How the CIA Supported an American Rabbi’s Efforts to Help Terrorists Generate Anti-Israel Propaganda

In 1942, Elmer Berger, an American Reform rabbi unhappy with Reform’s decision to drop its opposition to Zionism, founded the American Council for Judaism (ACJ). Its purpose was to oppose Jewish statehood on the grounds that Jews constitute a religious group rather than a people, that Jews should be loyal only to the countries in which they live, and that, in Berger’s words, the “integrity of Judaism” needs to be defended against the “pollutions of Zionism’s politics.” As a result, Berger developed a friendship with an Arab intellectual who would later become involved in the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), and gave lectures on such topics as “How Should Arabs Present Their Case to the American Public?” His writing would be translated into Arabic and cited heavily in works produced by the PLO Research Center.