Israel Matzav

Who's the bigger moron?

In an interview with 'rabbi' Mikey Lerner's Tikkun Magazine (whose statistics I will not help by linking the interview), Virginia Democratic congressman James Moran has proven once again that he's an anti-Semitic moron.

In an interview with Tikkun, a California-based Jewish magazine, Moran said the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is "the most powerful lobby and has pushed this war from the beginning. I don't think they represent the mainstream of American Jewish thinking at all, but because they are so well organized, and their members are extraordinarily powerful -- most of them are quite wealthy -- they have been able to exert power."

Moran's remarks were criticized by the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington and the National Jewish Democratic Council. Ronald Halber, executive director of the first group, said Moran's remarks are anti-Semitic and draw on ugly stereotypes about Jewish wealth, power and influence.

"He uses several age-old canards that have been used throughout history that have brought violence upon Jews," Halber said this week. "He uses clearly anti-Semitic images such as Jewish control of the media and wealthy Jews using their wealth to control policy."

...

Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor of Tikkun also defended Moran's position in the article, which appear in the magazine's September-October issue.

"It's the kind of statement I would have made to any religious community, or to any labor movement audience, citing their own failures to act as a critical factor in why we had gotten involved," Lerner wrote in the article.

...

Said Halber this week: "There are only so many mistakes [Moran] can make before it's fair to call him an anti-Semite."

So who's the bigger anti-Semitic moron? Moran for giving the interview or Lerner for publishing and defending it? I'd say it's a toss-up.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:03 AM