Most famous for being pardoned by Bill Clinton at the last minute of his presidency in 2001, international financier Marc Rich died last month and was buried in Israel. We did a post the other day noting that several Israeli leaders, including Shimon Peres, pushed Clinton for the pardon and that Bill Clinton lately made $500,000 off the Peres Foundation for a speech.

It is also true that some wealthy portion of the Israel lobby was pleased by the Rich pardon and is surely prepared to mobilize behind Hillary Clinton if she runs for the highest office. Follow the money, right? Here is a portion of a piece about the pardon called “The Clintons and the Rich Women,” lately posted by Jeffrey St. Clair at Counterpunch. St. Clair says that Abraham Foxman, a strong supporter of Israel, threw himself behind the pardon and duly mobilized Denise Rich, Rich’s former wife and a good friend of Israel, and that she in turn mobilized Beth Dozoretz, who then served on an executive committee at AIPAC and has many ties to Israel. Bill Clinton is Dozoretz’s daughter’s godfather. Both women have given tons of money to the Democratic Party. When John McCain was once asked why we need campaign finance reform he answered with her name.

The story is a reminder of the fact that Obama was “absolutely livid” last summer when the Democratic convention was prepared to pass a platform that did not state that Jerusalem was the undivided capital of Israel. He got the change, of course. Pro-Israel money is vital to the aspirations of Democratic politicians. St. Clair: