This Thursday the Saban Center at Brookings is holding a talk on Women in a Changing Middle East. The speaker is Under Secretary of State Tara Sonenshine. The moderator is Tamara Cofman Wittes. The issue:
As Arab citizens struggle to rewrite the rules defining their societies, the role and status of Arab women is a sharp focus of debate. Arab women have been at the forefront of change, but have also faced unprecedented challenges. How central is women’s empowerment to the success of Arab societies, and how important are women’s rights in the struggle for democracy? What is the U.S. doing to help Arab women (and men) to advance women and girls in their societies?
On April 4, the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings will host Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Tara Sonenshine for an address on women in the Middle East. Senior Fellow Tamara Cofman Wittes, director of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy, will provide introductory remarks and moderate a discussion with Under Secretary Sonenshine after her remarks.
Gee, could they have maybe recruited an Arab woman to play a part in this conversation?
P.S. And yes, I see the Israel lobby at work. Saban was started by Haim Saban, “a tireless cheerleader for Israel.” Sonenshine played an important role in Obama’s 2008 campaign. Per Washington Jewish Week, she was co-founder of a website called Jews4Obama that was designed to counter concerns that Obama was “bad” for Israel. Eric Fingerhut reported:
“It’s retail politics at the grassroots level,” said Sonenshine. She said that the site has received e-mail “from Peoria to Prague” and offers the opportunity for a really large game of “Jewish geography.”
Let’s organize an event dealing with Israeli domestic policies, the economy and the state of public washrooms and not invite any jewish people.
RE: And yes, I see the Israel lobby at work. Saban was started by Haim Saban, “a tireless cheerleader for Israel.” ~ Weiss
SEE: “Haim Saban”, by Matthew Yglesias, The Atlantic, June 10, 2007
SOURCE – http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2007/06/haim-saban/40714/
Maybe they could still book Brigitte Gabriel to appear. I’m sure she’d be deemed acceptable.
But if there were Arab women present might they not claim some direct knowledge of the subject? Some people may want to listen to them, thereby distracting attention from the “expert” official speakers. Surely you can see what a threat it would be!
This sort of thing is quite normal in Western elite circles. There are conferences on Haiti from which Haitians are excluded, on Afghanistan without a single Afghan present, and so on. What business is it of theirs, after all?
What a wonderful Zionist fantasy — Jewish women leading Arab women into freedom. If Saban is willing to put the dollars to create such a movement, I sure there are plenty of actors who will play their roles.
One can almost feel sorry for Saban, Adelson, et al. They have all of this money to promote Israel’s interests without any good ideas on how it can be profitably spent.