Mitchell is Lebanese? Oy.

Pass the shawarma.

I guess it’s refreshing to see such honesty from the Israel Lobby.

Actually, the fact that Foxman considers Mitchell “fair” is a black mark on Mitchell. If Mitchell truly were fair, that’s the last thing Foxman would call him.

Joe, looking through the article you linked to, I wouldn’t have blamed you if you pointed this out:

‘“It’s also interesting that he’s not Jewish,” he said. “That probably sends a good signal of neutrality.”

That neutrality, more than any anti-Israel bias, is what’s likely to worry some pro-Israel leaders the most.’

Being of middle eastern christian descent, maybe Mitchell can help ameliorate the state of christianity in Iraq, which was protected like all religions by sadam but is now under siege under our newly established democracy. Not to mention the Iraqi Jews who were also previously protected. Now that we have destroyed the secular government, somebody should try to do something to prevent religious based genocide. Isreal can no doubt offer some expertise in this area as well.

Hard to respect the moral stance of someone who fears “fairness”.

At least he’s honest in distinguishing “even handedness” and “being supportive of Israel”.

Mitchell is Lebanese???? First Ellen, then Rachel Maddow, and now Mitchell. It’s spreading like wildfire. Somebody should check the Oklahoma senate offices to see if they are free of the contagion.

“Isreal can no doubt offer some expertise in this area as well.”
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I think, quite a few areas actually. One wonders still if their High Court ever struck down that Knesset vote to ban the Arab Israelis. A perfectly Pavlovian spasm of democracy, truly wonderful stuff there.
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They also are experts at keeping the definitions of the terms ‘ethnic cleasing’ and ‘terrorism’ such that they pretty much can do anything they want.
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On top of that, only the pre-election Republicans were better at spinning lies so fast they become truths, such as how they “explain away” chunks of white phosphorus bouncing off the sidewalks, roof, and walls of an apartment block in broad daylight:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7841999.stm
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I think they are also masters at mainting large open air prisons.
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As a final shot, I would say that “The IDF is checking the report” is on par, credibility-wise, as the last Administrations’ oft-repeated mantra “Mistakes were made”.

Excuse me: Sen George Mitchell is a distinguished American citizen. Do we now add another ethnic test? Does this mean that no American without Jewish roots can be relied upon to adjudicate this dispute? Or that no American with Arab roots is equally “unqualified”? What the hell is an American?

trifecta55:
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Too late. The state of Washington is now a part of Lebanon.

Abe Foxman has no credibility whatsoever. He is a shill, pathologically resorting to epithets when confronted by arguments for foreign policy realism.
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This Israel-centric version of Jesse Jackson Jr. has no other recourse than to appeal to Americans’ well-intentioned, good-faith sense of shame and horror at the well-documented history of genocidal conduct towards Jewish populations worldwide.
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Foxman’s dishonesty is unmistakable; he cheapens and profanes the suffering of his people on behalf of a small, radically ideology-driven corps of rank propagandists acting in the service of a foreign power, as is manifestly evident during this demonstrative exchange:

…On one point you are correct – “America has officially chosen sides.” And rightly so. Fortunately for our nation, very few of our citizens engage in the same moral equivalency, racism, historical revisionism, and indifference to terrorism as you. If the reverse held, it would not be a country that any decent person would want to live in.
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Sincerely,
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Abraham H. Foxman
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National Director
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Anti-Defamation League
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Dear Mr. Foxman:
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You made several errors in your letter to me of January 13 and I am writing to correct them.
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First, to call someone a racist for lamenting the slaughter of civilians by the Israeli military offensive in Gaza is a slur unworthy of the tragedy unfolding there. Your resort to such a tactic is reprehensible…
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…From my days in President Johnson’s White House forward, I have defended Israel’s right to defend itself, and still do. But sometimes an honest critic is a government’s best friend, and I am appalled by Israel’s devastation of innocent civilians in this battle, all the more so because, as I said in my column, it is exactly what Hamas wanted to happen. To be so indifferent to that suffering is, sadly, to be as blind in Gaza as Samson.
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Sincerely,
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Bill Moyers

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Abe Foxman –perhaps out of arrogance, perhaps unwittingly– put it plainly for Americans to see: his contention is that, unless Americans “chose sides” in a foreign conflict having nothing to do with their daily lives with his favored foreign power, we’re engaging in “moral equivalency, racism, historical revisionism, and indifference to terrorism”. Even if we in the United States had somehow voted to transform this nation into a protectorate of the nation of Israel, that contention would be absurd on its face, as even many Israelis themselves clearly understand.
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Bill Moyers has no need to defend himself against such obvious devices, nor (despite the crass, craven conduct of our national legislature) has any citizen of this country who dares extend the sphere of legitimate debate by heeding the counsel of US President George Washington:

…nothing is more essential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations, and passionate attachments for others, should be excluded; and that, in place of them, just and amicable feelings towards all should be cultivated. The nation which indulges towards another a habitual hatred or a habitual fondness is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest. Antipathy in one nation against another disposes each more readily to offer insult and injury, to lay hold of slight causes of umbrage, and to be haughty and intractable, when accidental or trifling occasions of dispute occur. Hence, frequent collisions, obstinate, envenomed, and bloody contests. The nation, prompted by ill-will and resentment, sometimes impels to war the government, contrary to the best calculations of policy. The government sometimes participates in the national propensity, and adopts through passion what reason would reject; at other times it makes the animosity of the nation subservient to projects of hostility instigated by pride, ambition, and other sinister and pernicious motives. The peace often, sometimes perhaps the liberty, of nations, has been the victim.
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So likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter without adequate inducement or justification. It leads also to concessions to the favorite nation of privileges denied to others which is apt doubly to injure the nation making the concessions; by unnecessarily parting with what ought to have been retained, and by exciting jealousy, ill-will, and a disposition to retaliate, in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld. And it gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens (who devote themselves to the favorite nation), facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own country, without odium, sometimes even with popularity; gilding, with the appearances of a virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable deference for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the base or foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation.
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As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways, such attachments are particularly alarming to the truly enlightened and independent patriot. How many opportunities do they afford to tamper with domestic factions, to practice the arts of seduction, to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the public councils. Such an attachment of a small or weak towards a great and powerful nation dooms the former to be the satellite of the latter.
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Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (I conjure you to believe me, fellow-citizens) the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government.

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Despite Abe Foxman’s deep and abiding concern for the decency of the persons with whom he purports to share citizenship, and despite Bill Moyers’ understandable desire to seek peace in a violent, unjust world (or at least reasonable parity in press coverage of the conflict), I must ask this question once again in lieu of the tiresome, unproductive “debate” over which sides’ grievance is the more compelling to the sympathies of the American people:
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Why is it in the interests of the United States to be involved in this foreign conflict as it is?

Sad to see the serious mission of the ADL trivialized like this. He also went after Bill Moyers recently:

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/blog/2009/01/exchange_between_bill_moyers_a.html

Who made Foxman spokesman for the ADL? They need a new one.

Ooops. Zechman beat me to it…

Ooops. Zechman beat me to it…
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Yeah, but I’ll bet that your less-than-five-thousand-character comment didn’t steadily slow the keypress response to three-quarters of a second…because of a “preview” that seems (probably unintentionally) geared toward shutting down verbose commentary.

Stuart thanks for adding the Moyers letter to your post. Looks like the anti in anti defamation league is silent.

Foxman deserves all the criticism, but I have to laugh. This particular remark was wholly unremarkable. Joe’s post is about Joe. Foxman called him a name, so he is getting even. Like last week with Thomas Frank. And the week before with Greenwald.

Say, “Amen!”, Joe! Amen!
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@SZ: Excellent post. Hopefully, “evenhandedness” will come to be seen as an honorable mode of diplomacy for the US in the Middle East, and not an epithet that gets spat upon respected statesmen such as Mitchell, Kerry, etc.

This blog is such an excellent source of humor. Well done Joe!

I mean, how else would you describe Joe Klein taking such umbrage at being labeled a bigot that he then goes ahead and, without any evidence at all, accuses Foxman (and the “Judeosphere” itself) of being bigoted because Mitchell apparently has some Lebanese ancestry. Joe, at least the accusations against you were based on, and quoted, your actual words not something that was “unsaid.” Mitchell apparently has dealt with this Israel (and presumably the “Judeosphere”) before. Have you ever heard ANYBODY say anthing bigoted about him? Maybe it’s your feverish imagination working again.

Anyway, haven’t the Lebanese Christians historically been allies with the Israelis against the Palestinian Muslims?

Finally, Foxman’s point really isn’t that remarkable. He simply doesn’t think we should be even-handed between a staunch U.S. ally and an entity that has been traditionally otherwise, including attacks on U.S. Marines, celebrating 9/11 in their streets, etc.

I do think we should be even-handed in all disputes though. We shouldn’t pick sides between India and Pakistan, or Russia and Georgia, or Turkey and the Armenians, or China and Tibet . . .