<div dir="ltr"><a href="https://theintercept.com/2016/12/04/the-smear-campaign-against-keith-ellison-is-repugnant-but-reveals-much-about-washington/">https://theintercept.com/2016/12/04/the-smear-campaign-against-keith-ellison-is-repugnant-but-reveals-much-about-washington/</a><div><br></div><div>The Smear Campaign Against Keith Ellison Is Repugnant but Reveals Much About Washington<br></div><div>Glenn Greenwald<br></div><div>The Intercept</div><div><div>December 4 2016, 7:48 a.m.</div></div><div><br></div><div><p style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:swiftneueltw01,georgia,serif;line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 1em;letter-spacing:0.01em;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-size:20px"><span style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:tiactubeta-exbold_web,tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight:700;color:rgb(17,17,17);letter-spacing:0.1em;text-transform:uppercase">EVER SINCE HE</span> announced his candidacy to lead the Democratic National Committee, Keith Ellison, the first American Muslim elected to the U.S. Congress, has been the target of a defamation campaign that is deceitful, repugnant, and yet quite predictable. At first expressed in whispers, but now being yelled from the rooftops by some of the party’s most influential figures, Ellison is being smeared as both an anti-Semite and enemy of Israel — the same smears virtually any critic of the Israeli government reflexively encounters, rendered far worse if the critic is a prominent American Muslim.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:swiftneueltw01,georgia,serif;line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 1em;letter-spacing:0.01em;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-size:20px">Three days ago, the now ironically named Anti-Defamation League <a href="http://www.adl.org/press-center/press-releases/israel-middle-east/speech-raises-new-doubts-about-Rep-Ellisons-ability.html?referrer=https://www.google.com.br/#.WEP94aIrLfY" style="box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent;outline:none;color:rgb(102,83,255);text-decoration:none">pronounced</a> Ellison’s 2010 comments about Israel “deeply disturbing and disqualifying.” Other Israel advocates <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/world-news/americas/1.756786" style="box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent;outline:none;color:rgb(102,83,255);text-decoration:none">have now joined in</a>. What are Ellison’s terrible sins? He <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/world-news/americas/1.756786" style="box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent;outline:none;color:rgb(102,83,255);text-decoration:none">said in a 2010 speech</a> that while he “wanted the U.S. to be friends with Israel,” the U.S. “can’t allow another country to treat us like we’re their ATM.”</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:swiftneueltw01,georgia,serif;line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 1em;letter-spacing:0.01em;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:swiftneueltw01,georgia,serif;letter-spacing:normal">As the </span><a href="http://www.investigativeproject.org/5713/full-audio-of-keith-ellison-remarks-at-esam#" style="box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent;outline:none;color:rgb(102,83,255);text-decoration:none;font-family:swiftneueltw01,georgia,serif;letter-spacing:normal">full speech makes clear</a><span style="font-family:swiftneueltw01,georgia,serif;letter-spacing:normal">, he was referring to the indisputable fact that while Israel continues to take billions of dollars every year from the U.S. — </span><a href="https://theintercept.com/2016/07/31/as-israel-prospers-obama-set-to-give-billions-more-in-aid-while-netanyahu-demands-more/" style="box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent;outline:none;color:rgb(102,83,255);text-decoration:none;font-family:swiftneueltw01,georgia,serif;letter-spacing:normal">far more than any other country receives in aid</a><span style="font-family:swiftneueltw01,georgia,serif;letter-spacing:normal"> — it continually disregards and violates U.S. requests to stop ongoing expansion of illegal Israeli settlements, often in ways seemingly designed to </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/10/world/middleeast/10biden.html" style="box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent;outline:none;color:rgb(102,83,255);text-decoration:none;font-family:swiftneueltw01,georgia,serif;letter-spacing:normal">impose the greatest humiliation on its benefactor</a><span style="font-family:swiftneueltw01,georgia,serif;letter-spacing:normal">:</span></p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:swiftneueltw01,georgia,serif;line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 1em;letter-spacing:0.01em;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-size:20px"></p><blockquote style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:swiftneueltw01-italic,georgia,serif;font-style:italic;margin-left:0px;padding-left:1em;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-size:20px"><p style="box-sizing:border-box;font-style:normal;font-family:swiftneueltw01,georgia,serif;line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 1em;letter-spacing:0.01em">Stop, you know why are we sending a mill — $2.8 billion dollars a year over there when they won’t even honor our request to stop building in East Jerusalem? Where is the future Palestinian state going to be if it’s colonized before it even gets up off the ground? …</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;font-style:normal;font-family:swiftneueltw01,georgia,serif;line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 1em;letter-spacing:0.01em">… Now you got Clinton, Biden, and the president who’s told them — stop. Now this has happened before. They beat back a president before. Bush 41 said — stop, and they said — we don’t want to stop, and by the way we want our money and we want it now. [Ellison laughs.] Right? You know, I mean we can’t allow, we’re Americans, right? We can’t allow another country to treat us like we’re their ATM. Right? And so we ought to stand up as Americans.</p></blockquote><p style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:swiftneueltw01,georgia,serif;line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 1em;letter-spacing:0.01em;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-size:20px">Equally sinful in the eyes of the ADL was this statement on U.S. foreign policy:</p><blockquote style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:swiftneueltw01-italic,georgia,serif;font-style:italic;margin-left:0px;padding-left:1em;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-size:20px"><p style="box-sizing:border-box;font-style:normal;font-family:swiftneueltw01,georgia,serif;line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 1em;letter-spacing:0.01em">The United States foreign policy in the Middle East is governed by what is good or bad through a country of 7 million people. A region of 350 million all turns on a country of 7 million. Does that make sense? [A male says “no.”] Is that logic? Right? When the people who, when the Americans who trace their roots back to those 350 million get involved, everything changes.</p></blockquote><p style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:swiftneueltw01,georgia,serif;line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 1em;letter-spacing:0.01em;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-size:20px">As J.J. Goldberg of The Forward <a href="http://forward.com/opinion/355950/no-the-keith-ellison-tape-isnt-anti-israel-and-shouldnt-torpedo-his-democra/" style="box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent;outline:none;color:rgb(102,83,255);text-decoration:none">noted</a>, Ellison wasn’t lamenting the insidious influence of U.S. Jews — as the ADL shamefully claimed — but rather was “plainly describing how American Muslims could have greater influence on American policy if they learned to organize.”</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:swiftneueltw01,georgia,serif;line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 1em;letter-spacing:0.01em;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-size:20px">And agree or disagree with those positions, it is an indisputable fact that Israel receives far more in U.S. aid than any other country yet continually does exactly that which numerous U.S. presidents have insisted it not do, often to the detriment of U.S. interests. And many prominent foreign policy experts — <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/news/u-s-general-israel-palestinian-conflict-foments-anti-u-s-sentiment-1.264910" style="box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent;outline:none;color:rgb(102,83,255);text-decoration:none">including David Petraeus</a> — have warned that excessive U.S. support for the worst actions of the Israeli government endangers U.S. national security by alienating Arabs in the region and fueling support for anti-American terrorism. The idea that a member of Congress is not permitted to debate these policies without being branded an anti-Semite is sheer insanity: malicious insanity at that.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:swiftneueltw01,georgia,serif;line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 1em;letter-spacing:0.01em;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-size:20px">But that insanity is par for the course in Washington, where anyone who even questions U.S. policy toward Israel is smeared in this way — from <a href="http://hotair.com/archives/2015/03/24/does-jim-bakers-position-on-israel-mean-he-should-be-drummed-out-of-the-gop/" style="box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent;outline:none;color:rgb(102,83,255);text-decoration:none">James Baker</a> to <a href="http://www.salon.com/2003/09/23/dean_israel/" style="box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent;outline:none;color:rgb(102,83,255);text-decoration:none">Howard Dean</a> to <a href="http://forward.com/opinion/333337/why-bludgeoning-bernie-sanders-on-israel-wont-help-hillary-clinton/" style="box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent;outline:none;color:rgb(102,83,255);text-decoration:none">Bernie Sanders</a> and <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/world-news/u-s-election-2016/1.720213" style="box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent;outline:none;color:rgb(102,83,255);text-decoration:none">even Donald Trump</a>. So pernicious is this framework that the U.S. Senate <a href="https://theintercept.com/2016/12/02/senate-responds-to-post-trump-anti-semitism-by-targeting-students-who-criticize-israel/" style="box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent;outline:none;color:rgb(102,83,255);text-decoration:none">just passed</a> legislation <a href="http://reason.com/blog/2016/12/01/proposed-anti-semitism-awareness-act-is" style="box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent;outline:none;color:rgb(102,83,255);text-decoration:none">expressly equating</a> what it regards as unfair criticism of the Israeli government with “anti-Semitism.” And when one is an American Muslim, ugly stereotypes and pervasive Islamophobia are added to this toxic brew to make the smears worse by many magnitudes.<span style="letter-spacing:0.01em"> </span></p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:swiftneueltw01,georgia,serif;line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 1em;letter-spacing:0.01em;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-size:20px"><span style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:tiactubeta-exbold_web,tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight:700;color:rgb(17,17,17);letter-spacing:0.1em;text-transform:uppercase">THIS SMEAR CAMPAIGN</span> against Ellison received <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/03/politics/haim-saban-keith-ellison-anti-semite/" style="box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent;outline:none;color:rgb(102,83,255);text-decoration:none">a major boost Friday night</a> when the single largest funder of both the Democratic Party and the Hillary Clinton campaign, the Israeli-American billionaire Haim Saban, said at the Brookings Institution, a part of which he funds: “If you go back to his positions, his papers, his speeches, the way he has voted, he is clearly an anti-Semite and anti-Israel individual.” Saban added: “Keith Ellison would be a disaster for the relationship between the Jewish community and the Democratic Party.”</p></div><div><div style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:swiftneueltw01,georgia,serif;font-size:20px"><p style="box-sizing:border-box;line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 1em;letter-spacing:0.01em">That Saban plays such a vital role in Democratic Party politics says a great deal. To the New York Times, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/05/business/yourmoney/schlepping-to-moguldom.html" style="box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent;outline:none;color:rgb(102,83,255);text-decoration:none">this is how he described himself</a>: “I’m a one-issue guy and my issue is Israel.” In late 2015, Ali Gharib <a href="http://forward.com/opinion/national/325490/does-hillary-clinton-have-a-haim-saban-problem/" style="box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent;outline:none;color:rgb(102,83,255);text-decoration:none">wrote in The Forward</a>: “Saban’s top priority isn’t a liberal vision of American life. It’s Israel.” When Hillary Clinton in 2015 <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jul/07/hillary-clinton-anti-israel-boycott-bds-movement" style="box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent;outline:none;color:rgb(102,83,255);text-decoration:none">condemned the boycott movement</a>aimed at ending Israeli settlements, she did it in the form of a letter <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2158218-hillary-clintons-letter-to-haim-saban-against-bds.html" style="box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent;outline:none;color:rgb(102,83,255);text-decoration:none">addressed personally to Saban</a>.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 1em;letter-spacing:0.01em">The Democratic Party’s central reliance on billionaire funders like Saban is a key reason that debates over Israel policy are not permitted within the party. It’s why any attempt to raise such issues will prompt systematic campaigns of reputation destruction like the one we’re witnessing with Ellison.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 1em;letter-spacing:0.01em">To get a sense for just how prohibited the most benign and basic debates are when it comes to Israel, consider the quotes from Ellison’s college days <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2016/12/01/politics/kfile-keith-ellison-nation-of-islam/index.html" style="box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent;outline:none;color:rgb(102,83,255);text-decoration:none">dug up by CNN as supposedly incriminating</a>. In 1990, while a law student at the University of Minnesota, Ellison blasted the university president for condemning a speaking event featuring the anti-Zionist civil rights icon Kwame Ture (also known as Stokely Carmichael); Ellison’s argument was that all ideas, including Zionism, should be regarded as debatable in a college environment:</p><blockquote style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:swiftneueltw01-italic,georgia,serif;font-style:italic;margin-left:0px;padding-left:1em"><p style="box-sizing:border-box;font-style:normal;font-family:swiftneueltw01,georgia,serif;line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 1em;letter-spacing:0.01em">The University’s position appears to be this: Political Zionism is off-limits no matter what dubious circumstances Israel was founded under; no matter what the Zionists do to the Palestinians; and no matter what wicked regimes Israel allies itself with — like South Africa. This position is untenable.</p></blockquote><p style="box-sizing:border-box;line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 1em;letter-spacing:0.01em">In other words, Ellison — 26 years ago, while a student — simply argued that college campuses should not be deemed “safe spaces” in which debates over Israel are barred: an utterly mainstream view when the topic to be debated is something other than Israel.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 1em;letter-spacing:0.01em">Leave aside the bizarre attempt to use someone’s college-aged political activism against them three decades later. As my colleague Zaid Jilani <a href="https://theintercept.com/2016/12/01/potential-dnc-leader-keith-ellisons-controversial-law-school-columns-show-anger-not-bigotry/" style="box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent;outline:none;color:rgb(102,83,255);text-decoration:none">very ably documented several days ago</a>, even the most inflammatory of Ellison’s campus statements — including his long-ago-renounced praise for the Nation of Islam — were grounded in righteous opposition to “white supremacy and the policies of the state of Israel” and “show him expressing sympathy for the plight of underprivileged whites and making clear that he was not antagonistic toward Jewish people.” Writing about the smear campaign circulating on the internet against Ellison, The Forward’s Goldberg said he found “the evidence to be either frivolous, distorted or simply false.”</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 1em;letter-spacing:0.01em">As CNN itself acknowledged when digging up these old Ellison quotes: “None of the records reviewed found examples of Ellison making any anti-Semitic comments himself.” How is that, by itself, not the end of the controversy?</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 1em;letter-spacing:0.01em"> </p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 1em;letter-spacing:0.01em"><span style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:tiactubeta-exbold_web,tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight:700;color:rgb(17,17,17);letter-spacing:0.1em;text-transform:uppercase">THE REASON WHY</span> it isn’t is a glaring irony. With the advent of Donald Trump and policies such as banning all Muslims from the country, Democrats this year <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/videos/politics/2016/01/26/iowa-democratic-town-hall-clinton-islamophobia-16.cnn" style="box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent;outline:none;color:rgb(102,83,255);text-decoration:none">incorporated anti-Islamophobia rhetoric into their repertoire</a>. Yet what is being done to Ellison by the ADL, Saban, and others is Islamophobia in its purest and most classic form.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 1em;letter-spacing:0.01em">Faiz Shakir is a senior adviser to Harry Reid who previously worked for Nancy Pelosi and the ThinkProgress blog at the Center for American Progress. He explains, from personal experience, that the vile treatment to which Ellison is now being subjected is common for American Muslims in political life:</p></div><div class="gmail-Tweet" style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:swiftneueltw01,georgia,serif;font-size:20px"><span class="gmail-twitter-tweet gmail-twitter-tweet-rendered" id="gmail-twitter-widget-0" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;max-width:100%;width:500px;min-width:220px;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px"><div class="gmail-SandboxRoot env-bp-350" style="direction:ltr;background-image:initial;background-position:0px 0px;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;background-color:initial;font-stretch:normal;font-size:16px;line-height:1.4;font-family:helvetica,roboto,"segoe ui",calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(28,32,34);white-space:initial"><div class="gmail-EmbeddedTweet gmail-js-clickToOpenTarget" id="gmail-twitter-widget-0" lang="en" style="overflow:hidden;border:1px solid rgb(225,232,237);border-radius:4px;max-width:520px"><div class="gmail-EmbeddedTweet-tweet" style="padding:20px 20px 11.6px"><blockquote class="gmail-Tweet gmail-h-entry gmail-js-tweetIdInfo gmail-subject expanded gmail-is-deciderHtmlWhitespace" cite="https://twitter.com/fshakir/status/805117375100125184" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;list-style:none;border:none"><div class="gmail-Tweet-header gmail-u-cf" style="padding-left:45px;white-space:nowrap"><div class="gmail-Tweet-brand gmail-u-floatRight" style="float:right"><span class="gmail-u-hiddenInNarrowEnv"><a class="gmail-FollowButton gmail-follow-button gmail-profile" href="https://twitter.com/fshakir" title="Follow Faiz on Twitter" style="color:rgb(85,172,238);text-decoration:none;outline:0px;display:inline-block;padding:5.5px 13px 6.5px 11.5px;font-size:14px;font-weight:700;line-height:1;border:1px solid rgb(85,172,238);border-radius:4px"><span class="gmail-FollowButton-bird" style="display:inline-block"><div class="gmail-Icon gmail-Icon--twitter" title="" style="display:inline-block;height:1.25em;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-size:contain;vertical-align:text-bottom;width:1.25em"></div></span> Follow</a></span></div><div class="gmail-TweetAuthor" style="margin-top:2px;line-height:0;max-width:100%;overflow:hidden;text-overflow:ellipsis;word-wrap:normal"><a class="gmail-TweetAuthor-link gmail-Identity gmail-u-linkBlend" href="https://twitter.com/fshakir" style="background-color:transparent;color:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;outline:0px;line-height:1.2;font-weight:inherit"><span class="gmail-TweetAuthor-avatar gmail-Identity-avatar" style="display:inline-block;width:36px;height:36px;overflow:hidden;background-color:transparent;border-radius:4px"><img class="gmail-Avatar" alt="" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/58845381/thumb-pic-1142_normal.jpg" style="border: 0px; max-width: 100%; max-height: 100%;"></span><span class="gmail-TweetAuthor-name gmail-Identity-name gmail-customisable-highlight" title="Faiz" style="font-weight:700">Faiz</span> <span class="gmail-TweetAuthor-screenName gmail-Identity-screenName" title="@fshakir" dir="ltr" style="color:rgb(105,120,130);font-size:14px">@fshakir</span></a></div></div><div class="gmail-Tweet-body gmail-e-entry-content" style="margin-top:14px"><p class="gmail-Tweet-text gmail-e-entry-title" lang="en" dir="ltr" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;list-style:none;border:none;direction:ltr">Keith Ellison is being smeared like so many before him. If you're Muslim in public life or even sympathetic to Muslim concerns, watch out!</p><div class="gmail-Tweet-metadata gmail-dateline" style="font-size:14px;color:rgb(105,120,130);margin-top:3.2px"><a class="gmail-u-linkBlend gmail-u-url gmail-customisable-highlight gmail-long-permalink" href="https://twitter.com/fshakir/status/805117375100125184" style="background-color:transparent;color:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;outline:0px;font-weight:inherit">12:31 PM - 3 Dec 2016</a></div><ul class="gmail-Tweet-actions" style="margin:8.4px 0px 0px;padding:0px;list-style:none;border:none"><li class="gmail-Tweet-action" style="display:inline-block"><a class="gmail-TweetAction gmail-TweetAction--reply gmail-web-intent" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?in_reply_to=805117375100125184" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(105,120,130);text-decoration:none;outline:0px"><div class="gmail-Icon gmail-Icon--reply gmail-TweetAction-icon" title="Reply" style="display:inline-block;height:1.25em;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-size:contain;vertical-align:text-bottom;width:1.07639em"></div></a></li> <li class="gmail-Tweet-action" style="display:inline-block;margin-left:14px"><a class="gmail-TweetAction gmail-TweetAction--retweet gmail-web-intent" href="https://twitter.com/intent/retweet?tweet_id=805117375100125184" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(105,120,130);text-decoration:none;outline:0px"><div class="gmail-Icon gmail-Icon--retweet gmail-TweetAction-icon" title="Retweet" style="display:inline-block;height:1.25em;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-size:contain;vertical-align:text-bottom;width:1.28472em"></div> <span class="gmail-TweetAction-stat" style="display:inline-block;font-size:14px;vertical-align:text-bottom">192</span><span class="gmail-u-hiddenVisually" style="overflow:hidden;width:1px;height:1px;padding:0px;border:0px">192 Retweets</span></a></li> <li class="gmail-Tweet-action" style="display:inline-block;margin-left:14px"><a class="gmail-TweetAction gmail-TweetAction--heart gmail-web-intent" href="https://twitter.com/intent/like?tweet_id=805117375100125184" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(105,120,130);text-decoration:none;outline:0px"><div class="gmail-Icon gmail-Icon--heart gmail-TweetAction-icon" title="Like" style="display:inline-block;height:1.25em;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-size:contain;vertical-align:text-bottom;width:0.9375em"></div> <span class="gmail-TweetAction-stat" style="display:inline-block;font-size:14px;vertical-align:text-bottom">357</span><span class="gmail-u-hiddenVisually" style="overflow:hidden;width:1px;height:1px;padding:0px;border:0px">357 likes</span></a></li></ul></div></blockquote></div></div><div class="gmail-resize-sensor" style="overflow:hidden"><div class="gmail-resize-sensor-expand" style="overflow:hidden"><div style="width:510px;height:216px"></div></div><div class="gmail-resize-sensor-shrink" style="overflow:hidden"><div style="width:1000px;height:412.344px"></div></div></div></div></span></div><div style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:swiftneueltw01,georgia,serif;font-size:20px"><p style="box-sizing:border-box;line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 1em;letter-spacing:0.01em"></p></div><div class="gmail-Tweet" style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:swiftneueltw01,georgia,serif;font-size:20px"><span class="gmail-twitter-tweet gmail-tw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ghlight" title="Faiz" style="font-weight:700">Faiz</span> <span class="gmail-TweetAuthor-screenName gmail-Identity-screenName" title="@fshakir" dir="ltr" style="color:rgb(105,120,130);font-size:14px">@fshakir</span></a></div></div><div class="gmail-Tweet-body gmail-e-entry-content" style="margin-top:14px"><p class="gmail-Tweet-text gmail-e-entry-title" lang="en" dir="ltr" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;list-style:none;border:none;direction:ltr">I was literally called a terrorist by a right-wing publication when I joined @NanyPelosi's office. <a href="https://t.co/pf5ChX1nyE" rel="nofollow" dir="ltr" class="gmail-link gmail-customisable" target="_blank" title="http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/133189/nancy-pelosi-hires-former-terrorist-fundraiser-daniel-greenfield" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(43,123,185);text-decoration:none;outline:0px"><span class="gmail-u-hiddenVisually" style="overflow:hidden;width:1px;height:1px;padding:0px;border:0px">http://www.</span>frontpagemag.com/fpm/133189/nan<span class="gmail-u-hiddenVisually" style="overflow:hidden;width:1px;height:1px;padding:0px;border:0px">cy-pelosi-hires-former-terrorist-fundraiser-daniel-greenfield </span>…</a></p><div class="gmail-Tweet-metadata gmail-dateline" style="font-size:14px;color:rgb(105,120,130);margin-top:3.2px"><a class="gmail-u-linkBlend gmail-u-url gmail-customisable-highlight gmail-long-permalink" href="https://twitter.com/fshakir/status/805117521808556032" style="background-color:transparent;color:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;outline:0px;font-weight:inherit">12:32 PM - 3 Dec 2016</a></div><div class="gmail-Tweet-card" style="margin-top:10.4px;font-size:14px"><div class="gmail-PrerenderedCard gmail-is-loaded gmail-is-constrainedByMaxWidth" style="height:auto;width:458px;overflow:hidden"><div class="gmail-TwitterCardsGrid gmail-TwitterCard" style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;background-color:transparent;color:inherit;overflow:hidden"><div class="gmail-TwitterCardsGrid-col--12 gmail-TwitterCardsGrid-col--spacerBottom gmail-CardContent" style="float:left;width:458px;clear:both;margin-bottom:0.32333em"><a class="gmail-js-openLink gmail-u-block gmail-TwitterCardsGrid-col--12 gmail-TwitterCard-container gmail-TwitterCard-container--clickable gmail-SummaryCard--small gmail-SummaryCard--noImage" href="https://t.co/pf5ChX1nyE" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(43,123,185);text-decoration:none;outline:0px;border-radius:0.42857em;border-width:1px;border-style:solid;border-color:rgb(225,232,237);box-sizing:border-box;overflow:hidden;float:left;width:458px;clear:both;display:block"><div class="gmail-SummaryCard-image gmail-TwitterCardsGrid-float--prev" style="float:left;background-color:rgb(225,232,237);border-style:solid;border-color:inherit;border-width:0px 1px 0px 0px;width:8.81667em"><div class="gmail-tcu-imageContainer gmail-tcu-imageAspect--1to1" style="width:123.422px;overflow:hidden"><div class="gmail-tcu-imageWrapper" style="background-size:3em;background-position:50% 50%;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-image:url("//ton.twimg.com/tfw/assets/link_v1_e64f66f5650df987d97cc5f00c4cb5987f367028.svg")"></div></div></div><div class="gmail-SummaryCard-contentContainer gmail-TwitterCardsGrid-float--prev" style="float:left"><div class="gmail-SummaryCard-content" style="padding:0.75em;box-sizing:border-box"><h2 class="gmail-TwitterCard-title gmail-js-cardClick gmail-tcu-textEllipse--multiline" style="margin:0px 0px 0.15em;padding:0px;list-style:none;border:none;font-size:1em;overflow:hidden;max-height:1.3em;white-space:nowrap;text-overflow:ellipsis">Nancy Pelosi Hires Former Terrorist Fundraiser</h2><p class="gmail-tcu-resetMargin gmail-u-block gmail-TwitterCardsGrid-col--spacerTop gmail-tcu-textEllipse--multiline" style="margin:0.32333em 0px 0px;padding:0px;list-style:none;border:none;overflow:hidden;max-height:3.9em">What Faiz Shakir's powerful new post says about Democratic Party anti-Semitism.</p><span class="gmail-u-block gmail-TwitterCardsGrid-col--spacerTop gmail-SummaryCard-destination" style="margin-top:0.32333em;text-transform:lowercase;color:rgb(136,153,166);max-height:1.3em;white-space:nowrap;overflow:hidden;text-overflow:ellipsis;display:block">frontpagemag.com</span></div></div></a></div></div></div></div><ul class="gmail-Tweet-actions" style="margin:8.4px 0px 0px;padding:0px;list-style:none;border:none"><li class="gmail-Tweet-action" style="display:inline-block"><a class="gmail-TweetAction gmail-TweetAction--reply gmail-web-intent" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?in_reply_to=805117521808556032" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(105,120,130);text-decoration:none;outline:0px"><div class="gmail-Icon gmail-Icon--reply gmail-TweetAction-icon" title="Reply" style="display:inline-block;height:1.25em;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-size:contain;vertical-align:text-bottom;width:1.07639em"></div></a></li> <li class="gmail-Tweet-action" style="display:inline-block;margin-left:14px"><a class="gmail-TweetAction gmail-TweetAction--retweet gmail-web-intent" href="https://twitter.com/intent/retweet?tweet_id=805117521808556032" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(105,120,130);text-decoration:none;outline:0px"><div class="gmail-Icon gmail-Icon--retweet gmail-TweetAction-icon" title="Retweet" style="display:inline-block;height:1.25em;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-size:contain;vertical-align:text-bottom;width:1.28472em"></div> <span class="gmail-TweetAction-stat" style="display:inline-block;font-size:14px;vertical-align:text-bottom">51</span><span class="gmail-u-hiddenVisually" style="overflow:hidden;width:1px;height:1px;padding:0px;border:0px">51 Retweets</span></a></li> <li class="gmail-Tweet-action" style="display:inline-block;margin-left:14px"><a class="gmail-TweetAction gmail-TweetAction--heart gmail-web-intent" href="https://twitter.com/intent/like?tweet_id=805117521808556032" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(105,120,130);text-decoration:none;outline:0px"><div class="gmail-Icon gmail-Icon--heart gmail-TweetAction-icon" title="Like" style="display:inline-block;height:1.25em;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-size:contain;vertical-align:text-bottom;width:0.9375em"></div> <span class="gmail-TweetAction-stat" style="display:inline-block;font-size:14px;vertical-align:text-bottom">63</span><span class="gmail-u-hiddenVisually" style="overflow:hidden;width:1px;height:1px;padding:0px;border:0px">63 likes</span></a></li></ul></div></blockquote></div></div><div class="gmail-resize-sensor" style="overflow:hidden"><div class="gmail-resize-sensor-expand" style="overflow:hidden"><div style="width:510px;height:470px"></div></div><div class="gmail-resize-sensor-shrink" style="overflow:hidden"><div style="width:1000px;height:920.188px"></div></div></div></div></span></div><div style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:swiftneueltw01,georgia,serif;font-size:20px"><p style="box-sizing:border-box;line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 1em;letter-spacing:0.01em"></p></div><div class="gmail-Tweet" style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:swiftneueltw01,georgia,serif;font-size:20px"><span class="gmail-twitter-tweet gmail-twitter-tweet-rendered" id="gmail-twitter-widget-2" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;max-width:100%;width:500px;min-width:220px;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px"><div class="gmail-SandboxRoot env-bp-350" style="direction:ltr;background-image:initial;background-position:0px 0px;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;background-color:initial;font-stretch:normal;font-size:16px;line-height:1.4;font-family:helvetica,roboto,"segoe ui",calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(28,32,34);white-space:initial"><div class="gmail-EmbeddedTweet gmail-js-clickToOpenTarget" id="gmail-twitter-widget-2" lang="en" style="overflow:hidden;border:1px solid rgb(225,232,237);border-radius:4px;max-width:520px"><div class="gmail-EmbeddedTweet-ancestor" style="padding:20px 20px 17.6px;background-color:rgb(245,248,250)"><blockquote class="gmail-Tweet gmail-Tweet--compact gmail-h-entry gmail-reply gmail-js-tweetIdInfo gmail-is-deciderHtmlWhitespace" cite="https://twitter.com/fshakir/status/805117521808556032" style="margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 0px 45px;list-style:none;border:none;font-size:14px"><div class="gmail-Tweet-header gmail-u-cf" style="padding-left:0px;white-space:nowrap"><div class="gmail-Tweet-metadata gmail-u-floatRight" style="color:rgb(105,120,130);margin-bottom:0px;line-height:inherit;float:right"><a class="gmail-u-linkBlend gmail-u-url gmail-permalink gmail-customisable-highlight" href="https://twitter.com/fshakir/status/805117521808556032" style="background-color:transparent;color:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;outline:0px;font-weight:inherit">3 Dec</a></div><div class="gmail-TweetAuthor gmail-TweetAuthor--oneLine" style="margin-top:0px;line-height:0;max-width:100%;overflow:hidden;text-overflow:ellipsis;word-wrap:normal"><a class="gmail-TweetAuthor-link gmail-Identity gmail-u-linkBlend" href="https://twitter.com/fshakir" style="background-color:transparent;color:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;outline:0px;line-height:1.2;font-weight:inherit"><span class="gmail-TweetAuthor-avatar gmail-Identity-avatar" style="display:inline-block;width:36px;height:36px;overflow:hidden;background-color:transparent;border-radius:4px"><img class="gmail-Avatar" alt="" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/58845381/thumb-pic-1142_normal.jpg" style="border: 0px; max-width: 100%; max-height: 100%;"></span><span class="gmail-TweetAuthor-name gmail-Identity-name gmail-customisable-highlight" title="Faiz" style="font-weight:700">Faiz</span> <span class="gmail-TweetAuthor-screenName gmail-Identity-screenName" title="@fshakir" dir="ltr" style="color:rgb(105,120,130);font-size:13px">@fshakir</span></a></div></div><div class="gmail-Tweet-body gmail-e-entry-content" style="margin-top:0px"><p class="gmail-Tweet-text gmail-e-entry-title" lang="en" dir="ltr" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;list-style:none;border:none;direction:ltr">I was literally called a terrorist by a right-wing publication when I joined @NanyPelosi's office. <a href="https://t.co/pf5ChX1nyE" rel="nofollow" dir="ltr" class="gmail-link gmail-customisable" target="_blank" title="http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/133189/nancy-pelosi-hires-former-terrorist-fundraiser-daniel-greenfield" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(43,123,185);text-decoration:none;outline:0px"><span class="gmail-u-hiddenVisually" style="overflow:hidden;width:1px;height:1px;padding:0px;border:0px">http://www.</span>frontpagemag.com/fpm/133189/nan<span class="gmail-u-hiddenVisually" style="overflow:hidden;width:1px;height:1px;padding:0px;border:0px">cy-pelosi-hires-former-terrorist-fundraiser-daniel-greenfield </span>…</a></p></div></blockquote></div><div class="gmail-EmbeddedTweet-tweet" style="padding:20px 20px 11.6px"><blockquote class="gmail-Tweet gmail-h-entry gmail-js-tweetIdInfo gmail-subject expanded gmail-is-deciderHtmlWhitespace" cite="https://twitter.com/fshakir/status/805117654348480512" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;list-style:none;border:none"><div class="gmail-Tweet-header gmail-u-cf" style="padding-left:45px;white-space:nowrap"><div class="gmail-Tweet-brand gmail-u-floatRight" style="float:right"><span class="gmail-u-hiddenInNarrowEnv"><a class="gmail-FollowButton gmail-follow-button gmail-profile" href="https://twitter.com/fshakir" title="Follow Faiz on Twitter" style="color:rgb(85,172,238);text-decoration:none;outline:0px;display:inline-block;padding:5.5px 13px 6.5px 11.5px;font-size:14px;font-weight:700;line-height:1;border:1px solid rgb(85,172,238);border-radius:4px"><span class="gmail-FollowButton-bird" style="display:inline-block"><div class="gmail-Icon gmail-Icon--twitter" title="" style="display:inline-block;height:1.25em;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-size:contain;vertical-align:text-bottom;width:1.25em"></div></span> Follow</a></span></div><div class="gmail-TweetAuthor" style="margin-top:2px;line-height:0;max-width:100%;overflow:hidden;text-overflow:ellipsis;word-wrap:normal"><a class="gmail-TweetAuthor-link gmail-Identity gmail-u-linkBlend" href="https://twitter.com/fshakir" style="background-color:transparent;color:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;outline:0px;line-height:1.2;font-weight:inherit"><span class="gmail-TweetAuthor-avatar gmail-Identity-avatar" style="display:inline-block;width:36px;height:36px;overflow:hidden;background-color:transparent;border-radius:4px"><img class="gmail-Avatar" alt="" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/58845381/thumb-pic-1142_normal.jpg" style="border: 0px; max-width: 100%; max-height: 100%;"></span><span class="gmail-TweetAuthor-name gmail-Identity-name gmail-customisable-highlight" title="Faiz" style="font-weight:700">Faiz</span> <span class="gmail-TweetAuthor-screenName gmail-Identity-screenName" title="@fshakir" dir="ltr" style="color:rgb(105,120,130);font-size:14px">@fshakir</span></a></div></div><div class="gmail-Tweet-body gmail-e-entry-content" style="margin-top:14px"><p class="gmail-Tweet-text gmail-e-entry-title" lang="en" dir="ltr" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;list-style:none;border:none;direction:ltr">At <a href="https://twitter.com/thinkprogress" class="gmail-PrettyLink gmail-profile gmail-customisable gmail-h-card" dir="ltr" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(43,123,185);text-decoration:none;outline:0px"><span class="gmail-PrettyLink-prefix">@</span><span class="gmail-PrettyLink-value">thinkprogress</span></a>, we were absurdly labeled anti-Semitic because we supported Obama admin stances. That cheapens "anti-semitic" charge</p><div class="gmail-Tweet-metadata gmail-dateline" style="font-size:14px;color:rgb(105,120,130);margin-top:3.2px"><a class="gmail-u-linkBlend gmail-u-url gmail-customisable-highlight gmail-long-permalink" href="https://twitter.com/fshakir/status/805117654348480512" style="background-color:transparent;color:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;outline:0px;font-weight:inherit">12:33 PM - 3 Dec 2016</a></div><ul class="gmail-Tweet-actions" style="margin:8.4px 0px 0px;padding:0px;list-style:none;border:none"><li class="gmail-Tweet-action" style="display:inline-block"><a class="gmail-TweetAction gmail-TweetAction--reply gmail-web-intent" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?in_reply_to=805117654348480512" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(105,120,130);text-decoration:none;outline:0px"><div class="gmail-Icon gmail-Icon--reply gmail-TweetAction-icon" title="Reply" style="display:inline-block;height:1.25em;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-size:contain;vertical-align:text-bottom;width:1.07639em"></div></a></li> <li class="gmail-Tweet-action" style="display:inline-block;margin-left:14px"><a class="gmail-TweetAction gmail-TweetAction--retweet gmail-web-intent" href="https://twitter.com/intent/retweet?tweet_id=805117654348480512" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(105,120,130);text-decoration:none;outline:0px"><div class="gmail-Icon gmail-Icon--retweet gmail-TweetAction-icon" title="Retweet" style="display:inline-block;height:1.25em;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-size:contain;vertical-align:text-bottom;width:1.28472em"></div> <span class="gmail-TweetAction-stat" style="display:inline-block;font-size:14px;vertical-align:text-bottom">17</span><span class="gmail-u-hiddenVisually" style="overflow:hidden;width:1px;height:1px;padding:0px;border:0px">17 Retweets</span></a></li> <li class="gmail-Tweet-action" style="display:inline-block;margin-left:14px"><a class="gmail-TweetAction gmail-TweetAction--heart gmail-web-intent" href="https://twitter.com/intent/like?tweet_id=805117654348480512" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(105,120,130);text-decoration:none;outline:0px"><div class="gmail-Icon gmail-Icon--heart gmail-TweetAction-icon" title="Like" style="display:inline-block;height:1.25em;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-size:contain;vertical-align:text-bottom;width:0.9375em"></div> <span class="gmail-TweetAction-stat" style="display:inline-block;font-size:14px;vertical-align:text-bottom">33</span><span class="gmail-u-hiddenVisually" style="overflow:hidden;width:1px;height:1px;padding:0px;border:0px">33 likes</span></a></li></ul></div></blockquote></div></div><div class="gmail-resize-sensor" style="overflow:hidden"><div class="gmail-resize-sensor-expand" style="overflow:hidden"><div style="width:510px;height:330px"></div></div><div class="gmail-resize-sensor-shrink" style="overflow:hidden"><div style="width:1000px;height:639.531px"></div></div></div></div></span></div><div style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:swiftneueltw01,georgia,serif;font-size:20px"><p style="box-sizing:border-box;line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 1em;letter-spacing:0.01em"></p></div><div class="gmail-Tweet" style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:swiftneueltw01,georgia,serif;font-size:20px"><span class="gmail-twitter-tweet gmail-twitter-tweet-rendered" id="gmail-twitter-widget-3" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;max-width:100%;width:500px;min-width:220px;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px"><div class="gmail-SandboxRoot env-bp-350" style="direction:ltr;background-image:initial;background-position:0px 0px;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;background-color:initial;font-stretch:normal;font-size:16px;line-height:1.4;font-family:helvetica,roboto,"segoe ui",calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(28,32,34);white-space:initial"><div class="gmail-EmbeddedTweet gmail-js-clickToOpenTarget" id="gmail-twitter-widget-3" lang="en" style="overflow:hidden;border:1px solid rgb(225,232,237);border-radius:4px;max-width:520px"><div class="gmail-EmbeddedTweet-ancestor" style="padding:20px 20px 17.6px;background-color:rgb(245,248,250)"><blockquote class="gmail-Tweet gmail-Tweet--compact gmail-h-entry gmail-reply gmail-js-tweetIdInfo gmail-is-deciderHtmlWhitespace" cite="https://twitter.com/fshakir/status/805117654348480512" style="margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 0px 45px;list-style:none;border:none;font-size:14px"><div class="gmail-Tweet-header gmail-u-cf" style="padding-left:0px;white-space:nowrap"><div class="gmail-Tweet-metadata gmail-u-floatRight" style="color:rgb(105,120,130);margin-bottom:0px;line-height:inherit;float:right"><a class="gmail-u-linkBlend gmail-u-url gmail-permalink gmail-customisable-highlight" href="https://twitter.com/fshakir/status/805117654348480512" style="background-color:transparent;color:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;outline:0px;font-weight:inherit">3 Dec</a></div><div class="gmail-TweetAuthor gmail-TweetAuthor--oneLine" style="margin-top:0px;line-height:0;max-width:100%;overflow:hidden;text-overflow:ellipsis;word-wrap:normal"><a class="gmail-TweetAuthor-link gmail-Identity gmail-u-linkBlend" href="https://twitter.com/fshakir" style="background-color:transparent;color:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;outline:0px;line-height:1.2;font-weight:inherit"><span class="gmail-TweetAuthor-avatar gmail-Identity-avatar" style="display:inline-block;width:36px;height:36px;overflow:hidden;background-color:transparent;border-radius:4px"><img class="gmail-Avatar" alt="" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/58845381/thumb-pic-1142_normal.jpg" style="border: 0px; max-width: 100%; max-height: 100%;"></span><span class="gmail-TweetAuthor-name gmail-Identity-name gmail-customisable-highlight" title="Faiz" style="font-weight:700">Faiz</span> <span class="gmail-TweetAuthor-screenName gmail-Identity-screenName" title="@fshakir" dir="ltr" style="color:rgb(105,120,130);font-size:13px">@fshakir</span></a></div></div><div class="gmail-Tweet-body gmail-e-entry-content" style="margin-top:0px"><p class="gmail-Tweet-text gmail-e-entry-title" lang="en" dir="ltr" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;list-style:none;border:none;direction:ltr">At <a href="https://twitter.com/thinkprogress" class="gmail-PrettyLink gmail-profile gmail-customisable gmail-h-card" dir="ltr" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(43,123,185);text-decoration:none;outline:0px"><span class="gmail-PrettyLink-prefix">@</span><span class="gmail-PrettyLink-value">thinkprogress</span></a>, we were absurdly labeled anti-Semitic because we supported Obama admin stances. That cheapens "anti-semitic" charge</p></div></blockquote></div><div class="gmail-EmbeddedTweet-tweet" style="padding:20px 20px 11.6px"><blockquote class="gmail-Tweet gmail-h-entry gmail-js-tweetIdInfo gmail-subject expanded gmail-is-deciderHtmlWhitespace" cite="https://twitter.com/fshakir/status/805117845751427072" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;list-style:none;border:none"><div class="gmail-Tweet-header gmail-u-cf" style="padding-left:45px;white-space:nowrap"><div class="gmail-Tweet-brand gmail-u-floatRight" style="float:right"><span class="gmail-u-hiddenInNarrowEnv"><a class="gmail-FollowButton gmail-follow-button gmail-profile" href="https://twitter.com/fshakir" title="Follow Faiz on Twitter" style="color:rgb(85,172,238);text-decoration:none;outline:0px;display:inline-block;padding:5.5px 13px 6.5px 11.5px;font-size:14px;font-weight:700;line-height:1;border:1px solid rgb(85,172,238);border-radius:4px"><span class="gmail-FollowButton-bird" style="display:inline-block"><div class="gmail-Icon gmail-Icon--twitter" title="" style="display:inline-block;height:1.25em;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-size:contain;vertical-align:text-bottom;width:1.25em"></div></span> Follow</a></span></div><div class="gmail-TweetAuthor" style="margin-top:2px;line-height:0;max-width:100%;overflow:hidden;text-overflow:ellipsis;word-wrap:normal"><a class="gmail-TweetAuthor-link gmail-Identity gmail-u-linkBlend" href="https://twitter.com/fshakir" style="background-color:transparent;color:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;outline:0px;line-height:1.2;font-weight:inherit"><span class="gmail-TweetAuthor-avatar gmail-Identity-avatar" style="display:inline-block;width:36px;height:36px;overflow:hidden;background-color:transparent;border-radius:4px"><img class="gmail-Avatar" alt="" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/58845381/thumb-pic-1142_normal.jpg" style="border: 0px; max-width: 100%; max-height: 100%;"></span><span class="gmail-TweetAuthor-name gmail-Identity-name gmail-customisable-highlight" title="Faiz" style="font-weight:700">Faiz</span> <span class="gmail-TweetAuthor-screenName gmail-Identity-screenName" title="@fshakir" dir="ltr" style="color:rgb(105,120,130);font-size:14px">@fshakir</span></a></div></div><div class="gmail-Tweet-body gmail-e-entry-content" style="margin-top:14px"><p class="gmail-Tweet-text gmail-e-entry-title" lang="en" dir="ltr" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;list-style:none;border:none;direction:ltr">Just Google what Frank Gaffney was saying about Suhail Khan and Faisal Gill in the Bush White House.</p><div class="gmail-Tweet-metadata gmail-dateline" style="font-size:14px;color:rgb(105,120,130);margin-top:3.2px"><a class="gmail-u-linkBlend gmail-u-url gmail-customisable-highlight gmail-long-permalink" href="https://twitter.com/fshakir/status/805117845751427072" style="background-color:transparent;color:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;outline:0px;font-weight:inherit">12:33 PM - 3 Dec 2016</a></div><ul class="gmail-Tweet-actions" style="margin:8.4px 0px 0px;padding:0px;list-style:none;border:none"><li class="gmail-Tweet-action" style="display:inline-block"><a class="gmail-TweetAction gmail-TweetAction--reply gmail-web-intent" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?in_reply_to=805117845751427072" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(105,120,130);text-decoration:none;outline:0px"><div class="gmail-Icon gmail-Icon--reply gmail-TweetAction-icon" title="Reply" style="display:inline-block;height:1.25em;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-size:contain;vertical-align:text-bottom;width:1.07639em"></div></a></li> <li class="gmail-Tweet-action" style="display:inline-block;margin-left:14px"><a class="gmail-TweetAction gmail-TweetAction--retweet gmail-web-intent" href="https://twitter.com/intent/retweet?tweet_id=805117845751427072" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(105,120,130);text-decoration:none;outline:0px"><div class="gmail-Icon gmail-Icon--retweet gmail-TweetAction-icon" title="Retweet" style="display:inline-block;height:1.25em;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-size:contain;vertical-align:text-bottom;width:1.28472em"></div> <span class="gmail-TweetAction-stat" style="display:inline-block;font-size:14px;vertical-align:text-bottom">13</span><span class="gmail-u-hiddenVisually" style="overflow:hidden;width:1px;height:1px;padding:0px;border:0px">13 Retweets</span></a></li> <li class="gmail-Tweet-action" style="display:inline-block;margin-left:14px"><a class="gmail-TweetAction gmail-TweetAction--heart gmail-we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shakir" title="Follow Faiz on Twitter" style="color:rgb(85,172,238);text-decoration:none;outline:0px;display:inline-block;padding:5.5px 13px 6.5px 11.5px;font-size:14px;font-weight:700;line-height:1;border:1px solid rgb(85,172,238);border-radius:4px"><span class="gmail-FollowButton-bird" style="display:inline-block"><div class="gmail-Icon gmail-Icon--twitter" title="" style="display:inline-block;height:1.25em;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-size:contain;vertical-align:text-bottom;width:1.25em"></div></span> Follow</a></span></div><div class="gmail-TweetAuthor" style="margin-top:2px;line-height:0;max-width:100%;overflow:hidden;text-overflow:ellipsis;word-wrap:normal"><a class="gmail-TweetAuthor-link gmail-Identity gmail-u-linkBlend" href="https://twitter.com/fshakir" style="background-color:transparent;color:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;outline:0px;line-height:1.2;font-weight:inherit"><span class="gmail-TweetAuthor-avatar gmail-Identity-avatar" style="display:inline-block;width:36px;height:36px;overflow:hidden;background-color:transparent;border-radius:4px"><img class="gmail-Avatar" alt="" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/58845381/thumb-pic-1142_normal.jpg" style="border: 0px; max-width: 100%; max-height: 100%;"></span><span class="gmail-TweetAuthor-name gmail-Identity-name gmail-customisable-highlight" title="Faiz" style="font-weight:700">Faiz</span> <span class="gmail-TweetAuthor-screenName gmail-Identity-screenName" title="@fshakir" dir="ltr" style="color:rgb(105,120,130);font-size:14px">@fshakir</span></a></div></div><div class="gmail-Tweet-body gmail-e-entry-content" style="margin-top:14px"><p class="gmail-Tweet-text gmail-e-entry-title" lang="en" dir="ltr" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;list-style:none;border:none;direction:ltr">See how even <a href="https://twitter.com/GroverNorquist" class="gmail-PrettyLink gmail-profile gmail-customisable gmail-h-card" dir="ltr" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(43,123,185);text-decoration:none;outline:0px"><span class="gmail-PrettyLink-prefix">@</span><span class="gmail-PrettyLink-value">GroverNorquist</span></a> has been unfairly treated by right-wing smear agents because of who he's married to.</p><div class="gmail-Tweet-metadata gmail-dateline" style="font-size:14px;color:rgb(105,120,130);margin-top:3.2px"><a class="gmail-u-linkBlend gmail-u-url gmail-customisable-highlight gmail-long-permalink" href="https://twitter.com/fshakir/status/805117971567939586" style="background-color:transparent;color:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;outline:0px;font-weight:inherit">12:34 PM - 3 Dec 2016</a></div><ul class="gmail-Tweet-actions" style="margin:8.4px 0px 0px;padding:0px;list-style:none;border:none"><li class="gmail-Tweet-action" style="display:inline-block"><a class="gmail-TweetAction gmail-TweetAction--reply gmail-web-intent" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?in_reply_to=805117971567939586" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(105,120,130);text-decoration:none;outline:0px"><div class="gmail-Icon gmail-Icon--reply gmail-TweetAction-icon" title="Reply" style="display:inline-block;height:1.25em;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-size:contain;vertical-align:text-bottom;width:1.07639em"></div></a></li> <li class="gmail-Tweet-action" style="display:inline-block;margin-left:14px"><a class="gmail-TweetAction gmail-TweetAction--retweet gmail-web-intent" href="https://twitter.com/intent/retweet?tweet_id=805117971567939586" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(105,120,130);text-decoration:none;outline:0px"><div class="gmail-Icon gmail-Icon--retweet gmail-TweetAction-icon" title="Retweet" style="display:inline-block;height:1.25em;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-size:contain;vertical-align:text-bottom;width:1.28472em"></div> <span class="gmail-TweetAction-stat" style="display:inline-block;font-size:14px;vertical-align:text-bottom">12</span><span class="gmail-u-hiddenVisually" style="overflow:hidden;width:1px;height:1px;padding:0px;border:0px">12 Retweets</span></a></li> <li class="gmail-Tweet-action" style="display:inline-block;margin-left:14px"><a class="gmail-TweetAction gmail-TweetAction--heart gmail-web-intent" href="https://twitter.com/intent/like?tweet_id=805117971567939586" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(105,120,130);text-decoration:none;outline:0px"><div class="gmail-Icon gmail-Icon--heart gmail-TweetAction-icon" title="Like" style="display:inline-block;height:1.25em;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-size:contain;vertical-align:text-bottom;width:0.9375em"></div> <span class="gmail-TweetAction-stat" style="display:inline-block;font-size:14px;vertical-align:text-bottom">17</span><span class="gmail-u-hiddenVisually" style="overflow:hidden;width:1px;height:1px;padding:0px;border:0px">17 likes</span></a></li></ul></div></blockquote></div></div><div class="gmail-resize-sensor" style="overflow:hidden"><div class="gmail-resize-sensor-expand" style="overflow:hidden"><div style="width:510px;height:289px"></div></div><div class="gmail-resize-sensor-shrink" style="overflow:hidden"><div style="width:1000px;height:557.531px"></div></div></div></div></span></div><div style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:swiftneueltw01,georgia,serif;font-size:20px"><p style="box-sizing:border-box;line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 1em;letter-spacing:0.01em"></p></div><div class="gmail-Tweet" style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:swiftneueltw01,georgia,serif;font-size:20px"><span class="gmail-twitter-tweet gmail-twitter-tweet-rendered" id="gmail-twitter-widget-5" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;max-width:100%;width:500px;min-width:220px;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px"><div class="gmail-SandboxRoot env-bp-350" style="direction:ltr;background-image:initial;background-position:0px 0px;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;background-color:initial;font-stretch:normal;font-size:16px;line-height:1.4;font-family:helvetica,roboto,"segoe ui",calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(28,32,34);white-space:initial"><div class="gmail-EmbeddedTweet gmail-js-clickToOpenTarget" id="gmail-twitter-widget-5" lang="en" style="overflow:hidden;border:1px solid rgb(225,232,237);border-radius:4px;max-width:520px"><div class="gmail-EmbeddedTweet-ancestor" style="padding:20px 20px 17.6px;background-color:rgb(245,248,250)"><blockquote class="gmail-Tweet gmail-Tweet--compact gmail-h-entry gmail-reply gmail-js-tweetIdInfo gmail-is-deciderHtmlWhitespace" cite="https://twitter.com/fshakir/status/805117971567939586" style="margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 0px 45px;list-style:none;border:none;font-size:14px"><div class="gmail-Tweet-header gmail-u-cf" style="padding-left:0px;white-space:nowrap"><div class="gmail-Tweet-metadata gmail-u-floatRight" style="color:rgb(105,120,130);margin-bottom:0px;line-height:inherit;float:right"><a class="gmail-u-linkBlend gmail-u-url gmail-permalink gmail-customisable-highlight" href="https://twitter.com/fshakir/status/805117971567939586" style="background-color:transparent;color:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;outline:0px;font-weight:inherit">3 Dec</a></div><div class="gmail-TweetAuthor gmail-TweetAuthor--oneLine" style="margin-top:0px;line-height:0;max-width:100%;overflow:hidden;text-overflow:ellipsis;word-wrap:normal"><a class="gmail-TweetAuthor-link gmail-Identity gmail-u-linkBlend" href="https://twitter.com/fshakir" style="background-color:transparent;color:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;outline:0px;line-height:1.2;font-weight:inherit"><span class="gmail-TweetAuthor-avatar gmail-Identity-avatar" style="display:inline-block;width:36px;height:36px;overflow:hidden;background-color:transparent;border-radius:4px"><img class="gmail-Avatar" alt="" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/58845381/thumb-pic-1142_normal.jpg" style="border: 0px; max-width: 100%; max-height: 100%;"></span><span class="gmail-TweetAuthor-name gmail-Identity-name gmail-customisable-highlight" title="Faiz" style="font-weight:700">Faiz</span> <span class="gmail-TweetAuthor-screenName gmail-Identity-screenName" title="@fshakir" dir="ltr" style="color:rgb(105,120,130);font-size:13px">@fshakir</span></a></div></div><div class="gmail-Tweet-body gmail-e-entry-content" style="margin-top:0px"><p class="gmail-Tweet-text gmail-e-entry-title" lang="en" dir="ltr" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;list-style:none;border:none;direction:ltr">See how even <a href="https://twitter.com/GroverNorquist" class="gmail-PrettyLink gmail-profile gmail-customisable gmail-h-card" dir="ltr" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(43,123,185);text-decoration:none;outline:0px"><span class="gmail-PrettyLink-prefix">@</span><span class="gmail-PrettyLink-value">GroverNorquist</span></a> has been unfairly treated by right-wing smear agents because of who he's married to.</p></div></blockquote></div><div class="gmail-EmbeddedTweet-tweet" style="padding:20px 20px 11.6px"><blockquote class="gmail-Tweet gmail-h-entry gmail-js-tweetIdInfo gmail-subject expanded gmail-is-deciderHtmlWhitespace" cite="https://twitter.com/fshakir/status/805118138337660929" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;list-style:none;border:none"><div class="gmail-Tweet-header gmail-u-cf" style="padding-left:45px;white-space:nowrap"><div class="gmail-Tweet-brand gmail-u-floatRight" style="float:right"><span class="gmail-u-hiddenInNarrowEnv"><a class="gmail-FollowButton gmail-follow-button gmail-profile" href="https://twitter.com/fshakir" title="Follow Faiz on Twitter" style="color:rgb(85,172,238);text-decoration:none;outline:0px;display:inline-block;padding:5.5px 13px 6.5px 11.5px;font-size:14px;font-weight:700;line-height:1;border:1px solid rgb(85,172,238);border-radius:4px"><span class="gmail-FollowButton-bird" style="display:inline-block"><div class="gmail-Icon gmail-Icon--twitter" title="" style="display:inline-block;height:1.25em;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-size:contain;vertical-align:text-bottom;width:1.25em"></div></span> Follow</a></span></div><div class="gmail-TweetAuthor" style="margin-top:2px;line-height:0;max-width:100%;overflow:hidden;text-overflow:ellipsis;word-wrap:normal"><a class="gmail-TweetAuthor-link gmail-Identity gmail-u-linkBlend" href="https://twitter.com/fshakir" style="background-color:transparent;color:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;outline:0px;line-height:1.2;font-weight:inherit"><span class="gmail-TweetAuthor-avatar gmail-Identity-avatar" style="display:inline-block;width:36px;height:36px;overflow:hidden;background-color:transparent;border-radius:4px"><img class="gmail-Avatar" alt="" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/58845381/thumb-pic-1142_normal.jpg" style="border: 0px; max-width: 100%; max-height: 100%;"></span><span class="gmail-TweetAuthor-name gmail-Identity-name gmail-customisable-highlight" title="Faiz" style="font-weight:700">Faiz</span> <span class="gmail-TweetAuthor-screenName gmail-Identity-screenName" title="@fshakir" dir="ltr" style="color:rgb(105,120,130);font-size:14px">@fshakir</span></a></div></div><div class="gmail-Tweet-body gmail-e-entry-content" style="margin-top:14px"><p class="gmail-Tweet-text gmail-e-entry-title" lang="en" dir="ltr" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;list-style:none;border:none;direction:ltr">Now it's Ellison's turn. At some point, this has to stop. So glad <a href="https://twitter.com/SenSchumer" class="gmail-PrettyLink gmail-profile gmail-customisable gmail-h-card" dir="ltr" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(43,123,185);text-decoration:none;outline:0px"><span class="gmail-PrettyLink-prefix">@</span><span class="gmail-PrettyLink-value">SenSchumer</span></a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/rweingarten" class="gmail-PrettyLink gmail-profile gmail-customisable gmail-h-card" dir="ltr" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(43,123,185);text-decoration:none;outline:0px"><span class="gmail-PrettyLink-prefix">@</span><span class="gmail-PrettyLink-value">rweingarten</span></a>, others are not backing down to pressure.</p><div class="gmail-Tweet-metadata gmail-dateline" style="font-size:14px;color:rgb(105,120,130);margin-top:3.2px"><a class="gmail-u-linkBlend gmail-u-url gmail-customisable-highlight gmail-long-permalink" href="https://twitter.com/fshakir/status/805118138337660929" style="background-color:transparent;color:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;outline:0px;font-weight:inherit">12:34 PM - 3 Dec 2016</a></div><ul class="gmail-Tweet-actions" style="margin:8.4px 0px 0px;padding:0px;list-style:none;border:none"><li class="gmail-Tweet-action" style="display:inline-block"><a class="gmail-TweetAction gmail-TweetAction--reply gmail-web-intent" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?in_reply_to=805118138337660929" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(105,120,130);text-decoration:none;outline:0px"><div class="gmail-Icon gmail-Icon--reply gmail-TweetAction-icon" title="Reply" style="display:inline-block;height:1.25em;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-size:contain;vertical-align:text-bottom;width:1.07639em"></div></a></li> <li class="gmail-Tweet-action" style="display:inline-block;margin-left:14px"><a class="gmail-TweetAction gmail-TweetAction--retweet gmail-web-intent" href="https://twitter.com/intent/retweet?tweet_id=805118138337660929" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(105,120,130);text-decoration:none;outline:0px"><div class="gmail-Icon gmail-Icon--retweet gmail-TweetAction-icon" title="Retweet" style="display:inline-block;height:1.25em;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-size:contain;vertical-align:text-bottom;width:1.28472em"></div> <span class="gmail-TweetAction-stat" style="display:inline-block;font-size:14px;vertical-align:text-bottom">27</span><span class="gmail-u-hiddenVisually" style="overflow:hidden;width:1px;height:1px;padding:0px;border:0px">27 Retweets</span></a></li> <li class="gmail-Tweet-action" style="display:inline-block;margin-left:14px"><a class="gmail-TweetAction gmail-TweetAction--heart gmail-web-intent" href="https://twitter.com/intent/like?tweet_id=805118138337660929" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(105,120,130);text-decoration:none;outline:0px"><div class="gmail-Icon gmail-Icon--heart gmail-TweetAction-icon" title="Like" style="display:inline-block;height:1.25em;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-size:contain;vertical-align:text-bottom;width:0.9375em"></div> <span class="gmail-TweetAction-stat" style="display:inline-block;font-size:14px;vertical-align:text-bottom">51</span><span class="gmail-u-hiddenVisually" style="overflow:hidden;width:1px;height:1px;padding:0px;border:0px">51 likes</span></a></li></ul></div></blockquote></div></div><div class="gmail-resize-sensor" style="overflow:hidden"><div class="gmail-resize-sensor-expand" style="overflow:hidden"><div style="width:510px;height:311px"></div></div><div class="gmail-resize-sensor-shrink" style="overflow:hidden"><div style="width:1000px;height:601.531px"></div></div></div></div></span></div><div style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:swiftneueltw01,georgia,serif;font-size:20px"><p style="box-sizing:border-box;line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 1em;letter-spacing:0.01em"></p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 1em;letter-spacing:0.01em">In that last tweet, Shakir is referring to the fact that, to their credit, other Democratic voices — such as <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/01/us/jewish-groups-and-unions-grow-uneasy-with-keith-ellison.html" style="box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent;outline:none;color:rgb(102,83,255);text-decoration:none">American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten</a>, <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/news/1.756694" style="box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent;outline:none;color:rgb(102,83,255);text-decoration:none">J Street</a>, and, most important, <a href="https://twitter.com/gdebenedetti/status/804460430785650689?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" style="box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent;outline:none;color:rgb(102,83,255);text-decoration:none">Chuck Schumer</a> — continue to defend Ellison. J Street’s <a href="http://jstreet.org/press-releases/continuing-attacks-congressman-ellison-seek-silence-legitimate-positions-israel/" style="box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent;outline:none;color:rgb(102,83,255);text-decoration:none">statement</a> made the critical point: “It is time to retire the playbook that aims to silence any American official seeking high office who has dared to criticize certain Israeli government policies.”</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 1em;letter-spacing:0.01em">But even these commendable defenses of Ellison illustrate how constricted the permissible range of views on Israel is within the Democratic Party. J Street vouched for Ellison by saying that he “is and has long been a friend of Israel” and is “a champion of pro-Israel, pro-peace policies.” Schumer went further, saying that while he disagrees with Ellison on numerous issues, “I saw him orchestrate one of the most pro-Israel platforms in decades.” Notably, demonstrating steadfast support for the polices of the Israeli government is literally a job requirement to lead the Democratic National Committee — and for every other significant position in Washington.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 1em;letter-spacing:0.01em">But Ellison has actually fulfilled that requirement. Even <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/1.756850?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter" style="box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent;outline:none;color:rgb(102,83,255);text-decoration:none">his opponents admit</a>: “Ellison unambiguously self-identifies as pro-Israel, supports a two-state solution without reservation, has repeatedly said that Israel has a right to defend itself and expressed the importance of protecting and maintaining Israel’s security, and there is no evidence that he has ever supported or advocated for BDS.” It’s true that, as Jay Michaelson wrote in <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/12/02/squabble-over-keith-ellison-reveals-dilemma-for-democrats-on-israel.html" style="box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent;outline:none;color:rgb(102,83,255);text-decoration:none">an excellent Daily Beast column</a>, Ellison “has been critical of Israeli settlements, of right-wing Israeli governments, and of America’s unconditional support for Israel.” But even his Israel advocacy is rather banal, as Goldberg wrote:</p><blockquote style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:swiftneueltw01-italic,georgia,serif;font-style:italic;margin-left:0px;padding-left:1em"><p style="box-sizing:border-box;font-style:normal;font-family:swiftneueltw01,georgia,serif;line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 1em;letter-spacing:0.01em">It must be acknowledged that Ellison’s first loyalty in the Middle East is not to Israel. He is a Muslim, and he makes no secret of his sympathy for the Palestinians. That said, he is a Muslim peacenik. Since entering politics, he has consistently spoken out in favor of the two-state solution, by which he means Israel and a Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security. He’s been active on that front, frequently partnering with J Street and other liberal Zionist groups on efforts to promote peace and security.</p></blockquote><p style="box-sizing:border-box;line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 1em;letter-spacing:0.01em">In other words, Ellison is a mainstream liberal Democrat, albeit situated on the left wing of the party as it is currently constituted in Congress (which is not very far to the left given that Nancy Pelosi resides in a nearby ideological precinct).</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 1em;letter-spacing:0.01em">What makes him such an easy and vulnerable target for smear campaigns such as the one Saban and the ADL are pursuing is that he is Muslim — a black Muslim to boot. Just look at the obvious codes in this paragraph from Michael J. Koplow, the policy director of the Israel Policy Forum, <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/1.756850?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter" style="box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent;outline:none;color:rgb(102,83,255);text-decoration:none">writing in Haaretz under the headline</a> “Keith Ellison Has a Real Israel Problem”:</p><blockquote style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:swiftneueltw01-italic,georgia,serif;font-style:italic;margin-left:0px;padding-left:1em"><p style="box-sizing:border-box;font-style:normal;font-family:swiftneueltw01,georgia,serif;line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 1em;letter-spacing:0.01em">Ellison is not a figure whom anyone would normally expect to be a supporter of Israel. He is an African-American Muslim who did not grow up in a particularly Jewish area of the country, came of age after 1967, when Israel’s image as a David began shifting to that of a Goliath, did not have any prominent Jewish mentors, and has a background in radical politics. As a student, he was harshly critical of Zionism and its legitimacy.</p></blockquote><p style="box-sizing:border-box;line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 1em;letter-spacing:0.01em">While Koplow cites these facts not to endorse the stereotypes but to affirm Ellison’s bona fides as someone one would not expect to be an Israel supporter, those are the demographic attributes giving the fuel to this revolting campaign. As Michaelson, who previously worked with the ADL, acknowledged: “There’s plenty of Islamophobia within my Jewish community as well,” and “the ADL is a perfect example,” citing the group’s <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2010/08/02/the-anti-defamation-leagues-ground-zero-mosque-hypocrisy.html" style="box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent;outline:none;color:rgb(102,83,255);text-decoration:none">shameful opposition to the construction of a mosque</a> in lower Manhattan.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 1em;letter-spacing:0.01em">If you’re a Democrat, it’s easy to embrace the language of anti-Islamophobia when it comes to condemning Donald Trump and other Republicans. It’s more difficult, but more important, to do so when that poison is coming from within the Democratic Party itself.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 1em;letter-spacing:0.01em">One of the few silver linings of the ugly Trump rhetoric on Muslims can and should be (<a href="http://www.haaretz.com/world-news/u-s-election-2016/1.753161" style="box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent;outline:none;color:rgb(102,83,255);text-decoration:none">and has been</a>) a unified rejection of this sort of toxicity, regardless of where it comes from. Democrats who are sincere about wanting to oppose anti-Muslim bigotry can do so by defending Keith Ellison from these incredibly ugly, baseless, and defamatory attacks.</p></div></div><div>===</div><div><br clear="all"><div><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr">Robert Naiman<br>Policy Director<br>Just Foreign Policy<br><a href="http://www.justforeignpolicy.org" target="_blank">www.justforeignpolicy.org</a><br><a href="mailto:naiman@justforeignpolicy.org" target="_blank">naiman@justforeignpolicy.org</a><br><div><span style="text-align:left">(202) 448-2898 x1</span><br></div><div><span style="text-align:left"><br></span></div></div></div></div>
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