Israeli writer Nahum Barnea penned a sharp attack on choleric Sheldon Adelson, third
richest man in America, describing him as a bully and heavyweight who is messing disastrously in Israeli politics. (The piece was picked up from Yediot Aharanot by Mojo.) Two data points:
"[Adelson] would like all the Arabs to disappear," another
activist for a Jewish organization told me. "It seems that he thinks
that the Arabs are gambling chips."
This is shocking. Bush says he is for a Palestinian state. Yet Adelson was Bush’s guest of honor, the top name on his list for his speech the other day. OK, it was alphabetical. Still, what does this mean politically? Adelson is regularly covered in the U.S. press because of his backing of the pro-Iraq-war Freedom’s Watch, but his true agenda, supporting birthright and Netanyahu and colonies and destroying the possibility of a Palestinian state, is never visited here. Only by Israelis. Why aren’t American journalists interviewing Adelson about his aims for the West Bank–as well as everyone else in Bush’s prayer circle?
Then this: Adelson got angry with another American Jewish activist, met him in Vegas.
The meeting at Adelson’s office, in the Venetian
hotel-casino, was a stormy one. Adelson took out a written list of
accusations, many of them childish. You hosted (PA prime minister)
Salam Fayyad, he said. He is a terrorist with blood on his hands. He is
one of the founders of Fatah. Salam Fayyad was never involved in
terrorism, his interlocutor said. He is not a member of Fatah. Where
did you get these accusations from?
From Steve Emerson, said the billionaire. Emerson is an American Jew who often analyzes terror matters.
It has always seemed to me that the only real motivation of Steven Emerson,
the "terror analyst" who regularly appears on cable television, is to
rationalize everything Israel does by vilifying Arabs. Finally a little
evidence.
