Correction: The original post below indicated that Steve Emerson had worked at AIPAC. This was a mistake and is not true. Emerson’s lawyer Richard Horowitz contacted us to say “Mr Emerson was never employed nor interned at AIPAC in any fashion or capacity.” He then asked for a retraction and apology “without delay.” Consider this correction a retraction, and to Mr. Emerson, we sincerely apologize for ever implying that you worked for AIPAC, we can imagine distress and embarrassment this has caused.
Original Post:
MJ Rosenberg says that AIPAC and other Israel lobbyists supported Congressman Steve Rothman against Congressman Bill Pascrell in the newly combined 9th District of New Jersey– in some measure because he signed a letter to ease the blockade of Gaza– and lost overwhelmingly in the Democratic primary last night. Full post here. Excerpt:
Here is AIPAC telling the voters in New Jersey who to support. It is from the New Jersey Jewish Standard and it went out, in one form or another, to every Jewish voter in the district.
Josh Block, a former [and current] longtime spokesman for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, said that Rothman’s “record of pro-Israel leadership is second to none, and in this particular race the differences couldn’t be clearer.”
Block accused Pascrell of having “actually sided against American support for Israel’s right to defend herself against weapons smuggling and attacks by terrorists.” He pointed to Pascrell’s signing of a January 2010 letter to Obama criticizing the Israeli and Egyptian blockade of Gaza. The letter, signed by 54 House members, called on the president to press for the easing of the blockade to improve conditions for Palestinian civilians.
Then Steve Emerson, the rightist Islamophobe who formerly worked at AIPAC, put out a long vicious hit piece on Pascrell depicting the Roman Catholic Pascrell as an “Islamist Fellow Traveler.” Follow the link if you want to read it. It is too vile for me to spread by quoting it.
Rothman embraced the lobby onslaught, doing everything he could to make the primary a referendum on Israel, Islam, Muslims, etc. But then James Zogby of the Arab American Institute, a Christian Lebanese-American and a strong supporter (like Pascrell) of Israeli-Palestinian peace came in to work with the district’s Arab-American population and help the local people organize for Pascrell. The issue wasn’t Israel; it was Rothman’s Arab and Muslim-baiting which offended Arab-Americans as much as Jews would be offended by an openly anti-Semitic candidate.
Few expected Pascell to withstand the onslaught with AIPAC directing PACs and individual donors to save their hero, Rothman.
But then yesterday it all blew up in AIPAC’s face. Pascrell won (in essentially Rothman’s old district) with 60% of the vote. Rothman announced his premature retirement from politics while the AIPAC crowd nursed its wounds.
To be clear, Bill Pascrell did not win because of the Israel issue. He himself is pro-Israel, just not anti-Arab. He won because of his Get Out The Vote campaign, hustling from door to door and ads like this. And because he is an effective and strong progressive from a district that appreciates that.
Nonetheless, this race was the first time that the lobby went head to head with an organized Arab-American community and its friends (notably in the non-AIPAC, non-Orthodox, Jewish community) and got that head handed to it.
“”But then James Zogby of the Arab American Institute, a Christian Lebanese-American and a strong supporter (like Pascrell) of Israeli-Palestinian peace came in to work with the district’s Arab-American population and help the local people organize for Pascrell.”"
Good, they need to organize more. While I hate to endorse tribal politics sometimes it takes a tribe to beat a tribe. Even if Pascell wasn’t anti Israel his being Not anti Arab probably had an effect.
Democracy wins.
I wouldn’t say that.
The piece that Phil links to on the AIPAC crowd nursing its wounds still says that Pascrell’s voting record is consistently with AIPAC – with exceptions like signing the letter on Gaza.
That’s the insidious nature of that organisation – back all the horses and they always have a winner.
Democracy loses.
The hope in this situation is the American Arab community organising better, and possibly Rothman’s supporters being turned off by his islamophobia.
Exactly, by punishing (or opposing) people who get even a little bit out of (AIPAC’s party) line, AIPAC scares all politicians and usually gets them to support the party-lien 100%. AIPAC’s actual donations to most politicians is small. They prevail by threatening to make major contributions to opponents. Most politicians cannot see any benefit to taking such a risk.
He was pro-Israel because that’s the position the Israel Lobby has worked very hard to make the default position for any democratic politician(or republican for that matter).
However, as you say, Pascrell became the choice of progressives as Rothman veered far into the racist netherworld and it backfired.
Pascrell absolutely won because of Arabs, and his ‘pro-Israel’ positions have gotten considerably weaker.
A conservative Jewish webzine actually did fairly good coverage of this. There was an early campaign to smear Pascrell as an anti-Semite. Yes, of course they went there. And at the same time, they tried to organize the (mostly) Republican Orthodox Jews too. So it was tribal warfare, only it wasn’t Jews vs Arabs(as they’d like to think). It was Zionist Jews vs liberal Arabs. A different story alltogether.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Pascrell got a decent amount of the Jewish vote. Perhaps not a majority but probably a fair minority share. Blood loyalty still matters.
By the way, here’s the article. Notice the rising demographic panic of ‘The Arabs/Muslims!’ which carries itself in the tone and tenor of the piece.
link to freebeacon.com
A few more elections like this, and maybe Congresspeople will lose their fear of AIPAC.
Thanks, Phil. This is good news!
link to blog.nj.com
Pro-Rothman pundits invariably bring up the fact that Pascrell’s home turf of Paterson is home to a large Arab and Muslim population. With the current anti Arab and Muslim sentiments permeating the public discourse, including some disturbing polls, such linkage is intended to intimidate voters away from considering Pascrell.
The Arab and Muslim community of northern New Jersey is taking notice of how Steve Rothman is using his support of Israel as the centerpiece of his campaign. They detest being labeled simply as an ‘anti Israel constituency”, a blanket judgment made by one of Rothmans’s formidable financial backers (Chouaka of NORPAC in the Jewish Voice, Jan 12).
They take issue with Rothman bragging about his help in getting Israel over $50 billion in aid since 2001, while bringing back only $2 billion to New Jersey residents. Critics of Rothman see this as a lopsided math expressive of misdirected commitment. (“Pro-Rothman letter by synagogue presidents stirs debate,” Jewish Standard, February 24)
Arab and Muslim grassroots meetings are forming all over District 9, strategizing for a massive voter turnout, with voter registration drives outside mosques and along Main Street, fundraising, and a targeted mobilization of volunteers. I was invited to observe several of them, and invariably, the mood was intensely personal. Ethnic newspapers based in Paterson have published articles, opinions, and even paid ads supportive of Pascrell. The candidates’ position on Palestine appears paramount, and for many, it has already informed their expected vote.
At a recent fundraising event in Hasbrouck Heights, James Zogby, president of the American Arab Institute, helped raise over $50,000. According to Mr. Salah Mustafa of Clifton, N.J., who is actively volunteering to help Pascrell’s in-reach efforts into the Arab and Muslim community, several smaller fundraising events have taken place, bringing the tally to over $100,000. Last Friday, the Imam’s mosque was host to a large gathering that hosted Congressman Keith Ellison (D-MN). Mr. Ellison was in town to support Congressman Pascrell.
It is possible that donations will continue to flow into Pascrell’s coffers since, unlike the Jewish side, there exists no formal PAC through which money from large Arab and Muslim donors can be channeled. Pascrell’s strong views in support of Imam Mohammad Qatanani – a view not so publicly expressed by Rothman – will likely engender more support from the Imam’s large congregation, which has, since 2008, stood solidly by him as he fought off the US government’s attempt to deport him to Jordan.’’
>>>>>>>>>>
I think politicians bragging about how much US taxpayer money they send to Israel
is going to turn off non Jewish voters in particular, Arabs or otherwise……so I imagine that also had some impact.
Looking around for an hour on this the usual suspects are outdoing themselves, Geller, Emerson and their crowd …..declaring this election was ANTI JEWISH and all about Jewish hatred and so forth and so on.
I love MJ Rosenberg.
anything that puts AIPAC and other Fifth Columnists in check is a good thing
BTW…Karen Kwiatkowski is running for congreee in W. Va….I would love to see her win…but even if she doesn’t it’s beyond good that she is out there talking and telling it like it is. She will get smeared as anti semitic because of her expose of the Israel zio cabal in the pentagon ….but even that is good because she sure as hell knows how to hit them right back…and will.
link to original.antiwar.com
Karen Kwiatkowski’s Primary Mission
This is why religion need to be removed from the lexicon of the political activists in Syria,Egypt,India,Pakistan and Nigeria ( those salafist,whabist,anti shi anti hindu anti christian thugs supported by saudi need to be exposed and marginalized unless they change their perspective )Otherwise this kind of fight will not be won against the Israeli -firsters anywhere .They will morphe, change the garb,alter the slogan,wedge themselves in things that don’t matter to divide and conquer. They will project their worst hatred on others and attribute to others their own motive to advance their illegal,treacherous agenda .New Jersey has shown that it could be done.
Yes, saw the Times story –which naturally made no mention of the AIPAC subtext. But I did recall something about it from before. And it seems a surprising win, as half the district was Rothman’s old one, Pascrell a crusty old and underfunded pol. Bravo Catholic get out the vote!
Even a bit more outlandish…is rabbi to the stars (Jon Gosselin , Michael Jackson, etc) Shmuley Boteach (or as his critics call him, Smily Botox)…has ‘won’ the GOP seat in this election. Shmuley who touts “Jewish family values” such as his sister Ateret’s son Efraim Diveroli, whose father Michael set him up at age 19 to run his own Weapon selling contracts thru procurement contracts at the Pentagon, made a cool quarter billion by selling ancient Chinese ammo repackaged thru a trader in Albania he knew, sold to the Afghan army. Shmuley’s brother, Barkochbar was selling weapons in an impoverished East LA stripmall until community leaders and Congresswoman Maxine Waters confronted him and chased him out..though he continues to sell para-military equipment and weapons thru his lucractive outlets stashing his profits to avoid paying childsupport and taxes in an Israeli bank. Shmuley also had a money scandal of sorts when he was accused of inappropriate management of money he was raising for a charity in London but most info about that issue has ‘disappeared’. Yeah…sure….family values….weapon sales and fast lifestyles of the rich and wannabe famous. Hollywood’s loss would become NJ’s.