While Keith Ellison is odds on favorite to win the race as the next chair of the Democratic National Committee, we’ve only just begun to hear from the Israel Lobby on the subject. You might ask: why would the Lobby weigh in at all?

To answer this question, you have to return to the FBI wiretap of the Israeli embassy in Washington, which Shamai Leibowitz’ leaks to me exposed in 2009. As a result of them, I learned that the Minneapolis Jewish Community Relations Council was keeping tabs on Rep. Ellison. Here is what I wrote in the Truthout article I published (which seems to have disappeared from the site):
In Minneapolis, the local Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) briefed the Chicago Israeli Consulate on the travel schedule and a meeting it held with Rep. Keith Ellison, the first Muslim-American elected to Congress. Ellison, according to the tapes, was viewed as hostile to Israeli interests. In fact, the JCRC official told the Israeli diplomat that Ellison had just led a local trade delegation to Saudi Arabia (a big no-no) and was planning to join Rep. Brian Baird (D-Washington) in a fact-finding mission to Gaza in the aftermath of the war. This trip, too, was viewed with alarm by both parties in the transcripts.
“The JCRC director conceded implicitly in The American Jewish World that he monitored Ellison and reported to the consulate:
‘As part of our work fostering a strong U.S.-Israel relationship, the JCRC communicates from time to time with the Consul General’s office in Chicago … Accordingly, the JCRC’s conversations with the Consul General’s office have included discussions about members of Minnesota’s Congressional delegation, including Representative Ellison.'”
This is the same Jewish communal agency which succeeded in cancelling a talk by Archbishop Desmond Tutu at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. To do so, the JCRC director dredged up a fake Tutu quotation which equated Israel with Hitler. The quotation was fabricated by Zionist Organization of America head, Mort Klein. The ZOA upcoming annual fundraising gala will feature Steve Bannon, whom Klein has lauded as pro-Israel, and “not an anti-Semite,” contrary to the pronouncements of everyone else in the Jewish community and the entire American media.
Returning to Ellison’s Gaza trip, both the Israeli foreign ministry and the local Israel Lobby saw any sympathy for Palestinians as a red flag. And they felt it necessary to keep tabs on Israel’s “enemies.” Probably for just this reason: such intelligence could provide fodder if the Lobby ever needed to sabotage either Congressman’s career. And they apparently do now:
Prominent Jewish leaders told CBS2’s Kramer they are upset with Schumer for backing Ellison, who has been highly critical of Israel.
The Jewish leaders recited a litany of concerns. Ellison, the first Muslim in Congress, worked to insert pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel pranks [sic] into the Democratic Party platform, but they were stopped by the Clinton team.
On a trip to Israel last summer, Ellison posted a photo of a sign in Hebron declaring Israel to be an apartheid state. He also proudly defended Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan against accusations of being anti-Semitic.
“(H)is vile beliefs… ought to disqualify him outright,” said Joel Mowbray, a consultant to Jewish groups. “If Chuck Schumer actually did his due diligence and is supporting Ellison anyway, that’s shameful.”
Jewish leaders also claimed Schumer’s support of Ellison is at odds with Schumer’s own strong support for Israel.
CBS2’s Kramer asked Schumer’s office why he is supporting an anti-Israel candidate.
Schumer spokesman Angelo Roefaro replied: “Democrats have an excellent platform, including one of the strongest pro-Israel platforms. Keith Ellison was instrumental in making that happen and persuading others to support it.”
It’s extraordinary that a local CBS affiliate would write a story which could be a press release from Mort Klein’s Zionist Organization of America. Note that Jewish leaders (i.e. Republicans likely supporting Donald Trump and certainly supporting Israel’s far-right Likud government) list the first gripe against Ellison that he is “the first Muslim in Congress.” That’s a racist statement right out of the Trump Islamophobic playbook.
Second, the planks which Ellison supported were not “anti-Israel.” They announced opposition to Israeli Occupation and they sought to remove language that denounced the BDS movement. Official U.S. government policy opposes the Israeli Occupation. UN resolutions oppose the Occupation. Why is it controversial to reaffirm such policy in a party document? Further, seeking to have the platform remain neutral on BDS is in no way “anti-Israel.” Even supporting BDS, which the minority plank wouldn’t have done, isn’t anti-Israel.
Calling Israel’s Occupation of Hebron “apartheid” isn’t anti-Israel at all. Jimmy Carter did it in his book almost a decade ago. Haaretz’s Israeli columnists regularly use the phrase. I do as well. None of us is anti-Israel.
Joel Mowbray, the only “leader” quoted by name in this report, contributes to a panoply of far-right GOP outlets including Algemeiner, Town Hall, the National Review and Aish HaTorah. He is a fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies and adjunct fellow at the Hudson Institute. He is a Regenry author, whose literary stables include the stars of the GOP far-right. He was once a legislative assistant to Rep. Mark Sanford, whose claim to fame was having an affair with an Argentine woman while married to his American wife, all the while claiming his long absences from the governor’s mansion were the result of hiking the Appalachian Trail. This is the person who should determine whether Keith Ellison becomes DNC chair?
Make no mistake: this attack on Ellison originates from Jewish leaders who are Republicans, representatives of the Israel Lobby, and advocates for the worst policies of the Israel’s far-right government. Democrats, including Sen. Schumer must decide is such individuals have legitimacy in the campaign to determine who is DNC chair. Hint: they don’t.
Keith Ellison, whose candidacy is supported by Bernie Sanders, is the future of the Democratic Party. Hillary Clinton is the past. Does Chuck Schumer want to hitch his star to pro-Israel political extortionists or to the future?
“Calling Israel’s Occupation of Hebron “apartheid” isn’t anti-Israel at all.”
When 800 religious Jews, who occupy 3% of the Hebron, are surrounded by 100,000 Hebron Arabs, how does that equal ‘apartheid’?
So what are asking, exactly?
Correction: So what are you asking, exactly?
@ Fenster: It’s 25,000 Palestinians, not 10,000. Those 800 force all 25,000 to live in fear from the hundreds of soldiers who guard them. The main shopping street for local natives is locked shut. Palestinian homes are stolen.by settlers. Land is stolen fraudulently by settlers.
Do not post more than three times in any 24 hr period. And do not post again in this thread.
Look who is attacking Ellison and defending Steve Bannon:
http://www.alternet.org/grayzone-project/alan-dershowitz-ludicrously-defends-white-nationalist-stephen-bannon-against-anti
Richard – is it time to do a hit piece on this child rapist (Dershowitz)? I absolutely hate this guy!!
I wrote a (long) comment to Barbarian, but twice it disappeared, once when I left the page to find a recent youtube-video from Hebron showing how Jewish settlers prevented Internationals from passing through the street with Israeli soldiers just watching, and Anat Cohen telling an Icelandic lady to take her language and go to Auschwitz, and the second time I don’t know why it disappeared so I’m giving up.
As I said; there are plenty of videos on the net showing the state of Apartheid in Hebron but I guess a troll does what a troll has to do: trolling
@Deir Yassin: My apologies. That’s annoying. I use a form recovery plugin called Lazarus which has saved my neck & comments that were lost, many times, allowing me to restore them. Let me know if you’re interested in reading about it.
It’s okay, I just wanted you to know that the site doesn’t function as earlier.
[Comment deleted. You may not publish the same comment twice or a comment that repeats the same argument.]
“I ask again. Where is the apartheid?”
The apartheid is an entire city of 150,000 Palestinians being kept under a strict military rule that limits their movement in their own city for the benefit of 800 Jews who are free to move wherever they wish in the city, and whose presence in the city is illegal under international law.
Got it?
@Dannyboy
I got it that you don’t know what the heck your talking about.
80% of Hebron is under the control of the PA. %20 is under control of Israel.
150.000 Palestinians live under control of the PA and 35,000 Palestinians and 800 Jews live under control of Israel. No Jew, I repeat no Jew, is allowed entry into the (80%) PA controlled section of Hebron.
Maybe you should back out of this.
That cancerous tumor you call a settlement in Hebron places limits on ALL Hebronite Palestinians, not just those living near it. The Jews living illegally in Hebron control access to the Ibrahimi mosque, which many Hebronite Palestinians frequent on a daily basis (and are frequently denied access to). Also, Hebron’s main market has been shut down for more than a decade.
Time for the cancerous tumor known as the Jewish settlement in Hebron to be cut out!
[comment deleted: off topic. Read comment rules & follow them. Comments must be ON-TOPIC. This was not.]
[Comment deleted. Read the comment rules. Comments must related directly to the post. Those which do not may be published &/or may lead to moderation.
I suggest, in the strongest possible terms, that Richard immediately delete Danny’s comment about Dershowitz.
Nobody wants a libel suit here, do they?
@Fenster: I didn’t ask for your advice. Don’t offer unless asked. A commenter is permitted to have an opinion about the charges levelled against Dershowitz & express themselves here. I have not expressed an opinion on them myself nor will I.
The next time you offer unsolicited advice you may be moderated.
“Keith Ellison, whose candidacy is supported by Bernie Sanders, is the future of the Democratic Party. ”
I detect a lot of wishful thinking here. If you are correct, which is a huge IF, then the Democratic party will become irrelevant faster than you imagine. Most Americans don’t buy the extreme leftist narrative about Israel and other issues. Besides, they have more important things to worry about. Not everything is about Israel.
Witness the current election results….
@Yehuda: How telling that a far right pro Israel ultra nationalist tells us that progressive politics supported by tens of millions of Americans is “irrelevant.” I guess all those Bernie voters would beg to differ. Not to mention that virtually every poll on the question finds Bernie would’ve done fat better than Hillary & acually beaten Trump.
You probably thought Obama was a flash in the pan when he was a no-name U.S. senator just-announced for president.
“You probably thought Obama was a flash in the pan when he was a no-name U.S. senator just-announced for president.”
Wrong. I voted for him, and I have supported most of what he has done. He is a centrist, which means he was too right wing for you.
@ Yehuda: Obama a “centrist?” You’re mad. The only thing he was centrist about was Israel. And drone killings. No centrist creates a national health care law or enacts Dodd-Frank. Or recognizes gay marriage. Or does away with Don’t Ask-Don’t Tell. Or refuses to intervene in Syria or bomb Iran.
If Obama was centrist then Hillary was right wing. Then what is the GOP? National Socialists? That’s why you’re crazy. And you’re done in this thread.
[comment deleted: Powerline? Really? You want to quote that piece of right-wing garbage here? I don’t think so. Not to mention I wouldn’t trust anything it said about anyone on the left even if it claimed to be quoting them.]