Obama for President today announced its Arab-Americans for Obama coalition.

“I am very proud to have so many distinguished Arab-Americans on my team,” said Barack Obama. “This country has been a beacon to people around the globe. The American Dream belongs to the world, but lately, it has been harder to pursue that dream. I am committed to bringing prosperity to the United States and creating the good jobs that foster opportunity and will inspire another generation of dreamers. Together, we will restore America to the land of possibility it has always been.”

Among the members of Obama’s Pro-Palestinian task force are the following luminaries:

Darrell Issa: Lebanese American. Only member of Congress to have visited Lebanon. Critical of Israel’s dealings with Hezbollah. Criticized the need for Federal payments to firefighters and victims of 9/11.

John E. Sununu: Former Senator of mixed Lebanese/Palestinian ancestry. His father, John H. Sununu was the only governor of a U.S. state not to call for repeal of the controversial UN General Assembly Resolution 3379 (“Zionism is Racism”). He later reversed his position after intense political pressure.

Spencer Abraham: Former Senator, of Lebanese descent. Was one of only a handful of Senators refusing to sign a letter calling on President Bill Clinton to condemn Palestinian terrorism and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Abraham has a strong record of kowtowing to anti-Israel interests with ties to the Syrian regime, Hezbollah and Al-Qaeda.

Richard Hanna: US Congressman and Arab American of Lebanese/Syrian Christian descent. Endorsed notoriously anti-Israel Ron Paul for President and voted against Iran sanctions.

David Ramadan: Member of the Virginia House of Delegates, of Shiite, Lebanese heritage. Supported the construction of the Ground Zero Mosque.

George R. Salem: Palestinian American Christian, Co-founder and current Chairman of the Arab American Institute, served as treasurer of the United Palestinian Appeal. He is a past president of the National Association of Arab Americans and has served on the board of directors of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. Served as a lawyer for the Holy Land Foundation, a group that was shut down in 2001 because of its ties to Hamas. Signed letter urging US Support for a UN Condemnation of Israeli Settlements and works actively on UN Palestine statehood bid. Served as the Solicitor of Labor, the U.S. Department of Labor’s chief legal officer.

I fully expect a scathing press release from the Republican Jewish Coalition, big headlines on Fox News, and harsh condemnation from Romney aide Dan Senor, Republican Jewish Committee Chairman Matt Brooks, Emergency Committee for Israel executive director Noah Pollak, Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol etc. etc. and justifiably so! I mean what the hell was Obama thinking???

Oh wait. Oh my. I am so sorry. This post shouldn’t be titled “Obama for President Announces Arab-Americans For Obama” but rather “Romney for President Announces Arab-Americans For Romney.” I am SO embarassed. Apparently Michael Goldfarb, who helped found the Emergency Committee for Israel and chairs the Center for American Freedom said Romney’s stated positions and his closer advisers inoculate him on the question. “I don’t think it’s going to be an issue,” he said. “Romney’s surrounded by a really pro-Israel team, he’s genuinely passionate about the issue, and Obama — he seems genuinely passionate about finding new ways to poke pro-Israel voters in the eye.”

OK. Cool. Never mind then. Just pretend I didn’t say a thing.

H/T: Buzzfeed
Romney For President Press Release

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About the author

ck

Founder and Publisher of Jewlicious, David Abitbol lives in Jerusalem with his wife, newborn daughter and toddler son. Blogging as "ck" he's been blocked on twitter by the right and the left, so he's doing something right.

7 Comments

  • Aside from the totally confusing (read, misleading) beginning to this post, I’m nonplussed at the three images of President Obama typecast as an Arab.

    You didn’t go far enough to clarify to the reader that your quote was ROMNEY’s, not Obama’s and should actually illustrate the tremendous threat for Israel should the Republicans be elected . Instead, you led the reader down an distracting path that shifted the ire toward Obama, rather than the unacceptable actions of Republican congressmen and senators, and Romney’s poorly timed (but revealing) statement.

    Yes, what were you thinking?

  • I was trying to be subtle. Every Republican that I have shown this to fell for it until the very end. Then they gave me an angry look and said “Oh David…”

    So yeah. Mission accomplished 🙂

  • I’m all for subtlety. And I suppose Romney wouldn’t come off as a very convincing Arab if it was his picture that was photoshopped – so you’ve got a point there.

    Come to think about it, your list of “luminaries” here says it all.

    Thanks for the invigorating and well-researched article. It certainly did make the reader sit up and think.

    • Well there ya go. I know my sense of humor isn’t like… everyone’s cup of tea… but I try.

  • You guys are soo funny.

    http://www.investigativeproject.org/3777/a-red-carpet-for-radicals-at-the-white-house

    “A Red Carpet for Radicals at the White House

    by Steve Emerson and John Rossomando
    IPT News
    October 21, 2012
    A year-long investigation by the Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) has found that scores of known radical Islamists made hundreds of visits to the Obama White House, meeting with top administration officials.

    Court documents and other records have identified many of these visitors as belonging to groups serving as fronts for the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and other Islamic militant organizations.

    The IPT made the discovery combing through millions of White House visitor log entries. IPT compared the visitors’ names with lists of known radical Islamists. Among the visitors were officials representing groups which have:

    Been designated by the Department of Justice as unindicted co-conspirators in terrorist trials; Extolled Islamic terrorist groups including Hamas and Hizballah;
    Obstructed terrorist investigations by instructing their followers not to cooperate with law enforcement;
    Promoted the incendiary conspiratorial allegation that the United States is engaged in a “war against Islam”— a leading tool in recruiting Muslims to carry out acts of terror;
    Repeatedly claimed that many of the Islamic terrorists convicted since 9-11 were framed by the U.S government as part of an anti-Muslim profiling campaign.”

    And your non-integrated, dual commenting thing is whack… like Obama. 🙂

  • I know it’s whack. Maybe I’ll use Disqus or something. I don’t know. It’s a work in progress Alex. I can’t speak to the revelations in Emerson’s article because they sure do seem one sided. I mean, I’d love to see a similar study of visitors to the Bush White House. Furthermore, our post shows that ties with shady individuals with questionable ties is not the unique purview of the Obama White House. Finally, it would also be of interest to us to see a compare and contrast study of Jewish/Zionist White House access under the Obama administration, no?

  • I would guess that many of the “Jewish/Zionist” visitors to the White House would be of the J Street type, who, as we all know, are not really Zionist/pro-Israel in the first place (but rather more pro-Democratic politics).