According to information revealed by The Washington Post during the US Senate hearings into the Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal, Abramoff channeled money from corporate clients into the foundation and spent the overwhelming portion of its money on projects having little to do with the advertised sportsmanship programs, including political causes, the Eshkol Academy and an overseas golf trip for Bob Ney.
Abramoff, who has been described by his spokesman Andrew Blum as, "an especially strong supporter of Israel" and by reporter Michael Isikoff, quoting an anonymous Abramoff associate, as "a super-Zionist," diverted "money meant for inner-city kids" to Israeli West Bank to be used by a Jewish settlers in order to help them "fight the Palestinian intifada."
"[3] Juan Cole asserts, in critiquing The Hill report on this subject, "the Israeli army does not need shooting lessons from Ben-Zvi.
[4] The "high-school friend" is, apparently, "Abramoff's connection" to the Jewish West Bank settlement of Beitar Illit, "Schmuel Ben-Zvi, an American emigre who, the lobbyist told associates, was an old friend he knew from Los Angeles;" Ben-Zvi has denied knowing Abramoff.
Those who were planned to attend were NFL players Jerome Bettis and Brian Mitchell, opera singer Plácido Domingo, Media Commentators Tony Snow, Chris Matthews, and Brit Hume as well as several congressman such as Tom DeLay, Rick Santorum, and Dana Rohrabacher.