Lobby Watch 24 May 2021
James Kleinfeld, an undercover journalist working for Al Jazeera’s investigative unit, posed as a pro-Israel volunteer in Washington, gaining unprecedented access to the operation of Israel lobby groups.
The four-part investigation uncovers Israel’s covert influence campaign in the United States.
The film exposes the efforts of Israel and its lobbyists to spy on, smear and intimidate US citizens who support Palestinian human rights, especially BDS – the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement.
The film was made by Al Jazeera in 2016 and in October 2017, Clayton Swisher, then head of the investigative unit, announced on air that it would soon be broadcast.
But the network never aired the documentary, after Qatar, the Gulf emirate that funds Al Jazeera, came under intense pressure from the Israel lobby to censor the film.
The Electronic Intifada first released a leaked copy of the film in full in November 2018 – simultaneously with France’s Orient XXI and Lebanon’s Al-Akhbar, which subtitled the episodes in French and Arabic.
But now the whole film is available with full Arabic-language narration and voiceovers.
You can watch the first episode – The Covert War – in Arabic above, and the remaining three below.
For the English original published by The Electronic Intifada, click here.
