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Ep 86: Israel (Part 1)

  • Matt Crumpton
  • 2 days ago
  • 15 min read

We are currently making our way through the third season of Solving JFK. Having determined in Season 1 that the Warren Report could not be correct and that there was at least one shot fired from the front, we then turned our undivided attention in Season 2 to the life of Lee Harvey Oswald from birth to death, which revealed that he was no lone nut. In this Season 3, we have been asking the question, if not Oswald, then who?

 

Thus far, we’ve put some important agencies and individuals under the microscope, including the Secret Service, the FBI and J. Edgar Hoover, Lyndon Johnson, and the Mafia. Next up on our list is Israel.

 

In this series, we’ll try to answer important questions about the alleged involvement of Israel in the JFK assassination, starting in this episode with whether Israel had a motive for wanting President Kennedy out of office.

 

DISCLAIMER

 

There are few topics in modern dis course as sensitive—or as likely to be misunderstood—as exploring allegations of wrongdoing by the State of Israel. In the interest of fostering good-faith and open-minded conversation, now is a good time to clarify the viewpoint of Solving JFK when it comes to these matters.

 

First, antisemitism is real. It has existed for centuries, it has caused immense harm, and it remains a problem today. I don’t take that lightly, and I don’t approach this subject casually. Any responsible historical inquiry must be alert to the ways prejudice can distort evidence, flatten nuance, and turn analysis into accusation.

 

At the same time, it must be possible—necessary, even—to distinguish between a people, a religion, and a nation-state. Jewish people are not the State of Israel, and the State of Israel does not represent all Jewish people. Examining the actions, motives, or intelligence services of a sovereign state does not constitute hatred of a people or a faith. If it did, then much of modern American, British, Russian, and French history, for example, couldn’t be examined honestly.

 

The most troubling allegations discussed in this series are not categorically different from the allegations historians routinely explore regarding the United States itself—covert action, deception, governmental associations with mafia figures, and geopolitical maneuvering. To examine those actions in one country while refusing to examine them in another would not be moral clarity; it would be selective blindness.

 

JFK’S RELATIONSHIP WITH ISRAEL

 

When John F. Kennedy ran for president in 1960, like other presidential candidates, he courted the votes of the pro-Israel lobby. But he had a vague record on Israel. Unlike Lyndon Johnson, Senator Kennedy did not come to Israel’s defense during the Suez Crisis in the Fall of 1956,[1] when, Israel, Britain and France invaded Egypt in response to Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalizing the Suez Canal earlier that year.[2]

 

And, as author Edward Tivnan points out about JFK, QUOTE “He was also a Catholic. Many Jews associated American Catholics with right-wing, pro-McCarthy, and anti-Semitic causes. Worse, there was the touchy issue of the candidate’s father, Joseph P. Kennedy, who as ambassador to Great Britain in the late 1930s had been a supporter of Neville Chamberlain’s policy of appeasing the Nazis.”[3] It didn’t help that Joseph Kennedy’s was once quoted as saying that there was a QUOTE “overrepresentation of Jews in high positions.”[4]

 

Despite his father, Kennedy was successful at gaining the support of New York apparel manufacturer and financier, Abraham Feinberg, who, along with his associates donated half a million 1960 dollars the Kennedy Campaign.[5] Feinberg said that when he told Kennedy the news, he was emotional with gratitude.[6]

 

In addition to his domestic support from the pro-Israel Lobby, Kennedy also made a significant shift in how America dealt with the Middle East. Since the inception of the state of Israel, the United States had a policy that it would not sell weapons to Israel or to Arab states. This was so that America could be perceived as being neutral in the event of any conflict.[7] Nevertheless, in August of 1962, President Kennedy decided to allow the sale of the defensive Hawk Missiles directly to Israel.[8]

 

On the surface it looks like Kennedy was perhaps more supportive of Israel than any president before him. But, when we dive deeper, there were several serious areas of disagreement between President Kennedy and the leaders of Israel. Some people believe that these disagreements were serious enough to be a motive for wanting Kennedy out of office. 

 

ISRAEL’S MOTIVE #1 – FARA

 

The first potential motive is the Kennedy Administration’s insistence that pro-Israel lobbying groups register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938. I previously mentioned Abraham Feinberg, the man who helped finance Kennedy’s 1960 campaign with half a million dollars from the pro-Israel lobby. According to Seymour Hersh, Feinberg’s job was QUOTE “to ensure continued Democratic Party support for Israel.”[9]According to President Kennedy‘s close friend Charles Bartlett, Kennedy, summed up Feinberg‘s message to Kennedy as QUOTE “we know your campaign is in trouble. We’re willing to pay your bills if you’ll let us have control of your Middle East policy.” Bartlett said that Kennedy was upset by the level of control expected by Feinberg and decided that QUOTE “if he ever did get to be president, he was going to do something about it.”[10]

 

When Kennedy was elected, he wanted to appoint Senator William Fulbright to be Secretary of State, but according to former Kennedy aide, Arthur Schlesinger, Fulbright’s nomination was killed because of pressure from the Israel lobby.[11] Senator Fulbright apparently got revenge on Israel for costing him the Secretary of State job by conducting an audit in the Senate regarding QUOTE “an increasing number of incidents involving attempts by foreign governments or their agents to influence the conduct of American foreign policy by techniques outside normal diplomatic channels.”[12]

 

 On the heels of Fulbright’s committee, on October 11, 1963, the Department of Justice sent a letter to the lawyers for the American Zionist Council with a demand to register as a foreign agent within 72 hours.[13] The American Zionist Council refused to register after an October 17, 1963 meeting with the Justice Department.[14] The matter of their registration was unresolved when President Kennedy died a little more than a month later. When Lyndon Johnson ascended to power, he did not require registration from the American Zionist Council, or its lobbying arm, the American Israel Public Affairs Group, or AIPAC.[15]

 

ISRAEL’S MOTIVE # 2 – JFK’S ARAB FRIENDLY MOVES

 

The second area of conflict between President Kennedy and Israel was Kennedy’s perceived pro-Arab bias as compared to his predecessor.  As Historian Phillip Muelenbeck noted, QUOTE “While the Eisenhower administration sought to isolate Nasser and reduce his influence through building up Saudi Arabia’s King Saud as a conservative rival to Egyptian president [Nasser], the Kennedy administration pursued the exact opposite strategy.”[16]

 

One way Kennedy signaled his intentions was through his appointments. Kennedy appointed John Badeau, a scholar with deep knowledge of Arabic language and culture, as ambassador to Egypt, and named Robert Komer, an advocate of closer U.S. ties with Nasser, to the National Security Council with the portfolio of Middle Eastern affairs.[17] On the other hand, Kennedy also appointed prominent pro-Israel voices too. For example, Mike Feldman was Kennedy’s deputy special counsel for monitoring Middle East communications.[18]

 

Kennedy’s foreign aid budget was also criticized as being anti-Israel. The final Kennedy Administration budget called for 40 million dollars in aid to Israel, which was a reduction from prior years. On the other hand, in Lyndon Johnson’s first budget, for fiscal year 1965, Israeli aid almost doubled to 71 million. The aide package rose again under Johnson to 130 million dollars in 1966.[19] Under Kennedy, the allocated funds were almost exclusively for food assistance and development loans. Conversely, President Johnson called for 20% of the Israeli aid to be military assistance in 1965. And that number rose to 71% for military assistance in 1966.[20] 

 

But, perhaps the most important pro-Arab position of John Kennedy was his view that Algeria, which had long been a French colony, should be independent from France. 11:56  On July 2, 1957, as a Senator, on the floor of the Senate, Kennedy said QUOTE “No amount of mutual politeness, wishful thinking, nostalgia or regret should blind either France or the United States to the fact that if France and the West at large are to have a continuing influence in North Africa, the essential first step is the independence of Algeria along the lines of Morocco and Tunisia.”[21]

 

The Israeli government, on the other hand, saw the emergence of Algeria as an independent Arab republic as a threat and fought against it.[22] In addition to opposition from the American foreign policy establishment, the right wing paramilitary French Secret Army organization, known as OAS, was dedicated to stopping Algerian independence by any means necessary.[23] The OAS viewed President Kennedy as their second biggest enemy behind only French president Charles de Gaulle.[24]

 

Algeria gained its independence in July of 1962 - during Kennedy’s presidency, which undoubtedly increased tensions between Kennedy and his Israeli counterparts.[25]

 

ISRAEL’S MOTIVE # 3 – UN RESOLUTION 194

 

The third area of disagreement between President Kennedy and Israel was the enforcement of UN Resolution 194, which, after the 1948 Palestine War, called for Palestinian refugees to be able to return to their land or to be compensated for it.[26] In letters to Egyptian President Nasser and other Arab heads of state, President Kennedy expressed his support for the UN Resolution.

 

When Israel’s Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, found out about Kennedy’s communications with the Arab leaders, he wrote a letter to the Israeli ambassador in Washington, saying QUOTE “Israel will regard this plan as a more serious danger to her existence than all the threats of the Arab dictators and kings, than all the Arab armies, than all of Nasser’s missiles and his Soviet MIGs….Israel will fight against this implementation down to the last man.”[27]

 

In December of 1962, President Kennedy raised the issue of UN Resolution 194 again during a meeting in Palm Beach with Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs, Golda Meir (who, herself, would go on to be Prime Minister of Israel). During that meeting Kennedy emphasized American support for Israel but he told Meir that the American-Israel relationship was QUOTE “a two way street.”[28]

 

The issue of UN Resolution 194 didn’t go away. After President Kennedy’s United Nations delegation met with Israel on November 20th,1963 requesting continued movement toward implementing UN Resolution 194, the Israeli delegation did not agree.[29] On November 22, 1963, of all days, an article in the London Jewish Chronicle said QUOTE “Prime Minister Levi Eshkol summoned the US Ambassador and told him that Israel was shocked by the pro-Arab attitude adopted by the US delegation.”[30]

 

ISRAEL’S MOTIVE #4 – OBTAINING A NUCLEAR WEAPON

 

We’ve mentioned the issues related to registration of foreign agents, Kennedy’s perceived pro-Arab bias, and Kennedy’s intent on enforcing UN Resolution 194. But, the most serious conflict between Kennedy and Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, was Ben-Gurion’s continued development of a nuclear reactor in the Israeli desert at Dimona.

 

Ben-Gurion had been interested in obtaining a nuclear weapon for Israel since the founding of the country in 1948. On the heels of World War II, he wanted to make sure that another Holocaust could never happen.[31]So, in the early 1950s, Ben-Gurion, who was both the Defense Minister and the Prime Minister began the methodical and clandestine process of enriching uranium, without letting the Americans know about it. To lead the program, Ben-Gurion tapped Shimon Peres, who would go on to serve multiple terms as Prime Minister.[32] To get started, Peres relied on fuel from France and a free nuclear reactor provided by President Eisenhower’s Atoms for Peace program.[33]

 

In 1958, an American U-2 spy plane spotted an unusual construction site near the small Desert town of Dimona. Israeli officials initially said the facility was a textile plant. Then later, they described it as QUOTE “a metallurgical research installation.”[34] In 1960, after an American reconnaissance satellite provided a clearer picture, CIA director, Allen Dulles, told the outgoing President Eisenhower that Israel was secretly building a nuclear reactor that would allow it to build a nuclear weapon.[35] This new problem was among those inherited by President Kennedy when he took office in January of 1961.

 

KENNEDY AND BEN-GURION MEET

 

In attempting to peacefully resolve the issue of secret Israeli nuclear proliferation, Kennedy’s ability to influence Prime Minister Ben-Gurion took on paramount importance.

The relationship started well. When Kennedy first spoke to Ben-Gurion, he told him QUOTE “I know I was elected because of the votes of American Jews. I owe them my election. Tell me, is there something that I can do for the Jewish people?” Ben-Gurion was surprised by the frankness and evaded the question by answering QUOTE “You must do what is best for the free world.”[36]

 

Despite the diplomatic niceties between the two leaders, the reality was that they had divergent interests when it came to nuclear proliferation. Kennedy wanted to stop Israel from obtaining nuclear weapons. Whereas, a month before Kennedy took office, on December 21, 1960, Ben-Gurion made a statement to the Israeli Knesset acknowledging the existence of a nuclear reactor at Dimona. But Ben-Gurion said the reactor was strictly for research and peaceful purposes.[37]

 

President Eisenhower had also told Kennedy that the Dimona complex was designed exclusively for peaceful purposes. But, Kennedy still had two Atomic Energy Commission scientists visit Dimona on May 17, 1961. The scientists were not shown a reprocessing plant that was under construction underground. So, at that time they reported back that they saw QUOTE “no present evidence that the Israelis have weapons production in mind.”[38]

 

When Kennedy and Ben-Gurion met in person at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York about two weeks later on May 30th, the Dimona plant was at the top of the agenda.[39] Ben-Gurion stressed that the purpose of the plant was to help Israel with its lack of fresh water. If they had atomic energy, it would be much cheaper to desalinate the sea water so that Israel would have enough fresh water.[40] Ben-Gurion agreed to annual inspections of Dimona by American scientists on terms and at times determined by the Israeli Defense Ministry.[41] Thus, there was agreement in theory, but there were no established details of when the inspections would begin and how they would be done.  

 

Ben-Gurion later told his biographer that after meeting with Kennedy, he did not take the American president seriously because he looked like a twenty five year old boy.[42] According to Abraham Feinberg, QUOTE “There’s no way of describing the relationship between Jack Kennedy and Ben-Gurion because there’s no way Ben-Gurion was dealing with JFK as an equal, at least as far as Ben-Gurion was concerned.”[43]

 

The Israeli prime minister, in later private communications to the White House, began to refer to the President as QUOTE “young man”. And Kennedy made it clear to associates that he found the letters to be offensive.[44]   

 

DIVERGENT NUCLEAR INTERESTS

 

On September 25, 1961 President Kennedy gave a speech at the United Nations. Here’s the part where he talks about nuclear disarmament:

 

Today, every inhabitant of this planet must contemplate the day when this planet may no longer be habitable. Every man, woman and child lives under a nuclear sword of Damocles, hanging by the slenderest of threads, capable of being cut at any moment by accident or miscalculation or by madness. The weapons of war must be abolished before they abolish us.[45]

 

Kennedy went on to put an exclamation on all that disarmament talk, saying that it even applied to the Soviet Union.

 

And It is in this spirit that we have presented with the agreement of the Soviet Union--under the label both nations now accept of "general and complete disarmament"--a new statement of newly-agreed principles for negotiation. But we are well aware that all issues of principle are not settled, and that principles alone are not enough. It is therefore our intention to challenge the Soviet Union, not to an arms race, but to a peace race to advanced together, step-by-step stage by stage until general and complete disarm movement has been achieved.[46]

 

In light of speeches like this, it’s easy to understand why Kennedy was so intent on stopping Israel from getting a nuclear weapon. While he wanted Israel to be safe from harm, it wouldn’t have been intellectually consistent to allow Israel to create more weapons while Kennedy publicly pushed for all countries to do away with the ones they already had. 

 

In August of 1963, Kennedy and his Soviet and British counterparts, would sign the Limited Nuclear Test Ban treaty which banned nuclear tests underwater, in the air, or in outer space - further demonstrating JFK’s commitment to disarmament that he laid out before the UN in 1961.[47]

 

On the other hand, Israel’s desire to have a nuclear weapon was logical, as noted by former Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara, who said QUOTE “I can understand why Israel wanted a nuclear bomb. There is a basic problem there. The existence of Israel has been a question mark in history and that’s the essential issue.“[48]

 

THE SECOND DIMONA INSPECTION

 

In September of 1962, a second inspection of Dimona was finally allowed. But, what the Atomic Energy Commission inspectors actually experienced was a Potemkin Village, including a QUOTE “false control room…complete with false control panels and computer driven measuring devices.”[49] The inspectors would have been able to tell that the reactor was weapons grade if they had seen the reactor’s core. But, the inspectors were not allowed to see the core, QUOTE “for safety reasons.”[50]

 

Kennedy, for his part, told his close friend, Charles Bartlett that he was getting tired of the fact that Israeli QUOTE “sons of bitches lie to me constantly about their nuclear capability.”[51]

 

After the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Dimona reactor became a policy priority for President Kennedy once again. On April 2, 1963, Kennedy requested that Ben-Gurion allow semiannual American visits to Dimona to ensure that it could not be weaponized, beginning the next month. Ben-Gurion responded on April 25th with a seven page letter noting that a recent Arab proclamation to liberate Palestine was QUOTE “tantamount to planning a new holocaust since the liberation of Palestine is impossible without the total destruction of the people of Israel.” Ben-Gurion followed up again on May 12th, saying QUOTE “Mr. President my people have the right to exist and this existence is in danger.”[52]

 

Those are interesting responses from Ben-Gurion given that his position was that the Dimona plant was notfor nuclear weapons, which raises the question, ‘why bring up defense needs and fears of military conflict when talking about Dimona if the purpose of the plant was solving Israel’s fresh water problem?’

 

On May 18th, President Kennedy wrote back to Ben-Gurion, once again, insisting on periodic inspections of Dimona, and expressing his concern that Arab states would turn to the Soviet Union for assistance if Israel possessed a nuclear bomb.[53] Ten days later, Ben-Gurion formally accepted Kennedy’s request, but refused to commit to any details.[54] About two weeks after that, Kennedy reiterated the need to start recurring inspections of all of the Dimona facility immediately, and – notably - saying that American support for Israel QUOTE “could seriously be jeopardized if it should be thought that we are unable to obtain reliable information on…Israel’s effort in the nuclear field.”[55] The next day, David Ben-Gurion resigned as Prime Minister of Israel and Levi Eshkol took over.[56]

 

Eshkol gave Kennedy a vague agreement to a first inspection at the end of 1963.[57] And, American diplomats did visit Dimona in January of 1964, noting that the reactor had gone critical on December 26th, but that QUOTE “research was the present intention of the Israelis with the Dimona reactor.”[58] As noted by historian Avner Cohen, President Kennedy’s murder brought an abrupt end to the pressure being applied by the United States against Israel to end its nuclear program.[59]

 

NEXT TIME ON SOLVING JFK: We continue our exploration of Israel as a potential culprit in the JFK Assassination, turning to questions of means and opportunity, including Israel’s close relationship with the CIA’s Counterintelligence Chief, James Angleton.

 


[1] Edward Tivnan, The Lobby: Jewish Political Power and American Foreign Policy, at 54.

[4] James W. Douglass, Martyrs to the Unspeakable, at 8.

[5] Seymour Hersh, The Samson Option: Israel’s Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy, at 94.

[6] Id. at 96.

[7] Sarah Alexandra McIntosh, The Ties that Bind: The Causes and Ramifcations of the 1962 Sale of Hawk Anti-Aircraft Missiles to Israel; https://open.library.ubc.ca/media/stream/pdf/52966/1.0076013/3, at 8-9.

[8] McIntosh at 14; (“Kennedy’s decision was motivated by three key factors. First and foremost, Kennedy chose to sell Hawk missiles to Israel in exchange for Israeli concessions regarding the Negev Nuclear Research Center at Dimona. Second, the missiles were provided to the Jewish State as compensation for Kennedy’s relationship with Egyptian president Nasser, including the agreement to provide Egypt with PL- 480 aid. Finally, the United States chose to sell Hawks to Israel in an attempt to resettle Palestinian refugees in the aftermath of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war,” Id. at ii).

[9] Hersh, at 93.

[10] Id. at 97.

[11] Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., Journals: 1952-2000, at 96.

[15] Guyenot at 25.

[16] Philip Muehlenbeck, Betting on the Africans: John F. Kennedy’s Courting of African Nationalist Leaders, at 122-124; (Former US diplomat, Richard Curtis wrote about Kennedy‘s relationship with Israel, “He obviously could not turn the clock back and undo the work of President Truman, his Democratic predecessor in making the establishment of Israel possible. Nor perhaps would he have wanted to. Kennedy was determined, however, to develop good new personal relationships with individual Arab leaders, including those with whom the previous administrations relations had deteriorated.“ JFK even wrote back with personalized letters from Arab leaders when they congratulated him on being elected, which was not expected from the Arab leaders. Michael Collins Piper, Final Judgment: The Missing Link in the JFK Assassination Conspiracy, at 41.)

[17] Id.

[18] Douglass, at 11-12.

[19] Stephen Green, Taking Sides: America’s Secret Relations with a Militant Israel, at 187.

[20] Id. at 251.

[22] Piper at 31.

[24] Piper at 43.

[27] George Ball and Douglas Ball, The Passionate Attachment: America’s Involvement with Israel, 1947 to the Present, at 51.

[28] Piper at 44.

[29] Id. at 54.

[30] London Jewish Chronicle, November 22, 1963 (citing Piper at 115.)

[32] Guyenot at 27.

[36] Hersh at 103.

[38] Avner Cohen, Israel and the Bomb, at 91, 107.

[39] Piper at 46.

[41] Piper at 46.

[42] Hersh at 102.

[43] Id. at 103.

[44] Id. at 105.

[46] Id. at 10:06.

[48] Hersh at 109.

[49] Id. at 111.

[50] Id. at 111.

[51] Id. at 118.

[52] Cohen at 109, 114.

[55] Douglass at 36.

[57] Guyenot at 31.

[58] Harry S. Traynor, Atomic Energy Commission representative to U.S. Intelligence Board, “Report on US Inspection team Visit to Dimona, Israel,” January 30, 1964.

[59] Guyenot at 31.  

 
 
 

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