Missing A Gingrich Opportunity

By: Fadi Zanayed

The American-Arab community missed two golden opportunities this past week when former House Speaker and Republican Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich stated the Palestinians are an “invented” people and when Lowes Corporation succumbed to Islamophobia by pulling its ad from the reality show All American Muslim.  Most national Arab organizations issued press releases and made an effort to call its members to action, but beyond that, nothing significant materialized.

It is unfortunate that the national Arab organizations could not meet and mount a major campaign to combat these racist actions by a politician and a major American corporation.  Action to make each of them reverse their actions is not very hard.

Let me give an example what we in Chicago did in 1985 to force a local television station to issue an apology within one hour.  On Tuesday November  20, 1985 ABC local sportscaster, the late Tim Weigel, made a derogatory statement about Arabs on the 6 pm News Broadcast because the Monday Night Football Half Time Show chose  to update the nation on what was happening in the Mediterranean Sea as the Achillo Lauro Ship was being hijacked instead of its usual highlights of the previous Sunday football games as the Chicago Bears romped the Dallas Cowboys (44-0).

The next Wednesday morning at 9 a.m., I, as the Regional Director of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), called the station to demand an apology.  When I could not get through to the news director, I called local ADC members and friends and asked them to call the news station to demand an apology and to have the news director call me.  I made about 30 calls and asked people to make similar calls.  I supplied the telephone number.

By 10 a.m., the news director called the ADC office, asked to speak to me and made an apology.  I demanded an on –the-air  apology which was given later that evening.  The news director asked me to call off the telephone calls as they were disrupting the news station.  I redoubled my efforts.

The lesson here is that we used an unorthodox method to shut down a business that made disparaging remarks about Arabs and we won.  In retrospect, I should have demanded more—such as a personal apology at one of our dinners or a sensitivity training course for the news staff.

This week, we as a community should have shut down the Lowe’s headquarters.  We should have sent thousands of calls from all over the country to demand an apology; to resume the ads; and to make a significant contribution to ADC to help fight the Islamophobia that has engulfed this country.  We should have demonstrated in front of Lowes stores all over the country until our demands were met.

This week, we as a community should have shut down the Republican National Committee telephone lines by sending thousands of telephone calls to demand that the RNC distance itself from the racist statement by Gingrich.   

We did not do any of these things because our national organizations are too bent up looking for their own personal glory rather than working for the glory of the community as a whole.

I sent an email to the American Arab Institute, after receiving an email action alert to call the RNC, which I did.  I called upon James Zogby’s organization to mount a telephone tree campaign to get people to call.  I heard nothing back.

The National ADC office issued its email newsletter which contained both incidents.  Whether people did anything is not noteworthy as neither Gingrich, the RNC, or Lowes apologized to the American-Arab Community.

In essence, the American-Arab community fumbled yet another opportunity to once and for all stop the discrimination against us. We got romped!. 

The telephone number for the RNC is 202.863.8500).

The telephone number for Lowes is (1-800-445-6937).

(  © Copyright, Fadi Zanayed.  Publication or distribution of this material is allowed provided its content is not altered and the source and its author are cited.)

Gingrich’s Head Up The Apartheid State of Israel

Former Speaker of the House and Republican candidate for President Newt Gingrich has his head so far up the Apartheid State of Israel’s behind that he is violating all his rhetoric about American values by declaring that,  “I am prepared to say my bias is towards clemency” for the infamous Israeli spy Jonathon Pollard.   

By advocating clemency to Pollard, Gingrich would reject the advice of countless leaders in the defense and intelligence fields.  Only the right wing of the pro-Israeli apartheid supporters desire for Pollard to be released and deported to the Apartheid State of Israel.

Rejecting Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s call for Israeli and Palestinian leaders to “get to the damn table,” Gingrichs stated, “How about saying to Hamas, give up violence and come to the table? How about saying to the PLO, recognize Israel and come to the table?”  Did not the PLO recognize Israel in 1988? How far up is his head?

Gingrich further stated that "in a Gingrich administration, on the opening day, there will be an executive order about two hours after the inaugural address. We will send the Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, as of that day."  In all of the past administrations since Richard Nixon, no president has advocated the move of the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.   Gingrich, it seems, will do anything and everything to appease the right wing Jewish Americans.

        

        There is a reason why succeeding administrations have refused to move the US Embassy from Tel Vive to Jerusalem—because it is not in the best interest of the US, yet Gingrich would rather grabble on his hands and knees to the pro-Israeli apartheid lobby than to promote a consistent US policy advocated by succeeding US presidents, both Democratic and Republican. 

Gingrich also totes the Apartheid State of Israel’s policy on Iran. As reported in the Haaretz.com, Gingrich promised to fund "every dissident group" in Iran and to sabotage its oil supply.  Such a policy will ultimately lead to a great increase in the price of a gallon of gas and would engage the world into another world war—something the hawkish Gingrich may relish. But of course, the Apartheid State of Israel will also welcome such a policy.

In the most outrageous statement made this week, Gingrich had the audacity to state that there are no Palestinian people, that they are Arabs.  Gingrich echoed former Apartheid State of Israel Prime Minister Golda Meier statement that there are no Palestinians. There have been countless agreements signed with the Palestinians and Palestinian leaders have visited the White House for the past two decades, yet Gingrich wants to take the Middle East back to the 1970’s.  

        Gingrich, of course, is exploiting the Jewish-American money and votes, in that order.  The Jewish community make up about 3% of the electorate, the highest percentage voter turnout of any ethnic group. But it is the Jewish money that Gingrich is mostly courting. The Washington Post summarized the Center for Responsive Politics' 1990–2006 data and concluded that "Pro-Israel interests have contributed $56.8 million in individual, group and soft money donations to federal candidates and party committees since 1990.”[1]

 

        Gingrich has proven that he will say anything and do everything to court the American-Jewish vote and money—even if it is not in the best interest of the United States. As such, this should disqualify him from becoming President.  

         

(  © Copyright, Fadi Zanayed.  Publication or distribution of this material is allowed provided its content is not altered and the source and its author are cited.)

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[1] ^ Glenn Frankel. A Beautiful Friendship. The Washington Post. July 16, 2006.