The following is a presentation made at the 2015 Israel Lobby Con held at the National Press Club.

Paul Findley served the 20th District of Illinois during 11 terms in Congress, from 1961 to 1983.

Findley wrote the very first book to analyze the pervasive influence of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) on U.S. politics, policy, and institutions from the perspective of Congress. Carefully documented with specific case histories, They Dare To Speak Out: People and Institutions Confront Israel’s Lobby reveals how the Israel Lobby helps to shape important aspects of U.S. foreign policy and influences congressional, senatorial, and presidential elections.

First published in 1985 and reprinted several times since, the book criticizes the undue influence AIPAC exerts in the Senate and the House, and the pressure AIPAC brings to bear on university professors and journalists who seem too sympathetic to Arab and Islamic states, or too critical of Israel and its policies. Findley is co-founder of the Council for the National Interest. The conference is solely sponsored by the American Educational Trust, publisher of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, and the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy (IRmep).