National Political Action Committee - excerpt from Lee O'Brien, American Jewish Organizations and Israel, 1986

This page is an extract, reproduced with permission, from Lee O'Brien, American Jewish Organizations and Israel, Washington DC: Institute for Palestine Studies, 1986.

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• Date established: 1982
• Chairman of the Board: Marvin Josephson
• Executive Director: Richard Altman
• Address: 308 East Capitol St., S.E. Washington, DC 20003
• Slogan: "Faith in Israel Strengthens America."

NatPAC is the largest, wealthiest, and best-known of the pro-Israel PACs. It was founded by Marvin Josephson, head of International Creative Management, one of the largest theatrical and literary talent agencies in the United States. He states that he was motivated to start the PAC after the AWACS vote, because of the upsurge in anti-Semitism and the disclosure of the role of big business in supporting the arms sale.

NatPAC has a six-member board consisting of Josephson; Barry Dillar, chairman of Paramount Pictures; George Klein, a New York City developer and leading Jewish Republican; Martin Peretz, editor of the New Republic; James Wolfensohn, a New York investment banker; and Rita Hauser, a New York lawyer and former chair of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the American Jewish Committee. The Washington, D.C. representative is Richard Altman, who left his position as an AIPAC lobbyist to take the job.

Josephson has built up NatPAC quickly and effectively. He began by soliciting donations of $5,000 or more, which was then used as seed money for advertisements in Jewish and non-Jewish newspapers and for fundraising appeals. Of all the PACs, NatPAC has taken the most public approach. One of its first steps was a large direct mailing with a cover letter by Woody Allen, which began: Mobil Oil has a PAC. Bechtel has a PAC. Fluor has a PAC. Boeing' and Amoco and Grumman all have PACs. But those of us who believe deeply in this country's long-term stake in Israel's survival have not had a nationwide PAC.

Enclosed with the letter was NatPAC's statement of policy and purpose, which was divided into four sections:

• (1) ‘The Problem’- U.S. commitment to Israel is weakening.
• (2) ’U.S. Long Range Interests Are At Stake’- great damage would be done to America if ties with Israel were eroded.
• (3) ‘The Evidence is Unmistakable’- petrodollar ads, an international double standard against Israel, accusations of double loyalty against American Jews, and a ‘growing sentiment that sticking with’ Israel is not worth all the headaches.’
• (4) ‘We Can Act Together’- there must be elected officials from every party who share these concerns, and NatPAC is the vehicle to achieve this.

Among the 166 names on the ‘partial list of supporters’ are Morris Abram, Woody Allen, Bob Hope, Michael Korda, Ralph Lauren, Zubin Mehta, Sue Mengers, Martin Peretz, Itzhak Perlman, Roberta Peters, Rabbi Alexander Schindler, Richard Sennett, Fred Silverman, Laurence Tisch, and Pinchas Zukerman.

By October 1982, when NatPAC had over ten thousand subscribers, it began placing full-page ads in leading newspapers. One of the first of these ads was aimed at recruiting non-Jews as supporters. In large type the ad proclaimed; ‘Supporting candidates who believe in Israel isn't just good for Jews. It's good for Americans.’ The smaller text underneath began: Some people in America today think you have to be Jewish to support congressional candidates who believe in Israel. But you don't. All you have to do is believe in America. You see, if U.S. interests in the Middle East were threatened, it would take months to mount a significant presence there. With Israel as an ally, it would take only days.

The same month another NatPAC ad appeared in the New York Times. Under a photograph of Yasir Arafat were the words, ‘Next year in Jerusalem?’ followed by the text: Yasir Arafat has publicly stated that he would like the people of Israel wiped off the face of the earth. This is not only a threat to the people of Israel, but also to America. Israel is our strongest military ally in that part of the world. But the ties between our two countries go much deeper than that. Israel is the only democratic nation in the Middle East. Its people share the same values and the same goals as we do.

NatPAC raised approximately one million dollars in its first year. In the 1982 elections, it gave $547,000 to 109 candidates, with no donation of less than $5,000.56 In October, 1982 Josephson announced that NatPAC was expanding and hoped to be involved in every Senate and House race in 1984.