The Forward takes the biggest anti-Semitic trope–that Jews have too much influence over American politics and are loyal to Israel over America–and publishes a piece that gives the David Dukes, Pat Buchanans, and John Mearsheimers of the world even more grist for their mill of lies.
What Sheldon’s Money Buys
Adelson Millions Ensure Gingrich Steers to Far Right on Israel
This is what Ha’aretz chose to use as the headline for the Forward jump:
Just how far can Adelson influence Gingrich’s campaign?
And yet, there have not been any such articles about how much influence someone like George Soros (funder of super-liberal attack dog Media Matters, among others) has on the Democrats. In fact, I’m betting you don’t even know who Haim Saban is. That’s because he is a Democrat, and a contributor to Democratic causes. Sheldon Adelson makes the cardinal sin of contributing to Republicans., sorry, Rethuglicans. George Soros, who has committed Lord knows how many millions to Democratic and progressive causes, hates Israel, but there are no hard-hitting exposes of how much power liberal Jews like him over the American political process.
The New Yorker wrote a 12-page profile of Haim Saban, the entertainment billionaire who contributes millions to Democratic causes and apparently has President Clinton in his pocket. The article pretty much leads with his influence over the Clintons, and talks about how he wants to protect Israel by strengthening U.S.-Israel ties. But the tone of the article is quite different, and the gist of the article never made its way into the wire services. I don’t recall seeing any scary warnings about how Haim Saban influenced the Clintons and was one of the major figures behind Hillary Clinton’s run for the presidency.
The contrast is stark. This story is told fondly:
“Haim said, ‘Let me make a phone call—maybe I can get something done here,’ ” Chernin told me. “He was extremely helpful in getting Clinton to help. Clinton called the President of Brazil.” Matt Krane recalled how Saban described to him what had happened: “Saban had called the Fox Family attorney in Brazil and asked, ‘How long will it take?’ It was months. He said he asked the lawyer, ‘Who is your finance minister?’ The attorney understood, and he said, ‘There is no political pull available in this process.’ Saban called Bill Clinton and asked, ‘Can you help me?’ ” Soon afterward, the approval came through.
What a great guy! He used his influence with the former president (this was in 2001) close a deal that enabled him to walk away with $1.5 billion. (He paid no taxes on that–then. The IRS is after the firm he used to avoid paying those taxes and was in the process of collecting back taxes from him.)
As Krane began to explore the tax-shelter world, he learned that major accounting and investment-banking firms—including K.P.M.G., Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, and many others—were involved in creating tax-shelter products. He selected one that was developed by the Quellos Group, a financial boutique based in Seattle; he integrated this shelter with a tax plan of his own, and, with the combination, made it possible for Saban to pay no taxes on his $1.5-billion gain.
And while the profile mentions Saban’s strong Zionism, it mentions it favorably, with glowing anecdotes like this:
As Saban has said, “I’m a one-issue guy, and my issue is Israel.” When Bill Clinton was President and Ehud Barak was Israel’s Prime Minister, Saban, who was close to both men, says that occasionally he provided a back channel for communications. In July of 2000, shortly before the start of the Camp David negotiations, Israel’s planned two-hundred-and-fifty-million-dollar sale of an airborne radar system to China—furiously opposed by many at the Pentagon and in Congress—threatened to derail congressional support for a peace deal. Saban said, “I just called Ehud and told him, ‘In the middle of this peace thing, it’s impossible for Israel to do things that are perceived in the U.S. as against the interests of the U.S. I understand the financial aspect, I understand that it may not be really a security concern for the U.S.—it doesn’t matter. There’s a much bigger picture here, and you really should seriously consider.’ ” Barak suspended the sale. “How much impact my call had, I have no idea,” Saban added. During Camp David, he continued, “I was involved, but only on the periphery. If Barak could not say some things to Clinton to his face, he would ask me to convey a message, and vice versa.” At one point during the negotiations, Clinton, accompanied by his national-security adviser, Sandy Berger, had to go to Japan. “When they came back, I spoke to Sandy Berger, and gave him my two cents about dealing with issues. ‘Is that really super-important?’ ‘Well, why can’t Arafat give up on that?’ ” He laughed. “The usual!”
It is safe to say that without multi-billionaire Sheldon Adelson’s help the chances of Newt Gingrich becoming the Republican nominee for president would be zero — and consequently the race itself, going into Florida at the moment, would not be the competitive, drag-out fight it has become. Adelson, the hotel and casino magnate, has kept Gingrich alive, first through an infusion of $5 million into a super PAC, which allowed the former speaker to defend himself against attacks by Mitt Romney and led to Gingrich’s thumping victory in South Carolina. And now we know that Adelson’s wife, Miriam, has committed another $5 million to the cause of Newt.
One of Adelson’s passions — and a reason for his desire to play such a big role in American politics — is undoubtedly Israel. And his positions are unambiguously right-wing and hawkish to the extreme.
Cue scary music. OMG! The Jews are controlling the Republican candidate for president!
Yep. Your love for Israel is only a menace if you’re a Republican or, worse–a conservative.
Way to go, Forward. Keep on spreading those tropes about powerful Jews controlling American politics. The denizens of Stormfront thank you for it.
“George Soros, who has committed Lord knows how many millions to Democratic and progressive causes, hates Israel, but there are no hard-hitting exposes of how much power liberal Jews like him over the American political process.”
Soros truly is the new Taliban. How? Like the (proto-)Taliban, he was praised when he was fighting Russians (Soros in the form of undermining the Ruble at the tail-end of the Soviet era, hastening said end ..). But now that the Taliban – and Soros – have .. changed the direction of their guns, they are (properly) deserving of all blame.