by Bill Levinson

The National Jewish Democratic Council is again trying to downplay, deny, and whitewash the vicious anti-Semitic hate speech that is coming from the Democratic Left. We are surprised that the NJDC would again bring itself to our attention in this manner, noting its own publication of anti-Semitic and anti-Christian hate propaganda. Nonetheless, we are always delighted to accommodate them, and we will take this opportunity to remind them that we asked them for their position on Al Sharpton, MoveOn.org, and Jeremiah Wright.

Surfin’ the Net By Steve Sheffey, NJDC Activist

Whether it is because they have too much time to surf the net or whether it is because they are still chagrined that Al Gore claimed he invented it, some Republicans are now blaming Democrats for anti-Semitic postings on certain web sites. …However, it does not follow from the presence of bad comments posted on left-wing web sites or on sites that support causes that Democrats are weak on Israel.

This official MoveOn.org bulletin was not the work of a couple of Israel-haters with too much time on their hands. It was the work of Noah T. Winer, who is an official representative of MoveOn.org. The bulletin blames Israel for the collapse of the peace process, as well as Palestinian violence. References include the Electronic Intifada, Gush Shalom, and the Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment. As but one example:

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.

That’s not some blogger with a bottle of beer in one hand and the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion in the other, Mr. Sheffy. That is Noah Winer, editor of MoveOn.org’s official bulletins. MoveOn.org’s official anti-Catholic hate cartoon (the Pope waving a gavel in front of the U.S. Supreme Court) did not come from anonymous bloggers either.

Sheffy continues,

One of the most basic logical fallacies is the “association fallacy,” or “guilt by association.” “Guilt by association” is the attempt to discredit an idea or person based upon disfavored people or groups associated with it.

Expect to see this fallacy repeatedly as our Republican friends frantically search for something, anything with which to attack Democrats on Israel. Israel, after all, is the only issue the Republicans have that could appeal to most Jews, and they know that now that the Democrats have proven to be strong on Israel, they are in trouble.

We are quite familiar with “guilt by association,” as practiced by Joe McCarthy. McCarthy would take pictures of people in the same room with Communists, or even doctor pictures to create this association, and then call his targets Communists. The three leading Democratic candidates, however, did far more than just show up in the same room with a prominent racist and anti-Semite. They posted arm in arm with him, and they gave him unqualified endorsments. We can easily imagine how NJDC would react to a Republican posing arm in arm with a Ku Klux Klansman while praising the Klan, and we would agree with their reaction. It is a matter of record that NJDC was asked to take a position on the following, and we have yet to see its answer. That is because it doesn’t have one.

Senator Barack Obama (Ill): “Reverend Sharpton is a voice for the voiceless, and a voice for the dispossessed. What National Action Network has done is so important to change America, and it must be changed from the bottom up.” Does “changing America” include burning Jewish-owned stores in Harlem after screaming racial and anti-Semitic epithets at the owners? Al Sharpton was personally responsible for “white interloper,” while his entourage threw in remarks about “bloodsucking Jews,” “cracker lover,” “Don’t give the Jew a dime,” and “make the cracker suffer.”

Senator Hillary Clinton (NY): “I have enjoyed a long and positive relationship with Reverend Al Sharpton and National Action Network, and I don’t ever remember saying “no” to them and I intend to remain their partner in civil rights as I clean the dirt from under the carpet in the oval office when I am elected President.” Since Laura Bush was so grossed out at the very idea of turning over those carpets, Hillary is likely to find plenty of things we won’t discuss in polite company, but we digress. Perhaps Hillary Clinton’s perception of “civil rights” includes reenacting the Night of the Broken Glass in Crown Heights while yelling “Kill the Jew,” as Sharpton’s people did before they murdered Yankel Rosenbaum.

Senator John Edwards: “I will work with National Action Network to fight poverty and seek justice for those marginalized in our society.”

Mr. Sheffy continues,

As the National Jewish Democratic Council pointed out, “to blame all attendees and participants in the YearlyKos convention – which was sponsored by JetBlue airlines, Warner Independent Pictures, the National Education Association, and other mainstream organizations – for objectionable comments posted by a small handful of people is the height of absurdity.

“A small handful of people” did not invite John Mearsheimer of The Israel Lobby to the YearlyKos. In this YouTube video of Mearsheimer at the Kos convention, Mearsheimer claims that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad didn’t really say that he plans to wipe Israel off the map, and that a nuclear-armed Iran is not a threat to the U.S. or Israel. We learned about this Mearsheimer video through an unrelated Google search that led us to the web site of David Duke, the Ku Klux Klansman. Duke apparently thinks very highly of this video and Mr. Mearsheimer, and it seems that Kos shares this position.

Steve Sheffy argues,

A shocking illustration of this fallacy recently occurred when supporters of Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL) alleged that Dan Seals and Jay Footlik, the Democratic candidates vying for the opportunity to defeat Kirk, were not strong on Israel because they attended the YearlyKos convention. The “logic” of this allegation was that since some anonymous anti-Semitic remarks appeared on left-wing web sites, and since some of those left wing sites are on DailyKos, and since Jay and Dan attended the convention (along with all the major Democratic candidates for president and many other candidates), Jay and Dan should be held accountable for anonymous posts that are the 21st century equivalent of graffiti on the bathroom wall above the urinal.

We have already shown that Kos itself, not some anonymous anti-Semites or Israel-haters, invited one of the authors of “The Israel Lobby.” Meanwhile, screenshots of the “Bubbie vs. the GOP” video, in which Christians and Christian symbols are portrayed in a “This is the Enemy” context, were found not on the bathroom wall above the urinal, but on the National Jewish Democratic Council’s own Web site.

We will add in passing that NJDC asked Republicans to denounce Bob Novak for his anti-Israel writings. We did so, and asked NJDC to denounce MoveOn.org and Obama’s mentor Jeremiah Wright for their anti-Israel writings. We have yet to see any response, doubtlessly because NJDC started yet another controversy it is incapable of finishing.

Steve Sheffy concludes,

Our Republican friends are entitled to their own opinions, but not to their own facts. There are real differences between the two parties, but Israel is not one of them. There is not one iota of evidence that this disgraceful activity on the Internet is affecting the positions that the Democrats who matter—the Democrats who hold office—are taking regarding Israel.

(1) The facts, which our readers can verify independently, appear above.

(2) If the “disgraceful activity on the Internet,” which includes:
(a) MoveOn.org’s official bulletins that support the Palestinians against Israel while accusing “neo-conservatives” of “divided loyalties,”
(b) Democratic Presidential contenders posing with a vicious racist and anti-Semite who at least indirectly incited two violent incidents in which people were killed, while Nifonging innocent white people in Wappingers Falls NY (Tawana Brawley scandal)
(c) NJDC whitewashing MoveOn’s anti-Semitic hate speech while publishing anti-Semitic material of its own,
(d) the YearlyKos inviting John Mearsheimer of “The Israel Lobby,”
(e) Barack Obama taking money from a fundraiser hosted by an individual who effectively called Jews “Christ Killers”
(f) Barack Obama’s spiritual mentor, racist, Israel-hater, and America-hater Jeremiah Wright,
(g) NJDC’s portrayals of Christians and Christian symbols as enemies,
(h) MoveOn.org’s derogatory photomanipulation of the Pope,
(i) MoveOn’s exercise of editorial control in favor of blood libels of Jews (citing the Talmud as a “hateful scripture” that commands Jews to hate and even kill Gentiles), denunciations of Jews as controlling the media while dividing their loyalties between American and Israel, use of “Jew” as an epithet, blanket denunciations of Catholics as pedophiles who are “raping your children,” and using “house slaves” to deride prominent African-Americans,

do not reflect the Democratic Party’s views toward Israel, American Jews, and perhaps Catholics and other Christians as well, then the Democratic Party has some very serious housecleaning to do. We will be quite blunt: the required political house-cleaning includes not only MoveOn.org, the Daily Kos, Clinton, Obama, Edwards, and Sharpton, but also the National “Jewish” “Democratic” Council itself.

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Related: Israel, Peace Process, Anti-Semitism, Elections

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