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Foxman wants answers from Hannity

By Eric Fingerhut · October 13, 2008

Why is Sean Hannity inviting a man with an "extensive track record of anti-Semitic and anti-Israel remarks" to be a guest on his television show? The Anti-Defamation League would like to know.

In a letter to the Fox News Channel host, the organization states that an espouser of "odious views" such as Andy Martin "ought not to be given the opportunity to enhance his credentials or his standing by appearing on 'Hannity's America.'" Martin appeared on the show to falsely allege that Obama is a Muslim.

Martin has a history of filing court documents containing anti-Semitic slurs, and in 1986 he listed the purpose of a campaign committee he launched for U.S. Congress in Connecticut as "to exterminate Jew power."

The New York Times catalogued Martin's past on Monday, and Obama spokesperson Robert Gibbs confronted the talk show host about Martin live on-air after last week's second presidential debate. Hannity responded that he interviews people he disagrees with all the time, noting that he had also interviewed New Black Panther Party leader Malik Zulu Shabazz, among others.

Here's more information from the ADL on Martin:

Anthony (Andy) Martin Anthony Martin-Trigona

1. In a lawsuit against a federal bankruptcy judge, Anthony Martin referred to the judge as a "crooked, slimy Jew, who has a history of lying and thieving common to members of his race." Martin-Trigona v. Lavien, Civ. No. 83-2944 (S.D.N.Y.). In his complaint in Martin-Trigona v. Lavien, Civ. No. H-83-305 (D.Conn.), he stated, among other things, that "Jews, historically and in daily living, act through clans and in wolf pack syndrome...." and that "No sociological evidence exists that Jews have superior intelligence or any other special characteristics, other than the herd instinct...." In re Martin-Trigona, 573 F.Supp. 1245, 1263 (D.Conn.1983). See also U.S. v. Martin-Trigona, 759 F.2d 1017, 1022 (2nd Cir 1985).

2. In 1996, the Republican Party of Florida rejected Martin as its candidate for Florida state Senate on the grounds that in an unsuccessful run for Congress in Connecticut in 1986, Martin had signed a document filed with the Federal Election Commission stating that he had formed a committee called "The Anthony R. Martin-Trigona Congressional Campaign Committee to Exterminate Jew Power in America and Impeach the Judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals in New York City."

3. From 2002 to 2004, Martin issued a series of anti-Semitic and anti-Israel press releases relating to the Middle East peace process. In these releases, he has: • Demonized Israel as "reprising the rape of Nanking" and conducting a "slaughter of Palestinians"; he called Israel "a toxic confection of European and American guilt in the wake of World War II" and sought punitive actions against Israel and Israelis on the part of the European Union. (April 11, 2002). • Described Ariel Sharon as "the Israeli Fuhrer." (August 11, 2002). • Claimed that Israel is conducting a "holocaust" of killings against women and children; that Israeli "storm troopers" are conducting a "devious" campaign against Christian religious leaders in an attempt to "render Jerusalem 'Christianrein.'"; and that Israeli consider themselves "omnipotent" and are seeking to conduct a "holocaust" against Muslims. (September 24, 2002). • Alleged that ""Israel is trying to embroil the United States in a 'holy war' in the Middle East," and that "300 million Americans have had their government hijacked by 6 million Israelis." (March 25, 2004).

4. Martin currently operates a website at www.contrariancommentary.com, where he continues to promote the anti-Semitic allegation that the Israel lobby controls the U.S. Congress. Moreover, in a posting on March 14, 2008, Martin alleged about the scandal surrounding New York Governor Eliot Spitzer that "[t]he Mossad's fingerprints are all over this one…. The combination of international sex and money laundering are classic clues that Israeli intelligence was trolling for blackmail targets, offering protection in exchange for sexual dossiers."

Note: Martin claims that the 1983 bankruptcy filings did not represent his actual views, and that the 1986 election commission filings were forged.

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Some trims made to pro-Obama video

By Eric Fingerhut · October 13, 2008

The pro-Barack Obama video featuring retired Israeli security officials is about a minute and a half shorter. That's because two of the participants have been edited out of the film.

Former Mossad director Ephraim Halevy and retired Gen. Uzi Dayan had complained that they were not aware that interviews they had done this summer about the U.S. presidential candidates would be used in a video endorsing Obama. They were among seven retired generals and intelligence officials who appeared in the Jewish Council for Education and Research-distributed video.

Halevy and Dayan no longer appear on the video available at JCER's Website, and the organization confirmed Monday that the two men were removed from it last week.

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NJDC takes on McCain, “Big Oil”

By Eric Fingerhut · October 13, 2008

The National Jewish Democratic Council's latest ad is its first of the election season to go negative on John McCain.

Headlined "Energy independence? McCain's ties to Big Oil keep up dependent on Middle East Oil," the advertisement criticizes the Republican nominee for promising to give tax breaks to oil companies and collecting campaign contributions from executives and employees of oil and gas firms. And it points out that McCain has voted against – or missed votes on – legislation promoting renewable energy. Here's the ad.

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More persuasive than Sarah Silverman?

By Ron Kampeas · October 13, 2008

Zoe Kravitz, the woman who inherited her mother Lisa Bonet's stunning looks and acting talent and her father Lenny Kravitz's pitch-perfect ear, is in thick with the entertainers-for-Obama deal.

Below, she plays a prominent role in the latest will.i.am. video, and she has her own website where another video explains her involvement.

Bonet's mom is Jewish, and so is Lenny Kravitz's dad. Zoe Kravitz was raised in Miami and lives in New York, which would make her a natural for the Great Schlep - except I don't imagine her antecedents need much convincing.

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Courting Pa. Jews

By Lisa Hostein · October 13, 2008

Hillary Rodham Clinton. Joseph Lieberman. Ed Koch. U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky. The campaign biggies are parading in and out of Pennsylvania in an effort not only to convince Jewish voters to support their guy but also to get them to the polls. While much of the media attention is focused on Florida and the Big Schlep, Pennsylvania has its significant share of Jewish voters - and a big contingent of senior citizens as well.

Even as the polls show Obama with a growing lead in Pa., the Jewish outreach effort is intensifying, with the Obama camp especially active. The local media is also highlighting the issue, with the Philadelphia Weekly spotlighting the Jewish vote. (Read below the old stuff on the Big Schlep and get to the analysis of the Philadelphia Jewish community.) The Jewish Exponent, too, is tracking the local race.

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Political tidbits: Schlep talk, Coleman pulls negative ads

By Eric Fingerhut · October 13, 2008

• Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) says Yom Kippur convinced him to withdraw all his negative ads in his race against Al Franken.
• The New York Times looks at Andy Martin, the "man behind the whispers about Obama" who has a trail of anti-Jewish comments in his past.
• Newsweek says Sarah Palin is costing John McCain Jewish votes.
• "The People of the Button": New York Rabbi Peter Schweitzer on the history of presidential campaign buttons in Hebrew, in the New York Times.
• Alan Dershowitz states that all the major party presidential and VP candidates are enthusiastic backers of Israel, so supporters of the Jewish state should base their voting decision instead on "more general considerarations" of who would be best for America and the world. The Green Party, though, is another story, he writes in the New York Daily News.
• British newspapers love "The Great Schlep": The Times of London talks to Jews visiting their families in Florida. So does The Guardian.
• Haviv Rettig in the Jerusalem Post argues that the Jewish Council for Education and Research videos (those featuring Sarah Silverman and retired Israeli generals) are actually hurting Obama in the Jewish community – because they're not taking Jewish concerns seriously.
• Jonathan Rosenblum tells bubbe and zaide to ignore the grandchildren, in the Jerusalem Post.
• The latest on this weekend's courting the Ohio Jewish vote, from the Cleveland Plain-Dealer.
• What right-wing extremist groups has Todd Palin been "palling around" with? Menachem Rosensaft wants to know, in the Huffington Post.
• Liberals always threaten to move to Canada if a Republican wins the presidency? Where should conservatives threaten to go if Obama wins? Chris Wilson in Slate suggests Israel as one possibility.
• The Forward's Brett Lieberman wonders if the Jewish community in Virginia could end up playing a crucial role in the election.
• Arab American Institute leader James Zogby criticizes McCain – and the Republican Jewish Coalition – for using "Arab" as a pejorative term.
• Rep. Robert Wexler is still a "heavy favorite" for re-election, but he has some "aggressive" opponents this year, writes the Palm Beach Post.
• Sarah Silverman talks to Keith Olbermann about "The Great Schlep," but the best part of the interview is probably when Silverman tells Sarah Palin how she should have answered Katie Couric's question about the newspapers and magazines she reads.

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