Khalidi: The Republicans' Latest Smear Against Obama

[struggle4progress]

The latest in a series of guilt-by-association tactics by the GOP to make the staunchly pro-Israel Obama appear to be anti-Israel
By Stephen Zunes, AlterNet. Posted November 1, 2008

... Both McCain and Palin have referred to Khalidi as a former "spokesman" for the Palestine Liberation Organization, citing his time in Beirut during the late 1970s and early 1980s when the then-exiled PLO was based there and some of its armed factions were still engaged in terrorism. Khalidi was never a spokesman for the organization, however, instead serving during that period as a fellow at the Institute for Palestine Studies and as a professor at the American University in Beirut. (I first met Khalidi in the Lebanese capital back in 1981 and recall him as someone who clearly embraced an independent and moderate nationalist perspective.) Later, he served in an advisory capacity for the non-PLO Palestinian delegation to the 1991 Madrid peace talks.

Campaigning on Wednesday, Palin referred to Khalidi as "another radical professor from the neighborhood who spent a lot of time with Barack Obama going back several years." Fox News and scores of other pro-Republican news outlets have similarly accused Khalidi of being an "extremist" and a "supporter of terrorism."

In reality, rather than allying himself with anti-Israeli extremists, Khalidi is far more closely identified with Palestinian moderates and the Israeli peace camp. For example, he serves on the national advisory committee of the U.S. Interreligious Committee for Peace in the Middle East, a highly regarded interfaith group advocating dialogue, education and peace advocacy.

Furthermore, while recognizing the international legal right for a people to resist uniformed foreign occupation forces, Khalidi has opposed terrorism and has explicitly stated that killing Israeli civilians is a "war crime" and "a violation of international law" ...

http://www.alternet.org/audits/105647/khalidi:_the_republicans'_latest_smear_against_obama/

[HopeFor2006]

1. Just keep throwing until something sticks

Gawd I can't wait until Wednesday!

[Behind the Aegis]

2. Nothing more than clever anti-Semitism.

It is used by both the left and right, though both have very different approaches to its use. Both sides crave the Jews support and despise it at the same time. The interesting thing is how Islamaphobia gets mixed into the formula.

[struggle4progress]

3. Superficial references to "the Jews" won't shed much light on US policy towards Israel,

because that policy results from a complex political synthesis of history, religious attitudes, and resource considerations: the policy is partly a reaction to the horrors of the Holocaust, partly support for the only stable democracy in the MidEast, partly a continuation of the old British Foreign Office's divide-and-conquer strategy for the region, partly a technique for maintaining a large military force near the oil fields, partly an expression of the power of the US military-industrial complex and the role that foreign arms sales play in the US economy, partly a political concession to various religious beliefs in the US, and so on

[Behind the Aegis]

4. Which is why it is nothing more than clever anti-Semitism.

Glad you see that.