The LA Times Rashid Khalidi Video Controversy
In the last few days, opponents of Barack Obama have attempted to resurrect, from a slightly different angle, the Rashid Khalidi smear first attempted months ago by Sean Hannity.
In April 2008, the Los Angeles Times ran this story about Barack Obama’s relationship with the Palestinian community. In that story, the Times reported on a 2003 dinner held in Rashid Khalidi’s honor, before he departed the University of Chicago for a new position at Columbia. Barack Obama attended the dinner, at which he said nice things about Khalidi and some other attendees said some not-so-nice things about Israel.
The Times was able to report about this dinner because they found a source who was willing to tell them about it, and even to provide a videotape of the event, on the condition that they not reveal his or her identity and not release the tape, presumably because people who attended the dinner would be able to deduce the identity of the person who released it.
Back in April, the Times was criticized for running this article by supporters of Barack Obama, who claimed that the article was biased against him.
Fast forward to the end of October, when the McCain campaign is in dire straights and throwing everything including the kitchen sink at Obama in a last-ditch attempt to turn the race around. In addition to once again demonizing Khalidi (which we’ve already dealt with in our earlier article and address again below), McCain’s supporters are now claiming that the Times is “hiding something” and “protecting Obama” by refusing to release the videotape.
The Times responded to these ludicrous accusations on October 29. To summarize:
- They can’t release the tape because they promised the source they wouldn’t realize the tape. If they hadn’t made that promise, they wouldn’t have been able to report on the dinner at all. Even FOX News agrees that the Times’s refusal to release the tape “is on firm journalistic ground.”
- If the Times had wanted to protect Obama, they wouldn’t have run the story about the dinner in the first place — they were the ones who broke the story, and if they hadn’t printed it, it’s likely that wouldn’t have come to light during the campaign.
- The fact that the Times was criticized by Obama supporters for running the April story makes it even more clear how ludicrous it is to claim that the Times is trying to protect Obama.
This particular smear originated outside the McCain campaign, but the campaign picked up the ball and ran with it. Unfortunately, no one told McCain campaign spokesman Michael Goldfarb that McCain gave Khalidi’s organization half a million dollars over a five-year period in the 1990’s. Apparently, just like Sarah Palin’s bridge to nowhere, McCain was for Rashid Khalidi before he was against him.
What Obama has proven to the American people is that it is not only possible but preferable to do what he has called upon all of us to do — to disagree without being disagreeable. Rashid Khalidi believes and espouses many things with which Barack Obama has made it absolutely, positively, unequivocally clear that he disagrees (but, on the other hand, Khalidi is not nearly the demonic enemy of Israel that the McCain camp has made him out to be, as you can see from this recent article about him in the New York Times). And yet he and Khalidi have a good relationship, just as he has a good working relationship with Orthodox, pro-Israel Illinois Sen. Ira Silverstein, just as he has a good working relationship with Jewish, pro-Israel Rep. Robert Wexler, and just as he has a good working relationship with countless other ardently pro-Israel lawmakers and leaders in this country, many of whom have endorsed his bid for the presidency.
If Israel is to ever achieve peace in the Middle East, it will be done by talking to people like Rashid Khalidi. The fact that Khalidi respects and even has a good relationship with Obama is not something to be scared of; it is something to be excited about, because it means that maybe, just maybe, we will end up with a president in the White House who can help to bridge the gap between the Israelis and the Palestinians.