Three Things to Keep an Eye On

Israeli diplomat begs for American solidarity, Leonard Leo in the wringer, FBI wrings its hands over Trump raid

Israeli Diplomat Asks, Where Are the Americans?

Their financial system is teetering, hundreds of thousands of Israelis are out in the streets demanding an end to this government, and violence is spiraling in the West Bank. Yair Netanyahu is probably right that the Mossad wants Bibi gone, and IDF reservists are joining the protests. From a certain angle of vision, Israel is under a foreign occupation—most of Bibi’s backers are from outside the country.

Meanwhile, a delegation of American conservatives is wining and dining with a Likud court intellectual on Paul Singer’s dime this week. I thought the new thing was a conservatism of solidarity? I am in solidarity with Yoav Fromer in Tablet, or Mr. Alon Pinkas, writing in Haaretz:

But this was one event that shouldn’t hide the fact that on both the Palestinian and Iranian issues, American and Israeli positions, attitudes and policies are diverging at a very fast pace, and the differences are wider than they have ever been.

The U.S. administration also seems to miss tectonic shifts in Jewish public opinion on Israel. Even with the gradual waning of the “Israel, right or wrong” approach among American Jews. Even with growing discomfort and criticism of religion-state relations in Israel, and the nonrecognition of Reform Jews (who, with Conservative Jews, comprise 80 percent of American Jewry). And even with the younger generation of American Jews deeply resentful and unhappy with the prolonged occupation – Israel still managed to maintain a potent “feel-good factor” for many Jews.

Israeli high-tech, bio-med innovation, startups, culinary culture, LGBTQ rights and, yes, Israel’s judicial system were a source of pride for many American Jews when pressed on the less attractive characteristics of modern Israel. All this is now entering the endangered species category.

Israel is at a real inflection point and experiencing a democratic, constitutional and political meltdown. Its greatest ally, the United States, cannot pretend that this will all go away in a few weeks and can be treated with some verbal reprimands and eye-rolling. Friends don’t let friends rescind democracy.

In the era of good feelings here a few years ago, when everyone thought the Republican Party would realign, maybe it made sense to make peace with the Likudniks. With these midterm election results and the situation in Israel, it clearly does not. American conservatives are silent for two reasons: Netanyahu’s backers are the same backers of Republican pro-Israel politics, and they have bought into the national conservatism influence operation. That’s why none of them are doing the right thing here.

If I have to be alone, I’ll be alone. I don’t especially like the way the Likud faction does business, I’ve been threatened by these people before, and I will not be intimidated. If you were, say, a conservative magazine with a unique history of willingness to criticize the U.S.-Israel relationship, now’s a good time…

I don’t want to be petty, but what’s going on is a complete vindication of the late great Jim Traficant, Ohio populist. In this famous interview with Sean Hannity, he’s very clear, he’s a supporter of Israel, but “in the long run this Israeli lobby is going to hurt Israel.” His position is entirely reasonable, and Hannity just shouts him down. Want to know why no conservatives are doing the right thing now? It’s because this is the way conservative media operates.

The Eye of Sauron Turns on Leonard Leo

This is probably just a taste of what’s coming:

A POLITICO investigation based on dozens of financial, property and public records dating from 2000 to 2021 found that Leo’s lifestyle took a lavish turn beginning in 2016, the year he was tapped as an unpaid adviser to incoming President Donald Trump on Supreme Court justices. It’s the same period during which he erected a for-profit ecosystem around his longtime nonprofit empire that is shielded from taxes. Leo was executive vice president of The Federalist Society at the time.

The for-profit and nonprofit entities share more than just Leo’s involvement: The same longtime ally managing the books for two of his new leading nonprofits, Neil Corkery, is also chief financial officer of Leo’s for-profit company, POLITICO confirmed in IRS filings. One of those nonprofits paid the for-profit $33.8 million over two years.

“That’s a classic type of situation the IRS looks into if it appears you [via a nonprofit] are shoveling money to yourself in a for-profit context,” said Philip Hackney, an expert on tax law and charities who worked in the Office of the Chief Counsel at the IRS.

Leo’s Virginia-based CRC Advisors — a political consulting firm that was created in 2020 and for which he is chairman — declined to say what services it provided for the $43 million payments.

Whether you see this as a “no good deed goes unpunished” situation or, well, something else, we’re going to see more here.

Left Media is Going After the FBI Over this WaPo Report

The Post is reporting the FBI was conflicted about the Mar-a-Lago raid, and lefties are upset.

Months of disputes between Justice Department prosecutors and FBI agents over how best to try to recover classified documents from Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club and residence led to a tense showdown near the end of July last year, according to four people familiar with the discussions.

Prosecutors argued that new evidence suggested Trump was knowingly concealing secret documents at his Palm Beach, Fla., home and urged the FBI to conduct a surprise raid at the property. But two senior FBI officials who would be in charge of leading the search resisted the plan as too combative and proposed instead to seek Trump’s permission to search his property, according to the four people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a sensitive investigation.

Prosecutors ultimately prevailed in that dispute, one of several previously unreported clashes in a tense tug of war between two arms of the Justice Department over how aggressively to pursue a criminal investigation of a former president. The FBI conducted an unprecedented raid on Aug. 8, recovering more than 100 classified items, among them a document describing a foreign government’s military defenses, including its nuclear capabilities.

As always the subtext is that Trump is probably an informant and has been for some time. There are persistent rumors in New York that he cooperated with investigations into construction corruption. Everyone has a different interpretation of the Charles McGonigal indictment, but it seems clear there was a group of FBI agents that were fairly close to Team Trump. No serious harm is going to come to him.