[THS] Is This A Blatantly Anti-Semitic Exchange on C-Span ?

[Peter Webster]

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24351.htm

Is This A Blatantly Anti-Semitic Exchange on C-Span: ?

By Nissan Ratzlav-Katz

January 08, 2010 "IsraelNN.com" -- A caller on a C-Span interview program Monday
complained about "all these Jews" having "way too much power" in America and
pushing the U.S. into wars with the Muslim world. He found his comments echoed
and expanded upon by the studio guest.

Michael Scheuer, the former director of a CIA unit assigned to track down Osama
Bin-Laden, calmly expressed the view that American soldiers are now dying in Iraq
for the sake of Israelis. He further claimed that any debate of American support for
Israel is squelched in the public sphere.

The interviewer for C-Span's Washington Journal program did not react to the
blatantly anti-Semitic exchange. Several other callers praised Scheuer for his position
regarding Israel, adding their own condemnation of the Jewish State and its
supporters.

An excerpt of the initial discussion follows:

John (on the phone from Franklin, New York): "Good morning. I, for one, am sick
and tired of all these Jews coming on C-Span and other stations and pushing us to
go to war against our Muslim friends. They're willing to spend the last drop of
American blood and treasure to get their way in the world. They have way too much
power in this country. People like Wolfowitz and Feith and the other neo-cons - that
Jewed us into Iraq - and now we're going to spend the next 60 years rehabilitating
our soldiers. I'm sick and tired of it."

C-SPAN host (to Scheuer): "Any comments?"

Scheuer: "Yeah. I think that of course American foreign policy is eventually up to the
American people. One of the big things we have not been able to discuss for the past
30 years is our policy towards the Israelis. Whether we want to be involved in fighting
Israel's wars in the future is something that Americans should be able to talk about.
They may vote yes. They may want to see their kids killed in Iraq or Yemen or
somewhere else to protect Israel. But the question is: we need to talk about it.
Ultimately, Israel is a country that is of no particular worth to the United States."

C-SPAN host: "You mean strategically?"

Scheuer: "Strategically. They have no resources we need. Their manpower is
minimal. Their association with us is a negative for the United States. Now that's a
fact. What you want to do about that fact is entirely different. But for anyone to
stand up in the United States and say that our support for Israel doesn't hurt us in
the Muslim world, or our support for Hosni Mubarak's dictatorship doesn't hurt us, is
to just defy reality."

[Watch the video clip here or the full interview with Scheuer here.]

Earlier in the same interview, however, Scheuer made it clear what he felt should be
done regarding Israel. In his opinion, the U.S. should "persuade" Islamic terrorists
threatening America "to focus their anger" on Israel and on oppressive Middle
Eastern regimes.

American Jewish Groups 'Hurt' Critics of Israel
Scheuer also later elaborated on what he said is the way criticism of Israel is
prevented.

A caller named Nicki from Maryland thanked him for his comments on Israel and
asked, "Why is it that the United States does not want to talk about Israel?" Prefacing
his remarks by asserting that "Israel has every right to do what it needs to do" to
defend itself, including the development of nuclear weapons, Scheuer said that the
U.S. has no real interest in Israel or the Palestinian Authority. "That is a religious war
in which we have no stake," he continued.

Scheuer: "Why don't we talk about that? Because AIPAC and other influential
American Jewish groups are extraordinarily involved in the funding of American
political campaigns and have the ability to reach out and make sure that people lose
their jobs, or are otherwise hurt, if they dare to criticize Israel."

Scheuer went on to claim that he lost a job with the Jamestown Foundation think
tank for saying that then-presidential candidate Barack Obama was "doing what I call
the Tel-Aviv Two Step". As a result, he claimed, "the donors to that foundation"
ordered that he be terminated. He concluded the discussion of Jewish political
influence by saying, "You know, you always talk about the Israel Lobby and its
power, but to see it up close and personal aimed right at me was very educational.
In fact, it was worth the experience of losing a job."