(WMR) -- Foreign Policy�s�The Cable�
Internet publication featured a story on May 6 about Israeli President Shimon
Peres�s meeting with President Obama at the White House. Foreign Policy is
published by Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive, LLC.
The publication revealed that present at the White House
meeting were National Security Adviser James Jones, Senior Director for
the National Security Council�s Middle East bureau Daniel Shapiro, White House
Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, and Obama top political advisor David Axelrod.
�The Cable� pointed out that Emanuel and Axelrod had been
enlisted to build support within the Jewish-American community for Obama�s
two-state solution of Israel and an independent Palestine. The new government
of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu opposes the two-state solution.
�The Cable� then quoted Steve Cohen of the Institute for
Middle East Peace and Development, founded to facilitate Arab-Israeli peace in
1979 and on whose board sits former Under Secretary of State for Public
Diplomacy Margaret Tutwiler (and close friend of former Secretary of State
James Baker) and Frank Wisner, executive vice president of AIG. Cohen is a
National Scholar for the New York-based Israel Policy Forum, a
Jewish group that supports American involvement in the Middle East peace
process.
The Cable stated, �The presence of Emanuel and Axelrod in
the room told the Israelis something important, Israel watchers suggested. �This
is a significant decision,� said Steve Cohen, president of the Institute for
Middle East Peace and Development, which conducts track-two diplomacy between
Israel and the Arab world. �The Israelis have tried to intimidate Rahm to say,
in effect, �Don�t forget you are a Jew born in Israel.��
On May 7, �The
Cable� altered the story and the quote to read: �This is a
significant decision,� said Steve Cohen, president of the Institute for Middle
East Peace and Development, which conducts track-two diplomacy between Israel
and the Arab world. �The Israelis have tried to intimidate Rahm to say, in
effect, �Don�t forget you are a Jew [whose parents were born in] Israel.��
Emanuel�s entry in the not-always-reliable Wikipedia states:
�Emanuel was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Jewish parents.�
There is clearly much confusion about Emanuel�s biography.
Before President Obama�s address to the Congress in February, NBC�s Brian
Williams referred to Emanuel as being a veteran of the Israeli Defense Force.
Williams was forced to later apologize to Emanuel on the air and stated
that Emanuel was a volunteer with the Israeli Defense Force. Williams, in a mea
culpa, said that Emanuel�s
Wikipedia entry needed to be updated. However, the Wikipedia entry clearly
states: �Emanuel did not serve in the Israeli army, but was a civilian
volunteer assisting the Israel Defense Forces for a short time during the 1991
Gulf War, repairing truck brakes in one of Israel�s northern bases . . .�
Either Messrs. Cohen and Williams are just plain sloppy with
their facts or someone is trying to rewrite Emanuel�s biography. In any event,
The Cable altering a legitimate quote, even if Cohen was incorrect, is worthy
of the old authors of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia.
WMR previously reported that a senior American Israel Public
Affairs Committee (AIPAC) official revealed that, at one time, Emanuel served
as the deputy coordinator of all Mossad activities in North America.
Previously
published in the Wayne
Madsen Report.
Copyright � 2009 WayneMadenReport.com
Wayne
Madsen is a Washington, DC-based investigative journalist and
nationally-distributed columnist. He is the editor and publisher of the Wayne Madsen Report
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