The other night I had the pleasure of hearing Avi Jorisch of the Intelligence Gathering Group speak at a Jewish Federation dinner.

“Big deal,” you say. “I heard Joe Shmoe. so what?”

The difference is that Avi Jorisch, unlike Joe Shmoe, is one of the unsung heroes of this country. Through his work with the Near East Policy Institute he managed to get Al Manar, a Hezballah sponsored TV network labeled a terrorist entity. Through his insightful research, diligence, and bravery his counter intelligence work proved fruitful. Enough evidence was presented to the US government to designate Al Manar an arm of terrorism.

Because of his work, it is now illegal for satellite providers to broadcast this hate filled station in the USA. Unfortunately, we learned, this network still broadcasts its poison to more than 25,000,000 people all over the Middle East.

After Mr.Jorisch spoke about the danger of anti- Semitism becoming more prevalent around the world, including the USA, I asked him how he got involved with Hezballah. He told me that since he had studied Arabic at Al Ahzhar University in Egypt, he became fluent in Arabic. Unbelievably, he later went to Lebanon to interview higher ups in the Hezballah organization. Surprised at his courage, I asked him whether he was afraid, since these were the same people who sliced Daniel Pearl’s head off, he answered that it was one of those times that would either make him or break him. Luckily it made him.

Mr. Jorisch’s fluency in Arabic propelled him to do more counter terrorism work. That led him to the US Treasury Dept and eventually Iranian money laundering. He has become an expert in tracking the illegal Iranian money and has articles printed in major publications. He believes that the Obama strategy of negotiating with the Iranian terror dons is a mistake and allows the Iranians to continue their march to nuclear terror. This negotiation validates his belief that that the members of Hezballah are very smart. Too bad Obama thinks he’s the “smartest guy in the room” and chooses to listen to the wrong people.

Avi Jorisch may not have the media profile of the Duck Dynasty patriarch Phil Robertson, but he stands for the best of the American spirit. Unlike the big mouths and threats by groups like JStreet, quietly and almost imperceptibly Avi Jorisch works for the benefit of his people and his country. I’m looking forward to doing a more in depth interview because he’s a true Jewish American Patriot!