Rashid Khalidi is Another Barack Obama Scary Friend
Close Ties to Terrorism Apologist
Barack Obama's relationship with Rashid Khalidi dates back to at least 2001, when the Woods Fund, of which Barack Obama was a director along with William Ayers, gave a $40,000 grant to the Arab American Action Network (AAAN). Rashid Khalidi's wife, Mona, is President of AAAN. The Wood Fund gave AAAN a second grant , for $35,000, in 2002, according to World Net Daily. AAAN is a controversial community organizing group that refers to the establishment of the State of Israel as a "catastrophe" and supports radical immigration reform.
Rashid Khalidi taught in Beruit and worked for the Palestinian news agency WAFA and was a spokesman for Yassir Arafat during the late 1970s. Rashid Khalidi was reported to have been an advisor to the PLO in the 1980s and was a professor at the University of Chicago at the same time Barack Obama taught there. Rashid Khalid has called Israel an "apartheid system in creation" and a destructive "racist" state.
According to a story in World Net Daily:
"He has multiple times expressed support for Palestinian terror, calling suicide bombings response to 'Israeli aggression.' He dedicated his 1986 book, 'Under Siege,' to "those who gave their lives ... in defense of the cause of Palestine and independence of Lebanon." Critics assailed the book as excusing Palestinian terrorism."
Khalidi supports a "one state solution" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in which the State of Israel would be abolished in favor of a Palestinian state,
The LA Times has an account of a farewell dinner for Rashid Khalidi, held by AAAN, which Barack and Michelle Obama attended, along with William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn. Khalidi was leaving his University of Chicago teaching job to join the faculty of Columbia University.
The farewell dinner included several virulent anti Israel speeches, including a poem that accused Israel of terrorism and promising "you will never see a day of peace" until the Palestinians secure their own land. Another speaker likened Jewish settlers to Osama bin Laden.
Barack Obama's speech is said to be more conciliatory, calling for common ground. Nevertheless, the LA Times is refusing to release a video tape of the speech, causing some people to speculate that the speech might hurt Barack Obama's campaign for the Presidency. Obama himself, who was then running for the US Senate, came in for some lavish praise by Palestinian speakers. "You will not have a better senator under any circumstances," Rashid Khalidi said.
Barack Obama, whose campaign speeches always emphasize his support for the State of Israel, downplays his friendship with Rashid Khalidi. But the LA Times story mentions that the Obamas and the Khalidis were close friends and dinner companions when they both taught at the University of Chicago. In 2000 Rashid Khalidi held a fund raiser for Barack Obama for his unsuccessful run for Congress that year.
Palestinian sources suggest that Barack Obama's support for the Palestinian cause may be more sympathetic than he is letting on. Rashid Khalidi himself suggested that is just a requirement for winning national elections in the United States and could be excused.
Along with Barack Obama's ties to other dubious people, such as Jeremiah Wright, William Ayers, and Tony Rezko, his friendship with a terrorism apologist such as Rashid Khalidi should raise eyebrows. Suggestions that Barack Obama's public statements on the Middle East may be less than truthful should be a cause of great concern.
Source: Obama worked with terrorist, Aaron Klein, World Net Daily, February 24th, 2008
Allies of Palestinians see a friend in Barack Obama, Peter Wallsten,LA Times, April 10th, 2008
Does Obama's Friendship with Khalidi Matter to Jews?, Mona Charen, Townhall.Com, October 28th, 2008
Published by Mark Whittington
Mark R. Whittington is a writer residing in Houston, Texas. He is the author of The Last Moonwalker, Children of Apollo, Dark Sanction, and Nocturne. He has written numerous articles, some for the Washington... View profile
Late-Night Food Options for Hyde Park - University of ChicagoLate Night Food Options for Hyde Park - University of Chicago. The 24-hour drive thru is open at McDonald's. I do hope that you own a car. - Review: Loyola University of ChicagoIt's possible to get lost in a huge metropolis like Chicago, Illinois. On the other hand if you are a school like Loyola University of Chicago you learn to make use of your excellent location.
University of Chicago Research Suggests Sleep Loss May Equal Weight GainEveryone knows that getting adequate sleep and rest is important to good health. All to often, however, we skip the sleep to add a few more all important hours to the day. Resea...- College Review: Welcome to the University of Chicago The University of Chicago is an academic power house that too often falls below the radar. The University and the cultural opportunities in the city make for a wonderful educational experience.
- Healthcare Debate Sharpens at University of Chicago Diabetes ReportDiabetes Doubles in Next Quarter Century; costs of treating the disease expected to triple.
- Barack Obama, the LA Times and the Video Tape
- History of the Creation of Israel
- Forget L. A. Times Obama Videotape; John McCain Has Ties with Rashid Khalidi
- McCain Demand for Khalidi Obama Tape from LA Times Disingenuous
- My Response to the Article: 7 Questions Every One Should Ask to the Government of...
- LA Times Refuses to Release Obama Video
- The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: Will Peace Ever Exist?
15 Comments
Post a CommentYou guys can talk about John McCain giving a grant to Khalidi all you want. You're showing your ignorance. Foundations have boards that decide on who grant money is to be given to. One person does not make the decision and can be easily over ruled. Khalidi was a close personal friend of Obama's, going out to dinner frequently, visiting each others homes, directing grant monies to each other.. and lastly celebrating their similar ideologies at every opportunity. Michele Obama attended Khalidi's daughter's wedding, do you suppose she only went for the food? You guys need to get a clue.
John McCain served as chairman of the International Republican Institute during the 1990s which provided grants worth $500,000 to the Center for Palestine Research and Studies which Khalidi co-founded.
Anyone else think that Sarah Palin was responding to McCain staffers calling her a "diva" and saying she never listens, by bringing up Rashid Khalildi? She had to know that McCain's IRI group gave MONEY to him. Either that, or she's just that dumb. Either way, that entire campaign is an incompitent mess.
McCain also has ties to Khalidi through a group that Khalidi helped found 15 years ago. The Center for Palestine Research and Studies received at least $448,000 from an organization that McCain chairs.
Kevin - yes this is a partial reprint of an article that appeared in the Huffington Post and I should have said that, but it doesn't make it any less true. Fact check what? McCain WAS the chairman of the IRI when these grants were made. What context are we missing? Why don't you enlighten us? And you missed my whole point - the hypocrisy of calling Khalidi a "scary friend" of Obama's when McCain has longer standing ties to him. But leave it to you, like most right wing hatemongers, to resort to name-calling rather than address the issue I raised. Have you checked the polls lately? These tactics aren't working.
sorry I got cut off.
The remainder of my comment - so it's not okay for Barack Obama to give a speech at a farewell dinner for this distinguished scholar (now heading middle east studies at Columbia) but it is okay for John McCain to have chaired a committee that gave this very same "scary friend" grants in excess of $400,000?
Is anyone else missing the logic here??????
Oh my goodness - another ill-informed right wing hate fest. Before you sling the mud on another "scary friend" of Obama's consider this,
During the 1990s, while he served as chairman of the International Republican Institute (IRI), John McCain distributed several grants to the Palestinian research center co-founded by Khalidi, including one worth half a million dollars.
A 1998 tax filing for the McCain-led group shows a $448,873 grant to Khalidi's Center for Palestine Research and Studies for work in the West Bank. (See grant number 5180, "West Bank: CPRS" on page 14 of this PDF.)
The relationship extends back as far as 1993, when John McCain joined IRI as chairman in January. Foreign Affairs noted in September of that year that IRI had helped fund several extensive studies in Palestine run by Khalidi's group, including over 30 public opinion polls and a study of "sociopolitical attitudes."
So, it's not okay for Barack Obama to speak at a farewell dinner for this distinguishe
If you put the "Christian" mantle on then the least you could do is be honest, tell the truth (one of the commendmants) exodus 20th...
you give Evangelical Christians a bad name....
The LA Times tape will be released before the election and the cozy association revealed there will give many second-thoughts about Obama who were still overlooking his string of dubbious associations. No need to call anyone names because of calling out Obama's associations. We tell our kids to pick their friend well and avoid bad associations. We can at least do the same for choosing our president.
After reading the negative post by people who sound informed, and then to realize how uninformed they are, is scary. Let's see - Senator McCain pals around with "Scooter" Libby (convicted felon), G. Gordon Lilly (convicted felon), insults families of POW's because they disagree with him, and to ensure the POW families are unable to question him further has all information relating to POWs classified. Nice Guy.
He claims and his followers claims he is against welfare, spreading the wealth around, etc. etc. And yet, Senator McCain has been a receiver of government money, and health care since the days he was born. He has been one of the privilege ones that complain how others are receiving welfare. He was borne to a Navy Captain, a disruptive student in school, grades in the bottom of class, got into the Naval Academy (because his dad and grand dad were 4 Star Admirals), bottom of his class yet got flight school. So who is the elite??
Again another story to try and scare people. McCain has a larger relationship with Rashid Khalidi. So let the story come out and have McCain release his records on his association with Rashid Khalidi. Also when did Joe the Plumber become such an expert in Middle East Policy. Here is a man who isn't a plumber like he said, has an imaginary dream of buying a business that doesn't make $250,000 and the McCain has him out there speaking on foreign policy. Now that's scary