The Zev and Ari Show

Time for Full Disclosure

by WILLIAM HUGHES

Professor Edward Said, a champion of the Palestinian cause, was roundly condemned by Zev Chafets, a columnist for the NY Daily News (02/19/03). Thank goodness, Said isn't living in the West Bank or Gaza. If he were in occupied Palestine, Ariel Sharon's goon squad would have probably bulldozed his home into a pile of rumble (and his relatives' homes, too, just for good measure).

What got Chafets riled up was Said's brilliant commentary, entitled, "A Monument to Hypocrisy". It is a marvelous essay that deals with the pro-Israeli influence over the Bush-Cheney administration. It tells how wrongdoings similar to those of Saddam Hussein have actually been the "stock in trade of every Israeli government since 1948. Ironically, since Chafets complained about the article so boorishly, more folks will now want to read it for themselves.

Said also wrote, "President Bush and his advisers are slaves of power perfectly embodied in the repetitive monotone of their collective spokesman Ari Fleischer (who I believe is also an Israeli citizen)". Well, Chafets thought that last line belonged in the conspiracy camp of the "Neo-Nazi and White Aryan Resistance" movements. For him, it was bad enough that Said had raised questions about "the Perles and Wolfowitzs" of this country, leading America into a war. But, by suggesting Fleischer was "a citizen of Sharonland," was just too much for him.

The record, however, shows the Washington Post (02/09/02) covered a lot of the same ground Said did, in an article by Robert G. Kaiser, entitled, "Bush Moves U.S. Closer to Sharon on Mideast Policy". It revealed how Israeli Firsters in the government, (the author labeled them "Likudniks", "hard-liners", and "hawks"), like Richard Perle, Elliott Abrams, David Wurmser and Dough J. Feith, have urged the abandonment of the Oslo Accords and for the U.S. to focus on removing Saddam Hussein from power. For some reason, President Bush's Dr. Strangelove, Paul Wolfowitz, Deputy Secretary of Defense, wasn't mentioned in that piece. Kaiser also said that Mideast experts regularly refer to this pro-Israel clique, "as a cabal. "

So, why the touchy reaction to Said's commentary from Chafets?

Well, Chafets was born in Michigan, but lived for 33 years in his beloved fatherland, Zionist Israel. He served in the Israeli military and was also the chief Press Officer for the late Israeli Prime Minister, the old terrorist himself, Menachem Begin. Did Said strike a raw nerve with his Hypocrisy article with Chafets? I'd say so!

Chafets is a classic dual citizen of the U.S. and Israel. He's also, more importantly, a Zionist. Since Chafets is a journalist, I think that required disclosure to his readers on his off-the-wall Said rant. Chafets insisted, wrongly I think, that Said should have cited an authority for his belief that Fleischer might have been "an Israel citizen." Within the context of that essay, it was only a throw-a-way, speculative line. And anyway, did Chafets cite any authority for his theological-sounding proposition that a pundit must ask to be forgiven for not using a footnote?

As for Fleischer, it doesn't bother me if he is a citizen of Israel. He could have been born on Mars for all I care. Here's what I want to know: Is Fleischer a Zionist? This is the crux of the matter.

The American people are entitled to also know for the sake of our Republic, if Perle, Wolfowitz, Wurmser, Feith and Abrams are Zionists. They all hold sensitive positions in the federal government that require national security clearance. If they are Zionists, then, the next question is: Do they have a conflict of interest or even an appearance of a conflict of interest in carrying out the responsibilities of their office? Answers to these questions are imperative.

Zionism is a political, alien-based ideology, global in scope, racially restricted, and with its spiritual headquarters in Tel Aviv, and not Washington, D.C. Zionists aspire to a land-grabbing Greater Israel.

On Aug. 23, 2002, I demanded that Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-CT), come clean with U.S. Senate about all his Zionist connections. For all the reasons that I gave in that article, and in this one too, Fleischer, and the cited Likudniks should come clean with the American people. Full disclosure of any and all Zionist links by them are long overdue.

As for Chafets, thanks for blowing your top, pal! Now, see what you've done? You're forcing your fellow Zionists out into the light of day, where the lovers of our Republic, like the Sons of Liberty of old, can confront them about their warmongering agendas.