Tikun Olam-תקון עולם: Make the World a Better Place

Since a year ago, even before Barack Obama announced his candidacy, an anonymous e-mail has been circulating which disseminates scurrilous charges against him. Over the past few months, many Jews have been targeted by it. The e-mail claims, among other things, that he is a Manchurian [Muslim] Candidate who swore his U.S. Senate oath of office on a Koran and who will not uphold the U.S. constitution if elected. Ben Harris’ JTA blog features the full text of the hoax e-mail:

Subject: Barack Obama

This is very interesting - please take a few moments and read it.

Who is Barack Obama? Something that should be considered when you make your choice. If you do not ever forward anything else, please forward this to all your contacts…it is very scary to think of what could lie ahead for us here in our own United States …better heed this and pray about it and share it. We checked this out on ‘snopes.com ‘. It is factual. Check for yourself.

Who is Barack Obama? Probable U. S. presidential candidate, Barack Hussein Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii , to Barack Hussein Obama,Sr., a black MUSLIM from Nyangoma-Kogel , Kenya and Ann Dunham, a white Athiest [sic] from Wichita, Kansas .

Obama’s parents met at the University of Hawaii . When Obama was two years old, his parents divorced. His father returned to Kenya . His mother then married Lolo Soetoro, a RADICAL Muslim from Indonesia . When Obama was 6 years old, the family relocated to Indonesia. Obama attended a MUSLIM school in Jakarta . He also spent two years in a Catholic school. Obama takes great care to conceal the fact that he is a Muslim. He is quick to point out that, ‘He was once a Muslim, but that he also attended Catholic school.’ Obama’s political handlers are attempting to make it appear that that he is not a radical.

Obama’s introduction to Islam came via his father, and that this influence was temporary at best. In reality, the senior Obama returned to Kenya soon after the divorce, and never again had any direct influence over his son’s education. Lolo Soetoro, the second husband of Obama’s mother, Ann Dunham, introduced his stepson to Islam. Obama was enrolled in a Wahabi school in Jakarta . Wahabism is the RADICAL ISLAMIC teaching that is followed by the Muslim terrorists who are now waging Jihad against the western world. Since it is politically expedient to be a CHRISTIAN when seeking major public office in the United States , Barack Hussein Obama has joined the United Church of Christ in an attempt to downplay his Muslim background. ALSO, keep in mind that when he was sworn into office he DID NOT use the Holy Bible, but instead the Koran.

Barack Hussein Obama will NOT recite the Pledge of Allegience nor will he show any reverence for our flag. While others place their hands over their hearts, Obama turns his back to the flag and slouches.

Let us all remain alert concerning Obama’s expected presidential candidacy. The Muslims have said they plan on destroying the US from the inside out, what better way to start than at the highest level - through the President of the United States , one of their own!!!! Please forward to everyone you know. Would you want this man leading our country?……

NOT ME!!!

I’m of two minds as to whether this idiocy deserves a point by point rebuttal. But just in case anyone takes it seriously and visits here, I think I owe it to them to do something like that.

First, Obama was NEVER a Muslim. His biological father was not a practicing Muslim when married to his mother. Second, he divorced his mother two years after Obama was born and returned to Kenya.

Second, Obama’s mother’s second husband was a Muslim, but a very bad one in the sense that he was known for being a womanizer and all around carouser who loved to drink.

Third, Indonesia is a Muslim nation and all schools are Muslim. But the school he attended was not a madrassa, if such a thing even existed several decades ago when Obama attended. It certainly was NOT a Wahabi school.

Fourth, as a Christian, Obama was sworn into office on a Bible and not a Koran (not that there is anything wrong with any politician who swears an oath of office with a Koran). Snopes notes that this is a mistaken reference to Rep. Keith Ellison, a Black Muslim who DID take his oath of office on a Koran, which is entirely legitimate act.

Finally, when have you ever read an authentic e mail that attempts to prove its bona fides by appealing to Snopes. In fact, Snopes is in the business of uncovering online fakery. The fact that the anonymous e mail invokes Snopes is a dead giveaway. In fact, Snopes of course notes that the e mail IS a fake.

It should not be very hard with some close research to figure out who is behind this campaign. Frankly, I’m surprised that no enterprising investigative journalist has already jumped on this. All you need is a few original copies of the e mails and an examination of the originating IP addresses to figure out who and where they came from.

My money is on the latest assault on Jewish inboxes coming from someone either directly or indirectly affiliated with the Frontpagemagazine-Campus Watch-ZOA crowd. I’ve already noted here Daniel Pipes’ Frontpagemagazine article published December 26th in which he advances many of these same charges (though in slightly more sophisticated guise). The e mail was circulating well before Pipes wrote his article, so it appears that Pipes appropriated from it rather than the other way around. But the tone of the email easily fits the rhetoric of the Jewish far right crowd that circles around these groups. It is also possible that the latest dissemination of this fraud emanates from even farther-right Kahanist circles.

But lest we dismiss this tactic as aberrant, we should note that Jewish Week’s James Besser reports that a former president of the Orthodox Union raises the same fraudulent, racist charges in his personal blog:

Dr. Mendy Ganchrow, the longtime leader of a pro-Israel political action committee and former Orthodox Union head, this week hinted in his blog that the Muslim environment in which Obama spent four childhood years will inevitably affect his judgment.

“…With a Muslim father, and being surrounded in his early youth in a Muslim environment, is there such a thing as a ‘pintele Muslim,’ with deep seated feelings which could color decisions re: terrorism and the Middle East?”

Happily, Ben Smith of Politico reports that some Jewish leaders have struck back against this madness with a strong statement condemning this smear:

January 15, 2008

An Open Letter to the Jewish Community:

As leaders of the Jewish community, none of whose organizations will endorse or oppose any candidate for President, we feel compelled to speak out against certain rhetoric and tactics in the current campaign that we find particularly abhorrent. Of particular concern, over the past several weeks, many in our community have received hateful emails that use falsehood and innuendo to mischaracterize Senator Barack Obama’s religious beliefs and who he is as a person.

These tactics attempt to drive a wedge between our community and a presidential candidate based on despicable and false attacks and innuendo based on religion. We reject these efforts to manipulate members of our community into supporting or opposing candidates.

Attempts of this sort to mislead and inflame voters should not be part of our political discourse and should be rebuffed by all who believe in our democracy. Jewish voters, like all voters, should support whichever candidate they believe would make the best president. We urge everyone to make that decision based on the factual records of these candidates, and nothing less.

William Daroff, Vice President, United Jewish Communities
Nathan J. Diament, Director, Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America
Abraham Foxman, National Director, Anti-Defamation League
Richard S. Gordon, President, American Jewish Congress
David Harris, Executive Director, American Jewish Committee
Rabbi Marvin Hier, Dean, Simon Wiesenthal Center
Rabbi David Saperstein, Director, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism
Phyllis Snyder, President, National Council of Jewish Women
Hadar Susskind, Washington Director, Jewish Council for Public Affairs

What is ironic is that a number of the signatories themselves have been guilty of defaming Muslims and minorities for their so-called anti-Semitic or anti-Israel views. Among these are Foxman, who recently called Obama’s minister a “black racist;” and Hier, who pontificated on Iran’s alleged anti-Semitism based on a hoax Jewish star law. I guess we should applaud their joining in signing this document to give it added weight. But in the interests of truth, we should note their hypocrisy in doing so.

Obama’s website also refutes the charges raised by the e mail.  Thanks too to Larry Cohler Esses who pointed me to this fascinating Nation story which uncovers the dirtiest tricks of right-wing viral e mail campaigns including this one.  The story notes that the indirect origin of the current attack is in a press release from 2004 by Andy Martin, an anti-Semitic “perennial Republican senate candidate.”