Guilt by association, guilt by smear.
Mondoweiss is a blog that focuses on Israel-Palestine issues. It is funded by a grant from
The Nation Institute, which is a project of
The Nation magazine, which has been publishing since 1865.
Unfortunately, Mondoweiss is not as rigorous in its standards as The Nation is:
Wiesel scored $500,000 for speech to congregation of Hagee, a Holocaust revisionist
by MAX BLUMENTHAL • Mondoweiss.net
During the J Street conference, I criticized Elie Wiesel for delivering a speech to the congregation of the homophobic, Holocaust revisionist Pastor John Hagee, whose conspiratorial prophecies were so extreme John McCain withdrew the preacher’s endorsement. Now, just over three months later, we know why Wiesel hailed Hagee as his "dear pastor."
For delivering a single speech to Hagee’s congregation, Wiesel received a check for $500,000 toward his foundation, according to Marita Styrsky, the wife of Christians United for Israel Eastern Regional Director Victor Styrsky (Christians United is Hagee’s lobbying arm). So Wiesel got his money and Hagee got a photo with a Nobel Prize-winning Holocaust survivor. Everybody went home happy.
Since praising Hagee, Wiesel has gone on to condemn the Goldstone Report as "a crime against the Jewish people." Wiesel’s remarkable statementprompted Richard Silverstein to ask, "What was the last event in world history you can recall being a “crime against the Jewish people?” The answer is pretty obvious.
Note Blumenthal's claim:
"For delivering a single speech to Hagee’s congregation, Wiesel received a check for $500,000 toward his foundation…"
But this claim – the basis for his entire report – is false.
As Blumenthal's source
makes clear, the $500,000 was a grant to Wiesel's foundation, one of many grants Hagee's organization made that night:
…Elie Weisel was the keynote speaker. He is a great voice speaking out against hatred and racism. I don't have his quote exactly right, but he said "Racism is about humiliation. I stand against humiliation no matter who is about." I am so glad I got to hear him. I've never heard a Nobel Peace Prize winner before.
CUFI gave away 9 million dollars to various Israeli charities that night. We gave $500k to Elie's foundation. His foundation had invested all of their money with Madoff and it all was lost...
In other words, Hagee's organization gave away $9 million that night. 1/18 of it went to Wiesel's foundation, which had been wiped out by Madoff a few months earlier.
Blumenthal censors out this information and
makes it seem as if Wiesel took $500,000 as payment for his speech:
"So Wiesel got his money and Hagee got a photo with a Nobel Prize-winning Holocaust survivor. Everybody went home happy."
This isn't journalism. It isn't even blogging. It's simply a crude smear paid for by a foundation that really should know better.
As for Hagee's homophobia, as we all know, religious leaders are divided into two basic camps: those that view homosexuality as an abomination or illness gays and lesbians should be able to overcome, and those who view homosexuality as a genetic fact, not a choice.
Some members of the first camp are compassionate and kind toward gays and lesbians, and some are not.
Hagee – like most of the haredi world – is firmly in the first camp and, like most haredi and Modern Orthodox Jews, if judged by his public statements is not particularly compassionate toward gays and lesbians.
Blumenthal's criticism of Wiesel would then be equally valid if he spoke before an assembly convened by Israel's chief rabbis or at a fundraising dinner for nearly every haredi yeshiva or organization – something Wiesel also does.
But Blumenthal knows Christian fundamentalists are easy targets reviled by his and The Nation's readers, but rabbis are not.
So, just like he did with the $500,000 grant, Blumenthal takes the cheap shot.
Blumenthal then goes on to quote leftie blogger Richard Silverstein, whose
post on Wiesel's criticism of the Goldstone Report conveniently leaves out the fact that large chunks of the Israeli and Jewish left also criticize Goldstone for the same reasons Wiesel does.
What Blumenthal has done is not journalism. The Nation should not be associated with it.
[Hat Tip: KP.]