it seem as though we’re a part of it [at The
Israel Project]. But we’re not.”
Gallagher explains to Tony that he does-
n’t know who Milstein hired to run Canary
Mission.
The Al Jazeera documentary shows that
the Israel on Campus Coalition, another
group funded by Milstein, operates in
close coordination with Canary Mission.
Jacob Baime, executive director of the
Israel on Campus Coalition, boasts in the
film that “Canary Mission is highly, highly
effective to the extent that we monitor the
Students for Justice in Palestine and their
allies.”
ThefilmalsoshowsfootageofMilstein
andBaimeinlengthyprivatediscussionson
thesidelinesofaStandWithUsconference.
Baime discusses Canary Mission as an
example of the Israel on Campus Coali-
tion’s secretive strategy of putting “up
some anonymous website,” promoted by
targeted Facebook ads, to smear Pales-
tine solidarity activists on campus.
The Israel on Campus Coalition’s Ian
Hersh and Jacob Baime explain how their
blacklisting sites work.
Asked by Tony if he has any links to Ca-
nary Mission, Baime replies with a wide
grin: “No, Canary Mission is totally anony-
mous. It’s really hard to figure out who’s
behind it.” But soon afterwards, Baime in-
advertently admits to a direct role.
Speaking of the need to respond to pub-
lications, including The Electronic Intifada,
which expose the work of anti-Palestinian
organizations, Baime says, “F*** them,
we’re doing it back. I mean, not ‘we’ but,
um, just some anonymous group.”
Baime explains his reticence to openly
claim credit for these types of operations,
emphasizing that “we do it securely and
anonymously and that’s the key.”
“If one of these terrorists on campus
wants to disrupt a pro-Israel lecture or
something and like unfurl a banner or
whatever else, we’re going to investigate
them,” he says. “That stuff becomes very
useful in the moment and there are any
number of ways to push it out.”
Baime also describes his organization’s
cooperation with the strategic affairs min-
istry, Israel’s covert agency for fighting thePalestine solidarity movement around the
world—particularly the boycott, divestment
and sanctions movement, or BDS.
The ministry’s director general is Sima
Vaknin-Gil, a former senior officer with Is-
rael’s military intelligence. It is staffed by
officers from Israel’s various spy agencies
whose identities are mostly classified, al-
though some have been exposed.SPYING FOR ISRAEL
For information sharing, “we did add the
Ministry of Strategic Affairs to our opera-
tions and intelligence brief,” Baime’s deputy
Ian Hersh explains in the film.
Hersh said this link with Israel relates to
how “we get information about what’s
going on on American college campuses.”
BaimealsoconfidestoTony,whois
British,ofhistieswiththeIsraeligovern-
ment,explainingthat“myviewandtheview
ofIsrael’sMinistryofStrategicAffairs,which
wecoordinatewithsometimes,wecommu-
nicatewithsometimes,is,um,likeEurope
islostandit’sbasicallyoverandlikethey’re
turningalotofattentionnowtotheU.S.be-
causetheyfeelwe’reonyourpath.”
According to Baime, their strategy is to
“drip out a new piece of the opposition re-
search” every few hours. “It’s psychologi-
cal warfare. It drives them crazy,” he
states. Baime describes the approach as
“modeled on General Stanley McChrys-
tal’s counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq.”
The Israel on Campus Coalition has a
“very high tech” research operation, Baime
states, which amounts to “a million and a
half [dollars] or more. Probably it’s like
even $2 million at this point. I don’t even
know, it’s huge.”
Baime’s admissions raise questions
aboutwhethertheIsraelonCampusCoali-
tionandindividualsassociatedwiththe
workhedescribesareactingasagentsof
aforeignstatewithoutregistering,asre-
quiredbyU.S.law,withthecounterintelli-
gencedivisionoftheDepartmentofJustice.
In footage viewable on the Electronic
Intifada, Adam Milstein explains the strat-
egy in similar terms, though he does not
admit to any direct role in Canary Mission.
“We need to expose what they really
are. And we need to expose the fact thatthey are anti-everything we believe in. And
we need to put them on the run,” Milstein
states. “We’re doing it by exposing who
they are and what they are, the fact that
they are racist, the fact that they are big-
ots, they’re anti-democracy.”
Tony asks if the targets of these tactics
should be labeled as anti-Semites. Milstein
replies: “Not just anti-Semites, it’s too sim-
ple. We need to present them for what
they really are. They’re anti-freedom,
they’re anti-Christian.”BLACKLISTING
Canary Mission began publishing profiles
of student activists in 2015. Its McCarthyite
harassment campaign has targeted nearly
2,000 students and academics. The pro-
files smear Palestine solidarity activists—
often students of Palestinian heritage—as
anti-Semitic, with the explicit aim of harm-
ing their future career prospects.
In the film, Baime explains the effect of
the strategy on its targets: “They either
shut down or they spend time responding
to it and investigating it, which is time they
can’t spend attacking Israel. That’s incred-
ibly effective.”
Many of those targeted by the website
“have reported being questioned by cur-
rent and prospective employers and
schools about their support for Palestinian
rights,” Palestine Legal has stated.
Others have been put on leave, denied
bank accounts, received death threats and
been denied entry by Israel, including to
the occupied West Bank, the civil rights
group says.
The film is a follow-up to “The Lobby,” Al
Jazeera’s undercover investigation of pro-
Israel groups in the UK, broadcast in Jan-
uary last year.
Since the UK’s broadcasting regulator
vindicated that film in October, it became
increasingly clear that the Qatari govern-
ment has banned Al Jazeera from broad-
casting the sequel.
The film has been censored even though
it addresses matters of considerable public
interest, including covert efforts on behalf
of a foreign state to spy on, harass or pre-
vent Americans from engaging in activities
protected by the First Amendment. 32 WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS OCTOBER 2018abunimah_31-32.qxp_Special Report 8/30/18 6:11 PM Page 32