Posted on 07/16/2002 7:09:12 PM PDT by RCW2001
Israeli lobby targets Rep. McKinney WASHINGTON, 16 July — After the brutal Democratic runoff for a House seat in Alabama, blacks, Jews, and Muslim Americans are preparing themselves for another fight over the August primary involving Georgia Democrat Cynthia McKinney. The Georgia race is being run on a parallel track of the Alabama runoff, where attorney Artur Davis drew national Jewish support in his successful effort to unseat incumbent Rep. Earl Hilliard, who was viewed as too even-handed in Middle East politics. The Israeli lobby scored its biggest history in years with Hilliard’s defeat. Hilliard, a five-term incumbent, a civil rights era campaigner and Alabama’s first black congressman since Reconstruction, was defeated by a flood of pro-Israel money sent to his opponent. Official word has it that 80 percent of Davis’ campaign funding — almost one million dollars, arrived just in the nick of time — from New York City. Jewish donors have already begun funding McKinney’s challenger Denise Majette, a former state court judge from Atlanta who maintains a fervent pro-Israel position. As one of Capitol Hill’s greatest supporters of the Palestinians, McKinney has become the target of pro-Israeli Jews and conservative non-Jews alike. Although some moderate pro-Israelis are worried about the bad blood with black politicians already caused by Hilliard’s defeat, and are suggesting that the lobby refuse the opportunity to go after McKinney, many in the Jewish community are said to be intoxicated with Hilliard’s defeat, and are now focused on taking down McKinney. Realizing the danger, McKinney’s staffers have been taking a very low profile on anything to do with the Middle East. Even more thoughtful pro-Israelis in town are said to be privately worried about the effect McKinney’s possible defeat will have on relations between Jews and blacks — often regarded as the cornerstones of the Democratic Party. They also have expressed concern about the mobilization of the pro-Arab and Muslim resources sent to Hilliard, even if it was too late. Indeed, Arab and Muslim American organizations are already soliciting their members to show their support by donating to McKinney’s re-election campaign. “Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (D-4th, Georgia), who is arguably the strongest supporter of issues of concern to the American Muslim community, urgently needs our help to win re-election,” writes the Council on American-Muslim Relations, CAIR, in an urgent notice to its members. “She has consistently and unflinchingly supported a balanced US foreign policy in the Middle East and has opposed lopsided bills that harm the interests of America, Israel and the Muslim world. She is a strong defender of civil liberties of all Americans and is known throughout the world as the voice of the voiceless — the champion of human rights. She has condemned racial profiling of any and all Americans and has consistently spoken out against the Secret Evidence Act and other legislative measures which seek to discriminate against certain racial minorities in this country,” says CAIR. “If we really want to help the people of the Middle East reach peace, then we need to stand up for Cynthia now and help defend her against this type of political assault.” “Hilliard was a lesson for us to grow on,” said Abdurrahman Alamoudi, former executive director of the American Muslim Council and current president of the American Muslim Foundation. “We just started late with Hilliard.” McKinney’s main “problems” started last summer when she said the Bush administration’s decision to pull out of the Durban racism conference was a “travesty.” Last October, after New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani returned a $10 million gift to the city from Saudi Prince Alwaleed ibn Talal after the prince gently criticized the US policy in the Middle East, McKinney issued a public letter supporting the prince, asking that the donate the money to black charities. Finally, in an April radio interview, McKinney called for an investigation into whether President Bush might have had prior knowledge of the Sept. 11 attacks and if he profited from them.
By Barbara Ferguson, Arab News Correspondent
Translation:
Give the money to me, ME, ME!!!!!
Such as?
You mean, because she sucked up to the Prince and expressed anger that Bush didn't send anyone to an embarassingly anti-white anti-Jew anti-capitalist hatefest in South Africa, that makes her "the strongest supporter of issues of concern to the American Muslim community"?
Hmmm...will they be able to equal all the Arab money given to McKinney on 9/11 and thereafter?
Read a few of those. You'll find many Islamic contributors from outside our district.
We had a great time FReeping her back in May. And I got to heckle her as she cruised through Dunwoody in the back of a convertible in the 4th of July Parade.
But I do kind of doubt it. The community which elected her to office is probably to the left of Castro.
There is no "even-handed" in this matter: you are either w/ us, or you are w/ the terrorists.
And I see why an Arab paper would state it in those terms.
And I see why every Arab spokesman ALWAYS plays the "more even-handed" card.
But for us to move toward the Arab position policy-wise would be for us to begin favoring the dismantling of Israel -- and that is a thing we cannot and will not countenance.
N.B. Don't kid yourself: If McKinney wins the nomination, there won't be a DIME of "Jewish activist" money for her Republican challenger--if one even exists.
You wish
I don't think so. How many Arabs/Muslims we have in congress?
sssshhhhh...there is a huge shift in voting patterns going on you know. Don't upset it.
But I do wonder why the money isn't going to a GOP challenger right now...hmmmmm.
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