Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Altercation, by Eric Alterman

http://mediamatters.org/

Recall that the director of the American Jewish Committee denounced me when I pointed out that, together with neocon Jewish pundits, organizations like AJC that pursued hawkish policies were fundamentally at odds with the view of the American Jews they purport to represent. What are we to make of this memo described in the Forward, in which AJC employee Debra Feuer seeks to stir up trouble amongst Jews for Barack Obama with a series of insinuations and irresponsible allegations, all of which have to do with Obama being insufficiently hawkish and failing to pay heed to the discredited line of the neocon creed? And note the extraordinary number of weasel words:

In one section, the memo said that Obama's approach to Iran's nuclear program "raises questions," while another portion suggested that Obama expected more from Israel than the Palestinians in resolving the conflict between the two.

[...]

Obama "appears to believe the Israelis bear the burden of taking the risky steps for peace, and that the violence Israel has received in return does not shift that burden," Feuer writes.

[...]

"The Senator's interpretation of the NIE raises questions," wrote Feuer, without elaborating further. She went on to list a half-dozen statements the Illinois lawmaker has made in support of renewed diplomacy with Iran, and note that "he also calls for negotiating with other rogue states, notably Syria."

Under a section titled "Of Further Note," Feuer takes note of Obama's presence at a fundraiser headlined by the late Edward Said in 1998, and public suggestions by Ali Abunimah, a Chicago-based Palestinian activist, that Obama was more openly critical of the America's approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict before his first run for Senate.

The AJC has disowned the note as a matter of public relations. But its revelation by the Forward indicates what's really going on with some of these organizations, who profess to represent the views of American Jews as they work purposefully to undermine the leaders who most closely represent their views.

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