Jim Moran, (D, VA) - Anti-Semite

The blog Extreme Mortman linked to an article in the Washington Post about the latest anti-Semitic rant by Jim Moran.

For those who believe that Moran is not expressing an anti-Semitic sentiment, we need only examine what he is saying, not the many similar examples of his attempts to smear AIPAC.

Let’s analyze Moran’s beliefs in his own words:

Moran said the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is "the most powerful lobby and has pushed this war from the beginning.

Set aside the question of whether AIPAC is the most powerful lobby (it is not nearly as powerful as many domestic interests like AARP or the trial lawyers). It has been revealed, the Israeli government did not consider Iraq to be their biggest enemy. That honor was reserved for Iran, currently developing a nuclear weapon. In fact, Israel opposed the attack on Iraq because they believed it would distract America from Iran. So, no, AIPAC has not pushed this war from the beginning. Some people commonly referred to as “neo-conservatives” and generally assumed to be Jews, have been proponents of this war, but to conflate their views with either AIPAC or with Israel is simply not true. However, if you are of the opinion that a large group of wealthy Jews are directing American foreign policy, this whole thing makes sense. In the same way that “Mein Kampf” makes sense.

I don't think they represent the mainstream of American Jewish thinking at all, but because they are so well organized, and their members are extraordinarily powerful -- most of them are quite wealthy -- they have been able to exert power."

And here we have again the paranoid claim that wealthy Jews are directing American foreign policy. The assumption is that American foreign policy under Bush would have been different if Bush were not under the influence of AIPAC. That George Bush would be agreeing with that French ambassador to Britain that called Israel “that shitty little country.”

Now Jim Moran may have information about the hidden agenda of AIPAC that only he is aware of, but if you go to AIPAC’s website you will find exactly NO references to the war in Iraq. That’s right: zip, zero, nada, NO references to support for the war in Iraq. Isn’t it amazing that this supposed cheerleader for American involvement in Iraq should not trumpet that support? Why not Jim, or anyone else who wants to claim that Jim Moran is not spouting nonsense, and anti-Semitic nonsense at that.

While I have no doubt that some wealthy Jewish people support the war in Iraq, the ones grabbing the headlines, like billionaire George Soros or Mr. & Mrs. Barbra Streisand (along with many other Jewish luminaries in the entertainment industry) all seem to be virulently opposed to the war. Even many of my Jewish friends, wealthy or not, seem to be opposed, so I’m curious about this coterie of “wealthy Jews” who are supporters of the war. What does Jim Moran know that the rest of us don’t?