israel forces. McKinney alone was able to regain her seat in Congress."[13] (McKinney lost her seat again two years later.)

On the publication of Mearsheimer and Walt's 2006 working paper, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, he wrote: "You can't imagine how pleased I was [...] I think I can pose as a foremost expert on the lobby for Israel, because I was the target the last three years I was in Congress."[14]

Findley has supported the efforts of the Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR) to improve the image of Muslims in America.[15] In a conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Findley said that "the cancer of anti-Muslim and anti-Islamic sentiments was spreading in American society and requires corrective measures to stamp out this malaise."[15] In May 2006 Findley led a CAIR delegation to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), resulting in a UAE proposal to build a property in the United States to serve as an endowment for CAIR. This proposal amounted to tens of millions of dollars in UAE donations.[16]

Criticism

The Anti-Defamation League has criticized the Council for the National Interest, of which Findley is a founder, as an "anti-Israel organization" that "disseminates demonizing propaganda about Israel to academics, politicians, and other audiences."[17] The Anti-Defamation League alleges that as a member of the Council for the National Interest that they have disseminated cartoons with anti-Semitic based themes by Khalil Bendib. Additionally, the Anti-Defamation League has quoted Paul Findley from an article in 2003 as blaming US support of Israel for the September 11 Attacks: "Nine-eleven would not have occurred if the U.S. government had refused to help Israel humiliate and destroy Palestinian society." Paul Findley continued in the same article stating that "America suffered 9/11 and its aftermath and may soon be at war with Iraq, mainly because U.S. policy in the Middle East is made in Israel, not in Washington."[18]

Published works

References

  1. ↑
  2. 1 2 3 Adam, Clymer (14 July 1985). "IN SHORT: NONFICTION". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 January 2010.
  3. ↑ McConnell, Scott (2007-12-03) The Lobby Strikes Back, The American Conservative
  4. ↑ They Dare to Speak Out: People and Institutions Confront Israel's Lobby, Paul Findley, Lawrence Hill Books, 1989, p. 22
  5. ↑ Ayoon Wa Aza, How Pro-Israeli Lobbies Destroy U.S. Interests, Dar Al Hayat, International edition, November 14, 2010, via Highbeam.
  6. ↑ CNI web site "About Us" page.
  7. ↑ Delinda C. Hanely, CNI Cruises into a New Decade, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, January 1, 2010, via Highbeam.
  8. ↑ Paul Findley, "Liberating America from Israel", Arab News, September 12, 2002
  9. ↑ "Our Israel-centric Foreign Policy", Paul Findley, The Huffington Post, June 09 2005
  10. ↑ Paul Findley Speaker Profile, Stanford University, January 16, 2005
  11. ↑ "Measuring the Political Influence of Israel in America", Peter Grose, Washington Post, June 23, 1985, accessed April 28, 2006
  12. ↑ In Short: Nonfiction, Adam Clymer, New York Times, July 14, 1985
  13. ↑ The Peril in U.S. Middle East Policies, February 8, 2005
  14. ↑ Paper on Israel Lobby Sparks Heated Debate, Deborah Amos, NPR, April 21, 2006, accessed April 29, 2006
  15. 1 2 Hassan, Javid (21 June 2006). "Media Campaign in US to Dispel Islamophobia". Arab News. Retrieved 8 January 2010.
  16. ↑ Americans Against Hate: CAIR Watch
  17. ↑ Backgrounder: The Council for the National Interest, Anti-Defamation League, October 3 2008
  18. ↑ Institute for Contemporary Affairs founded jointly with the Wechsler Family Foundation JERUSALEM ISSUE BRIEF Vol. 3, No. 25 3 June 2004 Wartime Witch Hunt: Blaming Israel for the Iraq War Dore Gold
United States House of Representatives
Preceded by
Edna O. Simpson		 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Illinois's 20th congressional district
1961–1983 		Succeeded by
Richard J. Durbin
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