I've been meaning to link to Josh Nathan-Kazis's article on Sheldon Adelson's efforts to use his huge gifts to the Birthright Israel program in order to pursue a rightwing political agenda in Israel itself. This sort of influence-peddling isn't new, of course, but given the centrality of the Birthright program in introducing young Jews to Israel and its attendant issues, it raises some issues. Imagine if the global American constituency was dependent on trips funded by Richard Mellon Scaife. And that Scaife used that program to increase his political power and influence in America. Not a good scene.
