Middle East studies in the News

Khalidi's Latest Actions Are a Test for Obama

by Josh Branson
Verus Politics Blog
July 23, 2010

http://veruspolitics.wordpress.com/2010/07/23/khalidis-latest-actions-are-a-test-for-obama/

http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/9837

So says Andy McCarthy, who reports that Obama's old pal Rashid Khalidi (whose connections to Obama were mostly unreported by the MSM during the 2008 campaign) is supporting another ship attempting to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza:

Obama's close friend, the rabidly anti-Israel professor Rashid Khalidi, is back in the news. The former PLO spokesman has signed an appeal for funds to outfit a ship that would join yet another attempt to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza. In the last such attempt several weeks back — a contingent of Islamists and radical leftists, perversely identifying themselves as the "peace flotilla" and armed for hand-to-hand combat — carried out a premeditated attack on the Israeli defense force that denied them passage.

…

With his insider's understanding of Obama's views, Khalidi is betting that he will be immune from any legal consequences for his actions. Indeed, if that weren't clear enough already, Khalidi and other architects of the Gaza gambit plan to call their vessel The Audacity of Hope. That is the title of Barack Obama's second autobiographical book — a title inspired by Obama's former pastor of 20 years, the radical black-liberation theologian Jeremiah Wright (whose vitriol, like Khalidi's, is copiously spewed at Israel).

Calling the vessel The Audacity of Hope is quite bold, and dares President Obama to take a stand. If President Obama is silent on this situation, he'll be allowing himself to be mocked, he'll look weak, and he'll be suggesting that his commitment to Israel is not strong.

President Obama tossed Reverend Wright under the bus when Wright became a political liability for him. But Khalidi, unlike Wright, is much less known by the general American public because he has hardly been mentioned by the media. Will Obama dump another friend, or toss our ally under the bus?

Note: Articles listed under "Middle East studies in the News" provide information on current developments concerning Middle East studies on North American campuses. These reports do not necessarily reflect the views of Campus Watch and do not necessarily correspond to Campus Watch's critique.

receive the latest by email: subscribe to campus watch's free mailing list