Democratic party's 'Muslim youth activist' gloats over Paris attack
This is from
Daniel Greenfield.
Zaid Jilani has many credentials as an activist of the left. He was a
blogger at the Center for American Progress’ Think Progress site, the
unofficially official spin project for Obama Inc, until he was fired for excessive anti-semitism, even by the standards of a site run by a man who had helped fundraise for Hamas before going to work for Nancy Pelosi.
Jilani went on to blog for the Progressive Change Campaign Committee,
also known as Bold Progressives, which is behind the Draft Elizabeth
Warren campaign. He currently writes for Salon.
Democrats.org, the site of the Democratic Party, had also featured him as their youth activist.
His response on Twitter to the Muslim mass murder of Mohammed
cartoonists in France was to gloat about the terror skills of his
co-religionists.
And you thought Elizabeth Warren was an improvement over Hillary Clinton?
Labels: Arab-Muslim blood lust, Barack Hussein Obama, Center for American Progress, Elizabeth Warren, France, Hamas, Hillary Clinton, Islamic terrorism, National Democratic Party, Paris
Is being anti-Israel a liberal value?
The ad above appears as a full-page ad in Thursday's New York Times, which was placed by the Emergency Committee for Israel (ECI). I have uploaded it to ScribD and those who would like a better look will find it embedded below.
ECI issued the following statement:
Today the Emergency Committee for Israel published a full-page ad in the New York Times asking readers to call the mainstream foundations and charities that are funding two prominent liberal organizations -- Center for American Progress and Media Matters -- that have recently come under fire for anti-Israel and borderline anti-Semitic rhetoric.
The ad can be viewed at this link: http://goo.gl/0d8Mn
For background on the story, please see the following articles in the Washington Post and Politico: http://goo.gl/aXBxd, http://goo.gl/IBRe5
For any questions or media inquiries, please contact ECI's executive director, Noah Pollak: noah@committeeforisrael.com, 202-600-6220.
For those wondering why so many Jewish Federations are named in the ad, please go
here and
here.
And here's the pdf of the ad from ScribD:
Eci Ad on Cap-mm NytLabels: anti-Semitism, Center for American Progress, Emergency Committee for Israel, Media Matters
More details on CAP
Here's a bit of a
who's who of the staffers who have been causing all the trouble at the Center for American Progress.
CAP is a Washington-based policy organization that serves as a source of Middle East ideas for President Barack Obama and the party.
Zaid Jilani had blogged for the Center for American Progress’s ThinkProgress website; he used Twitter to call US supporters of the Jewish state “Israel Firsters” and compared Israel to the former apartheid regime in South Africa.
A CAP employee who said her name was Amanda told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday that Jilani was no longer employed by ThinkProgress.
Jilani’s biography and photo no longer appear on the ThinkProgress website “About” section. His Twitter feed no longer identifies him as a reporter for ThinkProgress. His last CAP blog posting was on January 12.
E-mail queries and telephone calls to senior CAP representatives, including Faiz Shakir, editor-in-chief of ThinkProgress, were not returned.
The Jerusalem Post exclusively obtained an e-mail in January in which Shakir described Jilani’s words charging supporters of Israel with dual-loyalty as “terrible anti-Semitic language.”
As a result of the alleged Judeophobia at CAP, the Jerusalem Post has learned from a Democratic Party source that CAP has introduced a new social media policy to monitor and prevent prejudicial writings. CAP declined to confirm the existence of the new policy.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center, the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee have all termed the anti-Israeli rhetoric of Jilani and fellow CAP writers Eli Clifton, Ali Gharib, Matt Duss and Ben Armbruster to be infected with Jew-hatred and discriminatory policy positions toward Israel.
Duss, CAP’s Middle East Progress director, wrote on ThinkProgress that “the entire Israeli occupation” of the Gaza Strip is “a moral abomination” comparable to the former Jim Crow South in the US.
Armbruster, who has attacked Jewish critics for pointing out alleged anti-Israel and anti-Semitic tirades from CAP writers, wrote “no comment” in an e-mail response to a query last week.
The think tank has been engulfed in the affair since December, electrifying the blogosphere and print and online publications in the US and Israel.
...
Writing in a New York Post opinion article on Wednesday titled “The White House’s Israel Bashing Pals,” Alana Goodman noted that “CAP hasn’t distanced itself from these comments or even acknowledged that they’re anti-Israel. If it deems them acceptable public comment, one wonders what the internal dialogue is like at the think tank — and among the alumni who have gone on to the Obama administration.”
Goodman, who is an online editor of Commentary magazine, added, “At a minimum, the controversy highlights how progressive groups are working to undermine traditional Democratic support for Israel.”
According to her article, shortly after a Jewish NGO slammed CAP for trafficking in hatred of Israel on its website in December, “Six days later, President Obama met for coffee with the man who oversaw the offending content — Faiz Shakir, the site’s editor-in-chief.”
I hope the Republican candidates for President are listening.
Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Campaign 2012, Center for American Progress
Obama-linked think tank under fire for anti-Semitism
Those of you who don't live in the US may not be familiar with the Center for American Progress (CAP). It's an influential think tank that has a lot of influence in the Obama administration. I know it mostly from Twitter, where I follow some of its staffers and where at least one of them follows me.
Lately, CAP has been under attack for anti-Semitism. It's a controversy I mentioned
here,
here and
here. As more people take notice, the controversy is reaching the White House. You can find a summary of it
here.
There is a pretty good working definition of anti-Semitism
here.
Are they guilty of anti-Semitism? I think they are.
Labels: anti-Semitism, Center for American Progress, liberalism
Yes, they are anti-Semites
Benny Weinthal discloses an email from the Center for American Progress (CAP), in which the group's
anti-Semitic leanings are admitted.
The Jerusalem Post last week obtained the first CAP acknowledgment of Jewhatred stemming from a group of Mideast bloggers affiliated with CAP’s ThinkProgress website.
In the e-mail that the Post obtained exclusively from the CAP account of Faiz Shakir, who serves as editor-in-chief of the ThinkProgress.org website and is a vice president at CAP, he wrote, “Yes, I agree ‘Israel Firster’ is terrible, anti-Semitic language. And that’s why that language no longer exists on Zaid’s personal twitter feed, because he also knows and understands the implications.”
Zaid Jilani wrote on his Twitter account, where he identifies himself as a “Reporter-Blogger for ThinkProgress,” that “...Obama is still beloved by Israel-firsters and getting lots of their $$.”
The e-mail recognizing the anti-Semitism of a CAP blogger was sent from FShakir@americanprogress.org in December.
US-Jewish and Israeli NGOs accused a faction of ThinkProgress bloggers that month of stoking modern anti-Semitism. The anti-Israel scandal saw two CAP writers, Jilani and Ali Gharib, issue apologies for asserting that American Jews and a non-Jewish Republican senator serve the interests of the Israeli government over the security of the United States.
Speaking with the Post from Washington on Thursday, Shakir declined to comment on the e-mail from his account.
He did not respond to a followup Post e-mail sent on Friday.
Ali Gharib follows me on Twitter and frequently makes nasty comments that I do not usually retweet - it will be interesting to see whether this post draws a reaction. Another prominent CAP contributor is Matt Duss, whom I follow on Twitter.
CAP advises the Democratic Party on Middle East policy and is an important source of ideas for the Obama administration.
Read the whole thing.
Labels: Center for American Progress, Leftist anti-Semitism, Think Progress
Soros-backed, Obama-allied group blames 'rich Jews' for stoking 'Islamophobia'
The Soros-backed Center for American Progress is blaming
'rich Jews' and Israel supporters for stoking the imaginary prejudice called 'Islamophobia.'
The Obama-allied Center for American Progress has released a report that blames Islamophobia in America on a small group of Jews and Israel supporters in America, whose views are being backed by millions of dollars. This "network", according to the news release, have "have worked hard to push narratives that Obama might be a Muslim, that mosques are incubators of radicalization, and that "radical Islam" has infiltrated all aspects of American society -- including the conservative movement.
Who are the figures mentioned as the promoters of prejudice? Most of them are prominent Jews and supporters of Israel, such as David Horowitz, Daniel Pipes and Steven Emerson (the founder of the Investigative Project on Terrorism). The eight foundations mentioned as funding this effort include are almost exclusively ones founded and funded by Jewish donors, and lest readers not be aware of this fact, the Center for American Progress lists not only the other beneficiaries of the charities and foundations (most of them having Jewish or Israel in the title) but also goes to the trouble of naming the individuals behind these charities -- not just the donors but also those who serve on the boards.
Why include this additional information except to highlight that Jewish people are behind this effort to "defame" Muslims? By "outing" the people involved, the report puts endangers them. Furthermore, this "report" relies on the conspiracy and age-old anti-Semitic trope that Jews fan prejudice towards others and promotes divisions for their own nefarious purposes (to support Israel in this case). This mindset is straight out of Mein Kampf.
...
CAP has very close ties to the White House. It is headed by John Podesta, who was Bill Clinton's chief of staff, and headed Barack Obama's transition team. A man closely linked to the last 2 Democrat presidents is publishing this kind of material. Podesta's group remains influential with President Obama. Bloomberg News noted this relationship in its column, "Soros-funded Democratic Idea Factory Becomes Obama Policy Front." Some key administration officials have come from the CAP, as well. These include such anti-Israel figures as Van Jones, who, after he was forced to leave the White House when his views became known, returned to his sinecure at the Center.
Clearly, this is a well-funded effort to chill legitimate criticism of Islamic extremism in America. There are also political motivations behind this report since it also tries to refute allegations of ties between Muslims and Barack Obama. But what is most shameful about this "report" is that it employs classic anti-Semitic tropes, blaming conspiratorial Jews for stoking fear and hatred of Muslims.
This will work its magic in the Muslim world, a substantial fraction of which believes that "defaming" Islam is legitimately punishable by death at the hands of any righteous Muslim. By thoughtfully providing a hit list, the CAP does its part to spread fear and -- yes -- terror among the opponents of radical Islam.
Read the whole thing.
Someone please tell me that this time the Republicans will nominate a candidate who won't shy away from raising this sort of thing.
Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Center for American Progress, George Soros, Islamophobia
Soros and Clinton setting up leftist Daily Alert
One of the sources for stories for this blog - and before that for my email list - that I have used for many years now is
The Daily Alert. The Alert is a roundup of news and opinion articles about Israel that usually arrives here around 2:00 - 3:00 PM Monday through Friday. It is published by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.
Now, leftist mogul George Soros wants to fund a leftist alternative to The Daily Alert. Soros, who is also trying to sponsor
a 'liberal alternative' to AIPAC, the main lobbying group for Israel in the United States, is one of the main forces behind the leftist, anti-Semitic web site
MoveOn.org.
But here is where things get curiouser. The organization that Soros is using to challenge The Daily Alert is a think tank called
The Center for American Progress. The Center, whose web page has a feature called
Middle East Progress, promotes a leftist agenda. And according to Richard Baehr at The American Thinker, the leading force behind it is none other than
Hillary Clinton.
The Center for American Progress is an interesting organization. Some have referred to it as the shadow Clinton White House, a place keeper for Clinton acolytes to wait until their power is restored after the 2008 Presidential election and the ascension of Hillary Clinton. The Center has been run since its creation in 2003 by
John Podesta, former Chief of Staff in the Clinton White House, and other former Clinton administration figures are also working for or are affiliated with the Center. David Horowitz has identified some of the Clinton linkages:
"'Persistent press leaks confirm that Hillary Clinton, and not Podesta, is ultimately in charge of CAP. It's the official Hillary Clinton think tank,'
an inside source confided to Christian Bourge of United Press International. Robert Dreyfuss notes in
The Nation, 'In looking at Podesta's center, there's no escaping the imprint of the Clintons. It's not completely wrong to see it as a shadow government, a kind of Clinton White-House-in-exile -- or a White House staff in readiness for President Hillary Clinton.' Dreyfuss notes the abundance of Clintonites on the Center's staff, among them Clinton's national security speechwriter Robert Boorstin; Democratic Leadership Council staffer and former head of Clinton's National Economic Council Gene Sperling; former senior advisor to Clinton's Office of Management and Budget Matt Miller; and others.
"In addition to the aforementioned individuals, CAP's key personnel also includes Director of Media Strategy Debbie Berger, daughter of Clinton national security chief Sandy Berger; Sarah Rosen Wartell, who serves as Senior Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, and General Counsel; Mark David Agrast, Senior Vice President for Domestic Policy; and Robert O. Boorstin, Senior Vice President for National Security and International Policy."
Since its founding, the Center has been far more involved in day to day partisan politics than in the activities normally associated with the think tank world. One of its units, a group called
Media Matters, run by former conservative and serial fabricator
David Brock, has become little more than a daily attempt to attack the credibility of anybody who appears on the Fox News Channel, conservative talk radio, or offers conservative commentary in other media venues.
So the question arises: If the Center for American Progress is in fact a Clintonian organization, why is it associating itself with a very soft dovish, and utterly unrealistic position on the Israeli Palestinian conflict? In her campaign to date for the White House, Mrs. Clinton has tried to position herself as a champion of Israel and a more reliable protector of Israel's interests than the untested Barack Obama, her principal opponent at the moment, whose political leanings may lie further to the left. When Obama told a small group in Iowa that nobody had suffered more than the Palestinians (tell that to those in Darfur, or Zaire, or Rwanda, or the Kurds, or Tibetans), that suggested a tendency to reflexively sympathize with the weaker party, or the perceived victim in a conflict, whatever the contribution that party may have made to its own suffering.
To the extent the Center for American Progress is seen as a Soros front, it is not at all surprising that it is looking for new ways to influence the debate on Israel in this country in a direction inimical to recent US policy. But to the extent it is also seen as tied to the Clintons, it may be a way for Mrs. Clinton, to signal to some on the left that she is not a captive of the right wing pro-Israel community, and will be more open minded on the subject should she be elected.
Mrs. Clinton was not viewed as very pro-Israel when she ran for the Senate in 2000 (barely winning half of the Jewish vote in a race against a political unknown, Congressman Rick Lazio), and spent much of her first term building up her bona fides with the pro-Israel community in a state where 10% of the population is Jewish. But in the current political climate surrounding the Democratic nomination fight, Mrs. Clinton is viewed by the agitated and aggressive anti-Iraq war left as having been an enthusiastic advocate for that war in 2002 and 2003.
One of the new litmus tests for anti-war advocates is to also be unsympathetic to Israel (to put it in the most delicate terms You need to see the signs at rallies or read the posts at moveon.org or dailykos.com to gauge the real hatred for Israel on the left). Many on the left would be happy if Israel disappeared. Could Mrs. Clinton, through the Center for American Progress, be signaling to the anti-war left that while she can not reverse her vote on the original Iraq war resolution, that she can create a new policy towards Israel and the Palestinians if elected?
It is hard to see how a very calculating woman, as Mrs. Clinton surely is, could put herself in a position of seeming to endorse the most naive aspirations and worldviews of the left wing Israeli and American peace camp. There are many reasons why this community has been marginalized in Israeli politics, but the biggest is that they have been consistently wrong in believing a partner for peace existed among the Palestinians. Like a subway rider who becomes a law and order enthusiast after getting mugged, many Israelis saw the second Palestinian intifada as bursting the euphoric balloon about the potential for ending the conflict in short order through negotiations. Of course, there are many in academia, and the media already
fighting hard to
shift American policy on the conflict despite strong
support for Israel in this country.
Someone should ask Mrs. Clinton if she believes the Daily Alert is a right wing broadside, and whether there is need for a new information source to get other ideas heard on the conflict. We already know what George Soros thinks on the matter.
Read the whole thing.
Labels: Center for American Progress, Hillary Clinton, Soros
