[Peace] Glenn Greenwald: The Smear Campaign Against Keith Ellison Is Repugnant but Reveals Much About Washington

[Robert Naiman]

https://theintercept.com/2016/12/04/the-smear-campaign-against-keith-ellison-is-repugnant-but-reveals-much-about-washington/

The Smear Campaign Against Keith Ellison Is Repugnant but Reveals Much
About Washington
Glenn Greenwald
The Intercept
December 4 2016, 7:48 a.m.

EVER SINCE HE 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.

Three days ago, the now ironically named Anti-Defamation League pronounced
<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>
Ellison’s
2010 comments about Israel “deeply disturbing and disqualifying.” Other
Israel advocates have now joined in
<http://www.haaretz.com/world-news/americas/1.756786>. What are Ellison’s
terrible sins? He said in a 2010 speech
<http://www.haaretz.com/world-news/americas/1.756786> 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.”

As the full speech makes clear
<http://www.investigativeproject.org/5713/full-audio-of-keith-ellison-remarks-at-esam#>,
he was referring to the indisputable fact that while Israel continues to
take billions of dollars every year from the U.S. — far more than any other
country receives in aid
<https://theintercept.com/2016/07/31/as-israel-prospers-obama-set-to-give-billions-more-in-aid-while-netanyahu-demands-more/>
—
it continually disregards and violates U.S. requests to stop ongoing
expansion of illegal Israeli settlements, often in ways seemingly designed
to impose the greatest humiliation on its benefactor
<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/10/world/middleeast/10biden.html>:

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? …

… 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.

Equally sinful in the eyes of the ADL was this statement on U.S. foreign
policy:

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.

As J.J. Goldberg of The Forward noted
<http://forward.com/opinion/355950/no-the-keith-ellison-tape-isnt-anti-israel-and-shouldnt-torpedo-his-democra/>,
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.”

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 — including David Petraeus
<http://www.haaretz.com/news/u-s-general-israel-palestinian-conflict-foments-anti-u-s-sentiment-1.264910>
—
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.

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 James
Baker
<http://hotair.com/archives/2015/03/24/does-jim-bakers-position-on-israel-mean-he-should-be-drummed-out-of-the-gop/>
 to Howard Dean <http://www.salon.com/2003/09/23/dean_israel/> to Bernie
Sanders
<http://forward.com/opinion/333337/why-bludgeoning-bernie-sanders-on-israel-wont-help-hillary-clinton/>
 and even Donald Trump
<http://www.haaretz.com/world-news/u-s-election-2016/1.720213>. So
pernicious is this framework that the U.S. Senate just passed
<https://theintercept.com/2016/12/02/senate-responds-to-post-trump-anti-semitism-by-targeting-students-who-criticize-israel/>
 legislation expressly equating
<http://reason.com/blog/2016/12/01/proposed-anti-semitism-awareness-act-is>
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.

THIS SMEAR CAMPAIGN against Ellison received a major boost Friday night
<http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/03/politics/haim-saban-keith-ellison-anti-semite/>
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.”

That Saban plays such a vital role in Democratic Party politics says a
great deal. To the New York Times, this is how he described himself
<http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/05/business/yourmoney/schlepping-to-moguldom.html>:
“I’m a one-issue guy and my issue is Israel.” In late 2015, Ali Gharib wrote
in The Forward
<http://forward.com/opinion/national/325490/does-hillary-clinton-have-a-haim-saban-problem/>:
“Saban’s top priority isn’t a liberal vision of American life. It’s
Israel.” When Hillary Clinton in 2015 condemned the boycott movement
<https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jul/07/hillary-clinton-anti-israel-boycott-bds-movement>aimed
at ending Israeli settlements, she did it in the form of a letter addressed
personally to Saban
<https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2158218-hillary-clintons-letter-to-haim-saban-against-bds.html>
.

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.

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 dug up by CNN as supposedly incriminating
<http://edition.cnn.com/2016/12/01/politics/kfile-keith-ellison-nation-of-islam/index.html>.
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:

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.

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.

Leave aside the bizarre attempt to use someone’s college-aged political
activism against them three decades later. As my colleague Zaid Jilani very
ably documented several days ago
<https://theintercept.com/2016/12/01/potential-dnc-leader-keith-ellisons-controversial-law-school-columns-show-anger-not-bigotry/>,
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.”

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?



THE REASON WHY 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 incorporated anti-Islamophobia rhetoric into their repertoire
<http://edition.cnn.com/videos/politics/2016/01/26/iowa-democratic-town-hall-clinton-islamophobia-16.cnn>.
Yet what is being done to Ellison by the ADL, Saban, and others is
Islamophobia in its purest and most classic form.

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:

 Follow <https://twitter.com/fshakir>
Faiz @fshakir <https://twitter.com/fshakir>

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!
12:31 PM - 3 Dec 2016
<https://twitter.com/fshakir/status/805117375100125184>

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    192192 Retweets
   <https://twitter.com/intent/retweet?tweet_id=805117375100125184>
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    357357 likes
   <https://twitter.com/intent/like?tweet_id=805117375100125184>

3 Dec <https://twitter.com/fshakir/status/805117375100125184>
Faiz @fshakir <https://twitter.com/fshakir>

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!

 Follow <https://twitter.com/fshakir>
Faiz @fshakir <https://twitter.com/fshakir>

I was literally called a terrorist by a right-wing publication when I
joined @NanyPelosi's office. http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/133189/nan
cy-pelosi-hires-former-terrorist-fundraiser-daniel-greenfield …
<https://t.co/pf5ChX1nyE>
12:32 PM - 3 Dec 2016
<https://twitter.com/fshakir/status/805117521808556032>
Nancy Pelosi Hires Former Terrorist Fundraiser

What Faiz Shakir's powerful new post says about Democratic Party
anti-Semitism.
frontpagemag.com
<https://t.co/pf5ChX1nyE>

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   <https://twitter.com/intent/retweet?tweet_id=805117521808556032>
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3 Dec <https://twitter.com/fshakir/status/805117521808556032>
Faiz @fshakir <https://twitter.com/fshakir>

I was literally called a terrorist by a right-wing publication when I
joined @NanyPelosi's office. http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/133189/nan
cy-pelosi-hires-former-terrorist-fundraiser-daniel-greenfield …
<https://t.co/pf5ChX1nyE>

 Follow <https://twitter.com/fshakir>
Faiz @fshakir <https://twitter.com/fshakir>

At @thinkprogress <https://twitter.com/thinkprogress>, we were absurdly
labeled anti-Semitic because we supported Obama admin stances. That
cheapens "anti-semitic" charge
12:33 PM - 3 Dec 2016
<https://twitter.com/fshakir/status/805117654348480512>

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    1717 Retweets
   <https://twitter.com/intent/retweet?tweet_id=805117654348480512>
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    3333 likes <https://twitter.com/intent/like?tweet_id=805117654348480512>

3 Dec <https://twitter.com/fshakir/status/805117654348480512>
Faiz @fshakir <https://twitter.com/fshakir>

At @thinkprogress <https://twitter.com/thinkprogress>, we were absurdly
labeled anti-Semitic because we supported Obama admin stances. That
cheapens "anti-semitic" charge

 Follow <https://twitter.com/fshakir>
Faiz @fshakir <https://twitter.com/fshakir>

Just Google what Frank Gaffney was saying about Suhail Khan and Faisal Gill
in the Bush White House.
12:33 PM - 3 Dec 2016
<https://twitter.com/fshakir/status/805117845751427072>

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    1313 Retweets
   <https://twitter.com/intent/retweet?tweet_id=805117845751427072>
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    1616 likes <https://twitter.com/intent/like?tweet_id=805117845751427072>

3 Dec <https://twitter.com/fshakir/status/805117845751427072>
Faiz @fshakir <https://twitter.com/fshakir>

Just Google what Frank Gaffney was saying about Suhail Khan and Faisal Gill
in the Bush White House.

 Follow <https://twitter.com/fshakir>
Faiz @fshakir <https://twitter.com/fshakir>

See how even @GroverNorquist <https://twitter.com/GroverNorquist> has been
unfairly treated by right-wing smear agents because of who he's married to.
12:34 PM - 3 Dec 2016
<https://twitter.com/fshakir/status/805117971567939586>

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3 Dec <https://twitter.com/fshakir/status/805117971567939586>
Faiz @fshakir <https://twitter.com/fshakir>

See how even @GroverNorquist <https://twitter.com/GroverNorquist> has been
unfairly treated by right-wing smear agents because of who he's married to.

 Follow <https://twitter.com/fshakir>
Faiz @fshakir <https://twitter.com/fshakir>

Now it's Ellison's turn. At some point, this has to stop. So glad @
SenSchumer <https://twitter.com/SenSchumer>, @rweingarten
<https://twitter.com/rweingarten>, others are not backing down to pressure.
12:34 PM - 3 Dec 2016
<https://twitter.com/fshakir/status/805118138337660929>

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   <https://twitter.com/intent/retweet?tweet_id=805118138337660929>
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In that last tweet, Shakir is referring to the fact that, to their credit,
other Democratic voices — such as American Federation of Teachers President
Randi Weingarten
<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/01/us/jewish-groups-and-unions-grow-uneasy-with-keith-ellison.html>
, J Street <http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/news/1.756694>, and, most
important, Chuck Schumer
<https://twitter.com/gdebenedetti/status/804460430785650689?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
—
continue to defend Ellison. J Street’s statement
<http://jstreet.org/press-releases/continuing-attacks-congressman-ellison-seek-silence-legitimate-positions-israel/>
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.”

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.

But Ellison has actually fulfilled that requirement. Even his opponents
admit
<http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/1.756850?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter>:
“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 an excellent
Daily Beast column
<http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/12/02/squabble-over-keith-ellison-reveals-dilemma-for-democrats-on-israel.html>,
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:

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.

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).

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, writing
in Haaretz under the headline
<http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/1.756850?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter>
“Keith
Ellison Has a Real Israel Problem”:

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.

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 shameful
opposition to the construction of a mosque
<http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2010/08/02/the-anti-defamation-leagues-ground-zero-mosque-hypocrisy.html>
in
lower Manhattan.

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.

One of the few silver linings of the ugly Trump rhetoric on Muslims can and
should be (and has been
<http://www.haaretz.com/world-news/u-s-election-2016/1.753161>) 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.
===

Robert Naiman
Policy Director
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org
(202) 448-2898 x1
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