by Bill Levinson

Why Won’t Prominent Republicans Criticize Novak for Anti-Israel Writings? asks this press release from the National Jewish Democratic Council. We are registered in the Republican Party, even though the Republicans hardly own our vote: we voted for as many Democrats as we did Republicans in 2006. If Robert Novak called Hamas “freedom fighters”–and this FrontPage Magazine article agrees with NJDC that he did–then he is clearly no better than Michael Moore, who called the Iraqi insurgents who are murdering our soldiers “Minutemen.” Furthermore, we do not acknowledge Novak as belonging to the same Republican Party of which we consider ourselves a member. Now that we have that out of the way, we will ask NJDC a similar question: why won’t prominent Democrats criticize MoveOn.org and Jeremiah Wright for anti-Israel Writing?

   

Let’s begin with MoveOn.org’s official position toward Israel and the Palestinians. Note that this is not commentary from MoveOn’s disgraced Action Forum, but from MoveOn’s own Noah Winer.

MoveOn Bulletin
Friday, June 20, 2003
Noah T. Winer, Editor
noah.winer “at” moveon.org

Subscribe online at:
http://www.moveon.org/ moveonbulletin/

INTRODUCTION: WHERE DOES THE ROAD MAP LEAD?
In July, 2000 Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak broke off talks with Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat at the Camp David summit hosted by U.S. President Bill Clinton. That September, Ariel Sharon, chairman of the Likud party, made a provocative visit to the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Control over this holy site for both Muslims and Jews is contested by Palestinians and Israelis. The visit implied Israeli sovereignty over all Jerusalem, the eastern portion of which is considered occupied territory by the international community. So began the second intifada, or Palestinian uprising.

MoveOn.org’s official position seems consistent with what the National Jewish Democratic Council reports about Robert Novak:

April 5, 2007: Novak blames Israel – not terror group Hamas – for breakdown in the peace process.“The aphorism (originated by Israeli statesman Abba Eban) that Arabs “never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity” now can be applied to Israel. Last week’s Riyadh declaration indicated the willingness of the Arab world to consider a peaceful solution. Now, belief here among peace-seekers is that nothing will happen until a new president enters the Oval Office in 2009.” [Washington Post, 4/5/07]

It sounds like Robert Novak and MoveOn.org are on exactly the same wavelength. The official MoveOn.org bulletin continues,

As in the first intifada in the late 1980s, the demand is for an end to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem — which has persisted since 1967 — and acknowledgment of the Palestinian refugees right to return to the villages from which they were forced to leave during the 1948 war that established the State of Israel. In the 33 months since, human death has saturated the region: 816 Israelis and 2,384 Palestinians have been killed.

From The Nation:
“For in failing to focus on the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, about to enter its 37th year, and on Israeli settlements, which underpin that occupation, the Road Map misses an opportunity to end this conflict. Instead, it concentrates on Palestinian violence and how to combat it — as if it came out of nowhere, and as if, were it to be halted, the situation of occupation and settlement would be normal.” http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20030609&s=khalidi

From the Nation: “Blame the Jooooooooooooooz.” Next, the MoveOn.org bulletin quotes Gush Shalom (aka Jews for Jihad) and the Electronic Intifada, the same group that says Israel “murdered” peace activist Rachel Corrie. (The truth about Rachel Corrie is that two International Solidarity Movement leaders and a Hamas terrorist expressed motives for wanting her dead.)

FACTS ON THE GROUND: THE SEPARATION WALL
Gush Shalom reports that the separation wall Israel is constructing in the West Bank is not at all along the internationally recognized 1967 “green line” border. The wall, officially being built for security, annexes illegal settlements into Israel.
http://www.gush-shalom.org/thewall/

A troubling report on the 25-foot tall separation wall from Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot describes how the system of barbed concrete walls and armed watchtowers will imprison hundreds of thousands of Palestinians without access to their agricultural lands.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article1546.shtml

The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment on legal efforts to block the wall.
http://www.lawsociety.org/Press/Preleases/2002/oct/oct15e.html

Now let’s take a look at Barack Obama’s mentor and spiritual guide, Jeremiah Wright.

Obama’s Pastor sounds more like a hate spewing imam. I am shocked this hasn’t gotten real media play (oh yeah, it’s Obama.) The more you peel back the layers of the Obama onion, the more rotten it is at its core. Obama’s checkered resume.

A FEW WEEKS AGO ON MSNBC SHOW WITH TUCKER CARLSON:

CARLSON: But Jeremiah Wright is at least a mixed bag politically. His work to improve conditions in impoverished black neighborhoods may be laudable, but his rhetoric includes attacks against white people and against Israel. Should Obama distance himself from Dr. Wright, and if so, can he effectively do that?

We welcome back to discuss that MSNBC political analyst Pat Buchanan and nationally syndicated radio show host Bill Press. Now, I have kind of liked Barack Obama from the very beginning. He seems moderate in tone. I spent all morning reading Jeremiah Wright online. All the church newsletters are available. The guy is a full-blown hater, actually. This is just pulled at random.

Here is his attack on Natalee Holloway as a slut. “Black women are being raped daily in Africa. One white girl from Alabama gets drunk at a graduation trip to Aruba, goes off and gives it up while in a foreign country and that stays in the news for months.” In other words, she is a slut.

Nine-eleven, he says: “White America got their wake-up call after 9-11. White America and the Western world came to realize people of color had not gone away, faded in the woodwork, or just disappeared as the Great White West kept on its merry way of ignoring black concerns.” So 9-11 was payback for white racism. I mean, it goes on, and I will read more.

…CARLSON: Here is the Israeli thing, we were talking about this at the commercial break. This is quoting now the Reverend Wright: “The Israelis have illegally occupied Palestinian territories for over 40 years now. Divestment has now hit the table again as a strategy to wake the business community and wake up Americans concerning the injustice and the racism under which the Palestinians have lived because of Zionism.”

He compares Israel to South Africa repeatedly. He attacks Israel as a racist state.

Jeremiah Wright and Robert Novak are obviously coming from the same perspective, as shown by NJDC’s press release. Wright and Novak both compare Israel to South Africa under apartheid.

April 9, 2007: Novak suggests that Israel’s policies are “Worse than Apartheid.” The Washington Post’s headline for his piece read ““Worse than Apartheid?,” and Novak wrote: “Jimmy Carter raised hackles by titling his book about the Palestinian question ‘Peace Not Apartheid.’ But Palestinians allege this is worse than the former South African racial separation.” [Washington Post, 4/9/07]

Now let’s take a look at Jeremiah Wright’s “War on Iraq IQ Test”

41. Q: How many UN resolutions did Israel violate by 1992?

A: Over 65

42. Q: How many UN resolutions on Israel did America veto between 1972 and 1990?

A: 30+

43. Q: How much does the U.S. fund Israel a year?

A:$5 billion

44. Q: How many countries are known to have nuclear weapons?

A: 8

45. Q: How many nuclear warheads has Iraq got?

A: 0

46. Q: How many nuclear warheads has US got?

A: Over 10,000

47. Q: Which is the only country to use nuclear weapons?

A: The US

48. Q: How many nuclear warheads does Israel have?

A: Over 400

49. Q: Has Israel ever allowed UN weapon inspections?

A: No

50. Q: What percentage of the Palestinian territories are controlled by Israeli settlements?

A: 42%

51. Q: Is Israel illegally occupying Palestinian land?

A: Yes

52. Q: Which country do you think poses the greatest threat to global peace: Iraq or the U.S.?

A: ????

The National Jewish Democratic Council asked, “Why Won’t Prominent Republicans Criticize Novak for Anti-Israel Writings?” We have just said that Novak, having called Hamas “freedom fighters,” is no better than Michael Moore, who called Iraqi terrorists “Minutemen.” Furthemore, we will not acknowledge this individual as belonging to the Republican Party of which we are a part. Now we would like to hear what the NJDC has to say about MoveOn.org’s and Jeremiah Wright’s anti-Israel statements and publications, and Barack Obama’s association with Jeremiah Wright.

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Related: Israel, Palestinians, Peace Process, Elections

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