Jesse Jackson is no friend of the Jews (”hymie-town”) and no friend of Barack Obama (”He’s talking down to black people.  I wanna cut his nuts off.”).  As reported in The Washington Post, Jackson has not been asked to serve as an Obama surrogate, has not been asked to campaign jointly with him, and was given no role at the Democratic National Convention for the first time in decades.

And yet, for some inexplicable reason, Obama’s detractors would have us believe that Jackson is accurately describing Obama’s policies and beliefs when he yet again puts his foot in his mouth and says something stupid, boneheaded, and completely detached from reality.

The basis for this particular irrational smear is an interview Jackson gave to Amir Taheri of the New York Post.   Here is what Jackson is alleged to have said, as reported by Taheri:

The most important change would occur in the Middle East, where “decades of putting Israel’s interests first” would end.

Jackson believes that, although “Zionists who have controlled American policy for decades” remain strong, they’ll lose a great deal of their clout when Barack Obama enters the White House.

In debunking this smear, let’s start with the most basic question — why should we take seriously anything that Jesse Jackson has to say about Barack Obama?  Frankly, the only thing the two men have in common is the color of their skin.  And, as Jeffrey Goldberg recently so eloquently put it, “So, all you rumor-mongering, fever-headed Jewish conspiracists… After a point, it becomes obvious that what you fear is not Israel’s destruction, but the presence of an African-American in the White House. And that’s disgusting.”

We also need to ask whether we can trust that Jackson actually said what has been attributed to him by Taheri.   Taheri is an Iranian-born journalist who was educated in Tehran. His 1989 book, Nest of Spies, was debunked for citing “nonexistent sources,” fabricating “nonexistent substance in cases where the sources existed,” and distorting the facts “beyond recognition.” In 2005, Taheri claimed that Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, Javad Zarif, had taken part in the 1979 hostage crisis at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. “This allegation is false,” San Francisco State University professor Dwight Simpson wrote to the New York Post (which had published a Taheri column making the claim). “On November 4, 1979 [the day of the seizure], Javad Zarif was in San Francisco. He was then a graduate student in the Department of International Relations of San Francisco State University. He was my student, and he served also as my teaching assistant.”  In 2006, Taheri invented a completely false story about a new law that would require Iranian Jews to wear yellow insignia, a story which was quickly debunked and proven to be without any basis whatsoever.  In short, Taheri is a known liar.  Who knows if he’s telling the truth about his interview with Jackson?

And let’s also remember where Taheri’s column appeared.  The New York Post is a tabloid which has endorsed McCain for president.  They are known for sensationalism and for playing fast and loose with the facts (e.g., they refused to print the letter from Professor Simpson quoted above), so it’s hardly surprising that they’d publish the work of a known liar like Taheri, especially when it makes McCain’s opponent look bad.  Leaving aside the fact that Jackson’s supposed comments have nothing whatsoever to do with Obama’s views, until and unless those comments are confirmed by a more reputable source, it’s reasonable to assume that he never actually said them.

Here’s the statement that the Obama campaign released about this silly attack:

“Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. is not an adviser to the Obama campaign and is therefore in no position to interpret or share Barack Obama’s views on Israel and foreign policy. As he has made clear throughout his career and throughout this campaign, Barack Obama has a fundamental commitment to a strong U.S.-Israel relationship, and he is advised by people like Dennis Ross, Daniel Kurtzer, Rep. Robert Wexler, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and Senator Joe Biden, who share that commitment. As president, he will ensure that Israel can defend itself from every threat it faces, stand with Israel in its quest for a secure peace with its neighbors, and use all elements of American power to end Iran’s illicit nuclear program. No false charges can change Barack Obama’s unshakeable commitment to Israel’s security.”

Let’s finish putting this smear to bed by borrowing a few more words from Jeffrey Goldberg:

Barack Obama has called Israel America’s strongest ally in the Middle East; he wants to stop Iran from getting the bomb; he is a stalwart enemy of Hamas and Hezbollah; he is the darling of Chicago Jewry; he is the protege of Sen. Dick Durbin, whose election was aided immeasurably by AIPAC; he himself is close to AIPAC; his advisers include Dennis Ross, Jim Steinberg and Richard Clarke; and on and on and on. …

Support McCain, if you want, and there are credible reasons for doing so, but stop smearing Obama in the face of overwhelming evidence that the man is a great friend of Jews and of Israel.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 16th, 2008 at 12:26 am and is filed under Foreign policy, Israel Worry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.