The insidious wiles of foreign influence have once again permeated the American foreign policy, boxing out a truly nationalist agenda and creating carve-outs for Middle Eastern interests.
When the dishevelled Argentine Javier Milei donned a kippah and announced his Isaac Accords this week, alarm bells went off at Nerve.
The initiative, designed to align Latin American diplomacy with Jerusalem, is, on its face, a matter of foreign policy between sovereign states. But the machinery powering this initiative runs on American soil via the newly minted “American Friends of the Isaac Accords” (AFOIA). AFOIA’s presence on American soil and its seed money directed by Milei represents a subtle but dangerous erosion of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) and, by extension, the integrity of the American political system.
It would seem that Washington has allowed, and, perhaps even directed, Buenos Aires to open the door for Tel Aviv security and technology interests, perhaps as a buffer to the expanding oriental footprint in a region well-dominated by Chinese firms from Venezuela to El Salvador.
But, in doing so, the Trump Administration has shredded centuries-old security doctrine that has served American interests well in the hemisphere they rightly dominate. If the spectre of Henry Cabot Lodge were to walk among the halls of the State Department today, he would find it unrecognizable.
It was he who, in 1912, enshrined a vital corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, declaring forevermore that the United States would not tolerate a non-hemispheric power’s acquisition of strategic assets in the Americas, even if those powers were friendly and even if the purpose was commercial rather than military.
A masterclass in legal evasion.
President Milei was awarded the Genesis Prize—often dubbed the “Jewish Nobel”—which comes with a $1 million purse. Rather than accepting the funds personally, Milei “directed” the prize money to seed a new 501(c)(3) non-profit based in New York: the American Friends of the Isaac Accords. Here, it becomes clear that “American” is purely used nominally.
Therein lies the fiction.
The organizers of AFOIA would have the Department of Justice believe that this is merely an American charity engaging in benevolent educational work. They argue that because the money technically originated from a U.S.-registered foundation (The Genesis Prize Foundation’s sister organization in the United States was directed by the Tel Aviv organization to disburse the funds) and was “gifted” by Milei, the chain of foreign direction has been broken.
This is sophistry. Under 22 U.S.C. § 611(c)(1) of FARA, an agent is defined not merely by who signs the paycheck, but by who provides the instruction. The statute is explicit: anyone acting at the “order, request, or under the direction or control” of a foreign principal must register.
President Milei did not merely “inspire” this organization; he conceived it. He publicly announced its creation. He directed its funding. Its very name mirrors his diplomatic initiative. To claim that AFOIA is independent of the Argentine executive is to insult the intelligence of the American observer. It is a distinction without a difference and is acting as a diplomatic lobbying arm laundered through the tax-exempt status of American philanthropy.
The DOJ is obligated to act
These are activities that, when conducted by a foreign power, require transparency. By failing to register under FARA, this organization denies the American people their right to know who is speaking to them.
The Department of Justice must look past the philanthropic veneer. If a foreign President conceives an organization, names it, funds it (even indirectly), and aligns it with his state’s foreign policy, that organization is a foreign agent. To rule otherwise is to sell American sovereignty for the price of a tax deduction.
