Israel Matzav

Rabid Israel hater elected to Congress in Arizona

I did several posts about the 'not instinctively pro-Israel' Kyrsten Sinema, most recently here. On Monday, Sinema was declared the winner of her race in Arizona's newly formed 9th Congressional district. And while other issues - like the one in the picture above and her sexual preferences - have been bigger news in the campaign, the real story here is that this Democrat is rabidly anti-Israel (Hat Tip: Weasel Zippers).

[S]inema, a former Arizona state senator and Barack Obama delegate at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, bills herself as the archetypal Democratic candidate—pro-environment, pro-jobs, and, without doubt, staunchly pro-Israel.

But a closer examination of her career reveals that Sinema has advocated against what she calls the “Israeli occupation” and helped create several groups that oppose the U.S.-Israel alliance.

“She’s trying to scrub a 10-year record of radicalism on all aspects, and she doesn’t realize you can’t erase things you’ve said and done for the sake of running for office,” said one Democratic Arizona lawmaker who has worked with Sinema. “For us [Democrats] it’s a very scary situation because we don’t want our reputation to be diminished by one ambitious politician.

Many of us pro-Israel politicians don’t want to see her win because it will diminish our positions on Israel.”

Another Democratic insider in Arizona described Sinema’s past deeds as “albatrosses hanging around her neck.”

Sinema’s foray into anti-Israel activism began in the early 2000s when she organized for the Arizona Alliance for Peace and Justice (AAPJ), a group whose members have denounced Israel’s “disproportionate” use of  “violence and oppression.”

The group also decried U.S. military aid to Israel as well as the expansion of Israeli settlements “into Palestinian lands.”

Sinema later urged supporters of the AAPJ to deluge the phone lines of a radio show hosted by “an unapologetic unconditional supporter of Israeli policy.”

To this day, AAPJ continues to take a hardline stance against Israel, aligning itself with the far left Occupy AIPAC movement and sponsoring various speeches “against the Israeli occupation.”

Another of Sinema’s progeny is Local to Global Justice, a grassroots advocacy group that has positioned itself as one of Arizona’s leading critics of the Jewish state.

It gets much worse. Read the whole thing. 

Arizona 9 is a very Jewish district. I wonder how many local Jews couldn't bring themselves to vote for Black Republican Vernon Parker instead of Sinema. Or maybe the Democrats just stuffed the ballot boxes like they did in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, Virginia....

Labels: Campaign 2012, United States Congress

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:07 AM