Obama administration chooses strange honorees.

***"Inadvertent" calumny of Israel yields to gratuitous insult.***
http://tinyurl.com/m2v3ob
Op-Ed: There’s something about Mary By Ami Eden · August 12, 2009 NEW YORK-- The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the nation’s highest civilian honor, but don’t expect everyone to be smiling Wednesday when President Obama recognizes 16 distinguished people with the award. Jewish groups and pro-Israel activists are fuming over the president’s decision to honor Mary Robinson, the former (ceremonial)president of Ireland and past U.N. commissioner for human rights. The anger dwarfs anything seen so far regarding the Obama administration’s handling of the Israeli-Palestinian issue...(Even those Jewish groups reflexively siding with Obama on even other Israel issues draw the line here.)...the honor for Robinson has prompted ...speak out against the Obama administration’s decision. Perhaps even more telling is the silence coming from several left-wing groups (J Street, Americans for Peace Now, Israel Policy Forum and Brit Tzedek v'Shalom) that have eagerly jumped at the chance to defend Obama on settlements and Palestinian statehood. So why is Robinson’s selection so unsettling?...
The fight over Robinson isn't about criticizing Israel. It’s about Durban and the noxious notion that in a world filled with racism and genocide, Israel is a rogue nation deserving of special rebuke.In the end, Robinson ended up lending legitimacy to this warped worldview. So however praiseworthy her other efforts in shining a light on human rights issues, don’t expect friends of Israel to think she’s deserving of America’s highest civilian honor.//
****Eric Holder has already demonstrated softness on terrorism, Radical Islam and, indeed, anyone not a felon capable of making large donations to Clinton (and probably Obama) causes.****
http://tinyurl.com/lok9zy
Zogby's Free Pass IPT News August 12, 2009
http://www.investigativeproject.org/1375/zogbys-free-pass
Attorney General Eric Holder made a curious selection for the closing speaker at a July 20 Justice Department conference marking the 45th anniversary of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964. Rather than turning to a lion of the movement, or a figure whose success in life was made possible by the bill, Holder turned to Arab American Institute (AAI) President James Zogby. It's a curious move because...an examination of Zogby's record shows he is an apologist for Muslim Brotherhood-linked groups like the Muslim Students Association (MSA) and terrorist organizations like Hamas and Hizballah....he is a strident foe of the federal government's efforts to cut off funding for terrorist organizations, including efforts by Holder's department. Zogby's address barely touched on the significance of the Civil Rights Act....Zogby used his speech to settle some partisan political scores and depict himself and other Arab-Americans as victims -- of murder; death threats; "blacklisting" and "harassment;" "stereotypes;" "defamation;" and even harsh U.S. immigration laws that turned his father into an illegal alien...attacked the Bush Administration for detaining Arab and Muslim immigrants and visitors right after the September 11 attacks (...the detainees were in the United States illegally.) He denounced...how ethnic/racial profiling might be used to prevent terrorist attacks....not a word about the sacrifices of Dr. Martin Luther King or other civil-rights workers...did include a note of self-praise for Zogby and others like him who worked in the Rev. Jesse Jackson's failed 1984 and 1988 presidential campaigns – which Zogby in turn used to promote his own organization, AAI....Despite a long history of radical comments,...he is treated with kid gloves in the media and is often cited as an authority on policy issues. ...Zogby's worldview - particularly when it comes to terrorism and other Middle East-related issues – is anything but moderate. Although he is an Arab Christian, Zogby's positions over the years often echo those of radical Islamist groups like the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Muslim American Society, both rooted in the Muslim Brotherhood. On September 16, 2000, AAI joined CAIR in cosponsoring a rally in front of the White House in support of the Palestinian "right of return." In October 2003, AAI and CAIR co-sponsored...opposition to the Patriot Act. Like CAIR, Zogby sought to whitewash an Obama campaign official's ties with the Muslim Brotherhood-linked MSA. Like CAIR and MAS, Zogby demands that Israel withdraw from the West Bank, but refuses to condemn anti-Israel terrorism and violence from Gaza,... Since September 11, Zogby has repeatedly tried to discredit federal investigations of U.S.-based Muslim groups for supporting terror....groups ...suspected of funding Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) – terror groups responsible for hundreds of deaths during the past two decades....One of the groups raided was the International Institute for Islamic Thought (IIIT), described in an FBI affidavit as a front to support Hamas and the PIJ...(More detailed examples of Zogby's defense of organizations convicted out of their own mouths -- actually internal memos)...Zogby's AAI denounced Al-Arian's 2003 arrest on conspiracy charges as an example of "profiling" and "specious charges."...Zogby defends the Saudi Arabian government despite its longstanding role in funding radical Islamist groups and terrorism. In a 2005 article, he asserted that "anti-Saudi propaganda has become a tool to smear critics and target efforts to build ties between Saudis and Americans."...in 2004, when Palestinian organizations refused to sign a pledge stating that U.S. foreign aid would not be used to support terrorism, Zogby questioned the very concept of barring material support for terrorism. Requiring groups to do so "compromises the ability of the humanitarian organizations to function," he claimed....Zogby has opposed efforts to prevent Americans from financially supporting the terrorist organization Hizballah....videotaped Abdurrahman Alamoudi of the American Muslim Council at a rally across the street from the White House announcing his support for Hamas and Hizballah....Zogby claimed Alamoudi was a victim of a "shameful hysteria campaign of McCarthyism." Four years later, Alamoudi was sentenced to 23 years in prison for terror-related crimes which included participation in a Libyan plot to assassinate the then- Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. In August 2008, Mazen Asbahi, Sen. Barack Obama's Muslim outreach coordinator, resigned from the Democrat's presidential campaign following reports that he had been affiliated with various Muslim Brotherhood-linked organizations, including the Muslim Students Association. ...Zogby claimed Asbahi had been a victim of "bigoted websites" and "fear and ignorance..."...also defended people who raise funds for Hamas....Zogby has objected to suicide bombings on grounds that they benefit Israel politically....Zogby suggested that Arabs have suffered their own "holocaust" at the hands of the United States, Israel and European colonial powers. ...For years, Zogby has staked out positions in line with Islamist groups which reflexively criticize U.S. anti-terror polices....Holder did the Obama Administration no favors by selecting a terrorism apologist like Zogby instead of a genuine civil-rights hero to commemorate one of the seminal moments in our nation's history.