Columbia U.'s 2023 American Israel Friendship League [AIFL]/Zuckerman Connection Revisited

Between October 7, 2023 and December 22, 2023, the Israeli war machine’s attack on Gaza, which the Democratic Biden-Blinken administration and Columbia University Professor/Institute of Global Politics Director Hillary Clinton then supported, had by then killed at least 20,057 people—including at least least 8,000 children and 6,200 women.


Yet Columbia University still remained institutionally-affiliated with Tel Aviv University—one of the Israeli universities that performs weapons-related research for the Israeli war machine in Gaza.


One reason the Columbia University administration might not have been eager to end its institutional affiliation with Tel Av University in 2023 is that in December 2012 a Tel Aviv University honorary degree recipient and Honorary President of the American Israel Friendship League [AIFL], the neo-con Canadian-born billionaire real estate deal-maker and former New York Daily News newspaper owner Mort Zuckerman, donated $200 million to Columbia University to establish Columbia’s “Zuckerman Institute.”


At a December 17, 2012 event in the Rotunda of Columbia’s Low Memorial Library administration building announcing the American Israel Friendship League honorary president’s $200 million donation to Columbia, then-Columbia University President Lee Bollinger stated that “on behalf of the University, I want to express our gratitude to Mort Zuckerman for this historic gift” and claimed that Zuckerman’s “vision and generosity will help ensure that Columbia will be home to an enduring community of great scholars.”


According to the website of Columbia University’s Zuckerman Institute, in 2023 the “Brain Trust” of the “Zuckerman Institute” then served “as the voluntary board of advisors to guide the work of Columbia University researchers;” and the Zuckerman Institute Brain Trust’s then-chair was “Mortimer B. Zuckerman,” the “benefactor of both Columbia's Zuckerman Institute and the Zuckerman STEM Scholars of Israel and the United States” and “a former Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations” who had “served as President of the America-Israel Friendship League” pro-Israeli government lobbying group.


Between 2001 and 2003, Columbia University Zuckerman Institute Brain Trust then-Chair Zuckerman was the Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations anti-Palestinian self-determination rights lobbying group; and during most of the 21st-century the former New York Daily News owner had been the honorary president of the American-Israel Friendship League [AIFL] whose “sole purpose is to make friends for the State of Israel through activities intended to improve the general perception of Israel,” according to the AIFL’s website. The same website also posted an article indicating how Zuckerman became involved in this pro-Israeli government group:


“The teamwork forged between Zuckerman, [American-Israel Friendship League Chairman Kenneth] Bialkin, and the rest of the AIFL team coalesced almost two decades ago, when a high-level request came in. ``Sometime in the late ‘90s each of us was contacted by the [Israeli] consul general of New York to ask if we would come in to help with the promotion of the AIFL,’ Bialkin remembers.


"Zuckerman views the work of the AIFL, in fostering better understanding between Israel and America, as a vital element in keeping the world safer. `I’ll put it this way: I think it is very important that there is more than one audience we should focus on. Number one: senior government officials. Number two: public opinion. Some would say the latter is the foundation of what affects the former. We need to continually develop that relationship.’
”

According to the AIFL website:


“The America-Israel Friendship League (AIFL) has been building and mobilizing grassroots support for Israel and strengthening the relationship between the two countries through people-to-people activities for 50 years.


“By sending Leadership Delegations to Israel, conducting outreach to program alumni and other interested parties, engaging in Pastor/ Educator Seminars, and hosting an annual Youth Ambassador Student Exchange (YASE), AIFL continues the vision of its founders.”


An article by Christopher Walsh, titled “Pro-Israel Pundits Speak Out on Middle East,” that appeared in the September 4, 2014 issue of the East Hampton Star, described how the $200 million donor to Columbia University had historically supported the Israeli war machine’s 50-day war against people in Gaza in the summer of 2014 (that then killed 1,462 Palestinian civilians, including 551 Palestinian children, according to a June 2015 UN Human Rights Council report):


“…At the Jewish Center of the Hamptons… pro-Israel panelists from the worlds of media and academia discussed the seven-week war in Gaza…Mortimer Zuckerman, an East Hampton resident who is the publisher of the New York Daily News and editor in chief of U.S. News and World, expressed the panelists’ united defense of the Israeli military’s conduct in the war….He also sought to provide context to reports that more than 2,000 Palestinian civilians had been killed in the war by noting that 378,000 German civilians and 580,000 Japanese civilians were killed in World War II. `This is not a moral strike against Israel,’ he said….”


And in 2015, Columbia University Zuckerman Institute’s Brain Trust Advisory Board then-Chair established a second “Zuckerman Institute” elsewhere in Manhattan “ to enhance collaboration and communication among the most promising scholars in science, technology, engineering, and math in Israel, the United States and Canada;” which apparently is also funded partially by the Israeli government.


So, not surprisingly, on October 17, 2023, a letter to U.S. President Biden was sent by officials of the AIFL, that Columbia U. Donor Zuckerman was then honorary president of, which stated:


“In these challenging days for Israel, we want to convey our heartfelt gratitude and deep appreciation for your unwavering support. Your recent speech was nothing short of remarkable and stands as one of the most pro-Israeli speeches ever delivered by an American President….Your words, coupled with your actions such as sending the Gerald Ford Aircraft Carrier to our shores, have brought immense comfort and confidence to our nation. They are sincerely cherished by all Israelis who recognize that they have a true friend in the White House.


“Mr. President, we extend our heartfelt thanks for your total commitment during these trying times. On behalf of the America-Israel Friendship League… we express our gratitude and salute you…With a friend like you, we are strong and resilient, and together, we shall prevail and triumph…”