APN and AAI set up a conference call today to announce their poll results (below) and when I asked AAI’s Jim Zogby why more Arab-Americans (6%) would have the U.S. lean towards Israel in its Mideast policy than lean towards the Palestinians (5%)*, he said this reflected the fact that the Arab-American community was diverse and not that hardline. "Spencer Abraham, Donna Shalala, and George Mitchell are more typical of Arab-Americans," Zogby said: "assimilated."
I found it fascinating that an Arab-American leader would be extolling the idea of assimilation at a time when assimilation is generally a dirty word in the Jewish community. Of course, I’m hoping to change that!
*66 percent called for steering the middle course
