It seems that American Jews have become the go-to-guys for politicians taking on--or playing up--the threat of radical Islam. Ten days ago the Times Magazine published a fine piece of reporting from Kenya about Joseph Lekuton, an M.P. from a rural district who faced a stiff challenge from a young passionate Muslim leader. The article said that Lekuton was reaching out to American Jews for money with the message that the Muslim, whose name is Godana Harugura, is the tool of Islamists.
Kathleen Colson... director of a U.S.-based nonprofit that does microenterprise development [in Kenya]... says that U.S. fund-raisers encouraged Lekuton to focus on his opponent’s Islamic identity in order to appeal to Jewish communities, among other potential donors. “He has been hesitant,” she added, “but now he says, ‘Bring it on.’ ” Whitney Tilson, a New York money manager who... introduced Lekuton to friends and colleagues in Manhattan, says that Lekuton, while not at all hostile to Islam, was quite specific about the threat posed by Harugura. “He said: ‘Here’s what I know. [Harugura's] pretty hard-core. He won’t shake hands with women. I’ve seen food trucks going up to my district saying, ‘Gift from the Embassy of Saudi Arabia.’ "
The story said that Lekuton had lately gone on a 2-week fundraising trip here, meeting "wealthy businessmen." But Harugura denies that he has anything to do with radical Islam.
Harugura and his supporters insist that he is a victim of the post-9/11 syndrome: the fear that anyone with a beard who wears a skullcap and prays five times a day is a potential terrorist. They deny that he has raised any money from Middle Eastern Islamic organizations, say he has put together a strong plan for economic development in the constituency and point out that a large number of Christians support him.
Author Josh Hammer offers this wise comment on the situation:
Both Harugura and Lekuton gave the impression of being caught up, not unlike Kenya itself, in a political narrative that didn’t entirely make sense to them or fit their reality but that they were nonetheless unable to escape.
Beautiful work. But so very far away from the people who are writing that narrative. Isn't it time the Times did this story close to home, looked into the Israel lobby and the wider political interests of that wealthy "Jewish community"?
That was indeed a good story. And it would probably be a mistake to assume that the Kenyan people don't also understand just who is supporting whom and for what reason. This is the quote that caught my eye–
"Muslims’ anger toward America can only help. “What is creeping into Kenyan psyche is [anger] at American people themselves,” he said. “We wonder, How they can go on supporting this regime that is brutalizing people like this?” "
Remember how we were told 9-11 had NOTHING to do with how Jewish Americans treat the Palestinians?
AIPAC membership and feedback
how many dues paying memebers does it have? Any data on how many (if any) critical letters that they get from members, the Jewish community or the broader public?
A very good article by Joshua Hammer. BTW, Hammer wrote a highly inaccurate and more than a bit plagiarized – from rightwing blogs – article for MoJo back in September of 2003 ( link to motherjones.com
), that was a hit piece on Rachel Corrie. It concluded with the line, "Corrie herself has faded into obscurity, a subject of debate in Internet chat rooms and practically nowhere else."
Phan Nguyen deconstructed Hammer's MoJo piece at Counterpunch in an article entitled "Specious Journalism in Defense of Killers" ( link to counterpunch.org
), and Nguyen and I uncovered Hammer's plagiarism of materials from rightwing blogs.
When I informed one of the bloggers that Hammer had taken entire sentences from his post without attribution, the far right blogger wrote back "Imagine my stuff getting into Mother Jones! God, that sucks!"