The real scandal surrounding Anthony Weiner is that he is
bigoted against Palestinians and has misused his position in Congress to
support punitive policies against them. Americans appear to be bored by policy,
titillated by private peccadilloes. But it is the policies that are important.
Mahatma Gandhi was once kicked out of a brothel in South Africa. No one judges
him by his lapses. Weiner, in contrast to Gandhi, has not worked for peace but
has rather given knee-jerk support to the worst policies of the most far
rightwing parties in Israel toward Palestinians. A social liberal in American
terms, Weiner is so blinded by his allegiance to Israel and so studied in his
ignorance of the Middle East that he has played a uniformly sinister role in
that aspect of foreign policy. If he were replaced by, say, an up-and-coming
Dominican-American politician from Queens who had some sympathy with Arabs,
that would be all to the good.

Weiner:

1. Called for Columbia University professor Joseph Massad to
be fired for being critical of Israel; Weiner thus spearheaded a new
McCarthyism.

2. On the Israeli attack, in international waters, on the
Mavi Marmara relief ship, Weiner sputtered: “”If you want to instigate a
conflict with the Israeli navy it isn’t hard to do. They were offered
alternatives. Instead they chose to sail into the teeth of an internationally
recognized blockade.” The blockade of Gaza civilians is a breach of
international law; it is not internationally recognized and has on the contrary
been condemned by almost every nation and human rights organization.

3. Alleged that the New York Times is anti-Israel: “Amnesty
International in particular, has always had bias against Israel, and frankly I
would argue that in many cases, the New York Times has, as well.”

4. Alleged that the Palestine Liberation Organization is
still listed by the US as a terrorist organization. It was dropped from the
list over 2 decades ago.

5. Tried to bar the Palestinian delegation to the United
Nations from New York.

6. Alleged that Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestine
Authority, is not the head of the PLO. He is.

7. Refused to condemn the use by Israel of cluster bombs on
the civilian farms of south Lebanon in 2006.

8. Alleged that the Israeli army does not occupy the West
Bank and that there is no Israeli Army presence in the West Bank.

9. Called Israel’s war on Gaza a “humane” war. 400 children
were killed.

10. Voted for Iraq War authorization in 2002, before later
turning against the war.