Josh Block
The effort by former AIPAC staffer Josh Block to smear the Democratic-Party-linked thinktank Center for American Progress as a nest of anti-Semitic bloggers was shepherded in the U.S. by Politico, but Block was the first casualty of the campaign, after his methods became the focus of the story.
Meantime, the effort has gained traction in… the Jerusalem Post! The Post has now run two stories about what it calls “the mushrooming anti-Israel scandal surrounding a group of bloggers working for the US think tank Center for American Progress (CAP).”
The latest JPost hit piece, out yesterday, makes clear the partisan character of Block’s effort. Though Block is a longtime Democrat, his message relies on right-wingers quoting right-wingers (and a few right-leaners). His defense comes from Republican Hill aides:
“I think what we’re seeing play out is a power struggle inside the Democratic Party over the very nature of the US-Israel relationship,” a senior Republican Senate aide told the Post. “There are some forces on the far-Left who insist on perpetuating anti-Semitic stereotypes as a way to achieve their political goals and to change US policy toward Israel. And then you have individuals in the Center-Left, like a Josh Block [the former Clinton administration and AIPAC spokesman who first brought the CAP bloggers’ comments to the attention of Washington news site Politico in December], who are pushing back and saying enough is enough.”
This is what we’ve long pushed for– an argument over the power of the Israel lobby inside the Democratic Party. And will I as an advocate of the Arab Spring in Palestine and the U.S. work with liberal Zionists who oppose settlements to stir the Democratic pot? Yes. (As I will work with Ron Paulians to stir the Republican pot…)
The only struggle in the Democratic party concerning Israel is whether they will back Likud or Labor.
Saving American political culture requires stronger medicine. Political discourse in the USA will not be free and open until anti-Zionism is viewed as at least as acceptable as pro-Israel politics.
Until the US government acknowledges the legitimacy of anti-Zionism, at the very least FBI harassment and political prosecutions of Muslim citizens will continue.
At the very least it is completely inappropriate for the Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence to be a Zionist subversive and “card carrying” member of the Zionist political economic elite: http://www.treasury.gov/about/organizational-structure/Pages/cohen-e.aspx#.TwGu1fBI60M.facebook .
josh block, jpost, Republican Senate aide, all of them want to get out in front of the impending argument they DO NOT WANT TO HAPPEN and label it anti semetic!!!!!!
really, the last thing they want is ordinary americans running around chatting about israel without fear of being called racist. this looming doom and gloom accusation has to hang over all of our heads big time. jpost is humping it!
the democrats are the band on the titanic that played its lil diddy as they sank…..
Phil,
Anyone who relies on some imaginary pro-Palestine wing of the Democrats is removed from the last half-century of history. Worse, if you believe in that, you won’t be demanding boycott or anything else against Israel.
You’ll just read the tea leaves and wait for the Democrats to save Palestine.
Of course, that’s what the entire “movement” did in 2008. They got success beyond their wildest dreams– Obama, who once sat at the same table with Edward Said.
So today we have Obama, feeding Israel more advanced weaponry and bunker-busters than it can possibly use, swearing eternal loyalty to Israel, etc.
Get ready for the 2012 Obama campaign. For the next year, the “movement” will swoon for Obama again, instead of demanding boycott.
That’s how Palestine will die. A permanently paralyzed “movement”, demanding no action, ever, against Israel, and praying for some Democrat savior.