The news that several donors to the Clinton Foundation gained VIP access to Hillary Clinton when she was Secretary of State has raised the question of what these donors got for their money beyond facetime. And one way in which Clinton has evidently been responsive is the Israel issue. Several Foundation donors are strong supporters of Israel and opponents of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign (BDS). As a presidential candidate, Clinton has been a one-woman campaigner against BDS. She has issued several denunciations of that human rights campaign over the last year, and she injected anti-BDS language into the Democratic Party platform.

Of course, Clinton has long supported Israel, before and after her State Department stint, and she has long had pro-Israel donors. But the anti-BDS list of Foundation donors suggests the new lineaments of the Israel lobby in the age of Clinton, as a right-center-liberal lobby. The State Department under John Kerry has actually made a specific point of not opposing boycott of Israeli settlements.

News articles list several donors who care about Israel who got access to Clinton as secretary. They include Haim and Cheryl Saban, Randi Weingarten of the American Federation of Teachers, Slimfast founder S. Daniel Abraham, and Hollywood executive Casey Wasserman.Hollywood producer Jeff Skoll,

The Sabans donated between $10 and 25 million to the Clinton Foundation, according to the Associated Press. Saban has said his one issue is Israel. He has also funded a campaign against BDS, as Julia Carmel and Max Blumenthal reported:

Seated beside [Sheldon] Adelson on stage at the casino baron’s Las Vegas anti-BDS conference, Saban openly panicked about BDS, warning of “an anti-Semitic tsunami coming at us.” Saban called for an initiative to punish corporations that refused to work inside Israel or the territories it occupies through military force: “Any company that chooses to boycott business in Israel is going to look at this case, and once we’re done they’re going to think twice whether they want to take on Israel or not,” Saban declared. “Trust me, this is just the beginning.”

Saban has since directed his giving to the Democratic Party, and Hillary Clinton wrote to him a year ago to assure him that she would work with Republicans to fight BDS:

“I know you agree that we need to make countering BDS a priority.”

S. Daniel Abraham is another major Foundation giver who has Israel as a top concern. According to the rightwing watchdog Judicial Watch that released the emails, Abraham was granted almost immediate access to then-Secretary of State Clinton, with [Huma] Abedin serving as the facilitator. According to the Clinton Foundation website , Abraham, like the Wasserman Foundation, has given between $5 million and $10 million to the Clinton Foundation. Then-Secretary Clinton gave a speech dedicating Abraham’s Center for Middle East Peace in 2010. In that speech she extolled Abraham’s “devotion to Israel and in his commitment to Israel’s future and Israel’s security,” repeatedly criticized Palestinians, and praised Israel for its wall saying “the number of suicide bombings – thankfully – has dropped significantly.”

The president of the Abraham Center is former congressman Robert Wexler, who helped to quash the references to “occupation” and “settlements” in the Democratic Party platform this year and get in a plank opposing Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS). Wexler:

BDS may hope that pressuring Israel will lead to peace, the truth is that outside forces will not resolve the I P conflict, particularly when anti-semitism is rising throughtout the world, Democrats must condemn efforts to isolate and delegitimze Israel. Delegitimization must stop immediately. Casey Wasserman, whose foundation gave between $5 and $10 million, is also a strong supporter of Israel. He surely opposes BDS; he co-signed a letter to Hollywood bigs last year with Haim Saban, urging them to support Clinton because she’s behind Israel. Variety: “She will be an excellent leader for the United States and for our International standing,” they write. “She is and always has been a strong leader and true friend when it comes to the U.S. and Israeli relationship. Trust me we know!”

My father gave back mainly in an active commitment to Jewish causes, especially those which strengthened and secured Israel. But his generous spirit reached beyond the temple doors.

Clinton’s vehement support for Israel obviously echoes many of these Foundation givers’ feelings. And her recent religious fervor against BDS echoes several of these donors’ attitudes.