The Case Against Keith Ellison

As left thinking people agonize over Trumpian anti-Semitism, embodied by the alt-right and Steve Bannon, Democrats are choosing their next national chairman. One of the two leading candidates, Congressman Keith Ellison from Minnesota is notably anti-Semitic. He fits the mold of Obama’s mentor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Obama’s good friend Rashid Khalidi. The latter recently said that the Trump administration was infested with Jews.

Ellison has garnered support from important Jewish Democrats like Bernie Sanders and Chuck Schumer. And yet, lifelong liberal Democrat Alan Dershowitz has declared that if Ellison is elected he will quit the Democratic Party, party he has belonged to for nearly sixty years.

Attorney Dershowitz lays out a persuasive case against Ellison.

Here are the highlights:

Ellison has a long history of sordid association with anti-Semitism. He worked closely and supported one of a handful of the most notorious and public anti-Semites in our country: The Reverend Louis Farrakhan. And he worked with Farrakhan at the very time this anti-Semite was publicly describing Judaism as a "gutter religion" and insisting that the Jews were a primary force in the African slave trade.

Ellison has publicly stated that he was unaware of Farrakhan's anti-Semitism. That is not a credible statement. Everyone was aware of Farrakhan's anti-Semitism. Farrakhan did not try to hide it. Indeed he proclaimed it on every occasion. Ellison is either lying or he willfully blinded himself to what was obvious to everyone else. Neither of these qualities makes him suitable to be the next Chairman of the DNC.

And also:

Moreover, Ellison himself has made anti-Semitic statements. A prominent lawyer, with significant credibility, told me that while he was a law student, Ellison approached her and said he could not respect her, because she was a Jew and because she was a woman who should not be at a law school.

Another point:

Ellison's anti-Semitism is confirmed by his support for another anti-Semite, Stokely Carmichael. When there were protests about Carmichael's speaking at the University of Minnesota, Ellison responded that "Political Zionism is off-limits no matter what dubious circumstances Israel was founded under; no matter what the Zionists do to the Palestinians; and no matter what wicked regimes Israel allies itself with — like South Africa. This position is untenable."

As for Ellison’s politics in regard to Israel, his voting record smacks of bias against the Jewish state:

With regard to Israel, Ellison was one of only a small number of Congress people who recently voted against funding the Iron Dome, a missile system used by Israel to protect its civilians against rocket attacks by Hamas and Hezbollah. His voting record with regard to the Nation State of the Jewish people is among the very worst in Congress.