Israel Matzav

Muslim Democrats angry Jerusalem back in platform

Congressman Keith Ellison (D-Mn) wasn't too pleased with how the platform vote went on Wednesday at the Democratic National Convention.

Ellison was asked about his party's updating of their platform with the Jerusalem reference. But the congressman said the focus on it was misplaced.

"This issue is a side issue, it's a distraction issue," Ellison said. "And I personally believe that the last thing we need to do is have a big fight about the emergence of this issue. Because at the end of the day, we need a president who will try to bring these people together. And it won't be easy."

James Zogby seems even less pleased.

The language of the platform, the additional language, [is] absolutely inconsequential," said Dr. James Zogby of the Arab American Institute. "Frankly, we can live with it."

Yet Zogby blasted the way the proposal was adopted.

"You do not try to ram down the throat of Democrats, language that they had no time to think about or talk about," Zogby said. "I think they're disappointed in the way this happened."

"This was a mistake. The fact is … at the end of the day, you're not going to win five Jewish votes with what happened yesterday on the platform. But you may lose some Arab-American votes. That's a bad thing. This could've been handled in a way where the Jewish community felt empowered and the Arab-American community felt empowered. And everybody comes out a winner."

That's okay. The Arabs won on 'Palestinian refugees' and 1949 armistice lines. What could go wrong?

Labels: Campaign 2012, Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, Keith Ellison, National Democratic Party

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:32 AM