(May 10, 2022 - Washington, DC) EMET would like to express our deep dismay, disgust and despair that the Biden administration has recently appointed Karine Jean-Pierre to a critically important position: White House Press Secretary. This position’s responsibilities include communicating the White House’s policy as well as hosting daily briefings with the White House Press Corps.
Unfortunately, Ms. Jean-Pierre has a long history of deeply antisemitic and Israelophobic views. In a 2019 Newsweek article, she encouraged Democrats not to attend the AIPAC policy conference, calling the bipartisan organization “racist” and “Islamophobic.” AIPAC has always taken great pains to be bipartisan, yet, in the article, she wrote that: “You cannot call yourself a progressive and associate yourself with an organization like AIPAC, that has often been the antithesis of progressivism.”
Ms. Jean-Pierre also condemned AIPAC for inviting then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the policy conference. It is standard operating procedure for the pro-Israel lobbying organization to invite the current Prime Minister. She also threw in, that “under his leadership, according to the United Nations, Israel may have committed war crimes in attacks against Gazan protesters,” demonstrating her total bias in favor of the Palestinians.
This ignorant statement also demonstrates a complete failure to understand the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well as an inability to distinguish between those who send missiles, bombs, knives and kites or balloons with incendiary devices attached to them across the border, and those who are trying to defend their civilian population. In other words, between the arsonist and the firefighter.
Ms. Jean-Pierre wrote that piece while she was acting spokesperson and senior advisor for Moveon.org. where she worked from April 2016 to August of 2020. Moveon.org is an extremely radical, far-left organization that has long supported the BDS movement and defended such antisemites as Linda Sarsour who made the outrageous comment that “Israel was built on the idea that Jews are supreme to everyone else.”
Moveon.org has also supported Rashida Tlaib, (D-Mich.), who spoke of Jews with “money” as a shadowy force, controlling the political process “from behind the curtain,” using classic antisemitic tropes. They also supported Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), who has made such odious remarks as “Israel has hypnotized the world,” and “It’s all about the Benjamins.”
Said Sarah Stern, EMET Founder and President, “It is absolutely nauseating that the administration would bend so far to the highly progressive, radical wing of the Democratic party and appoint a spokesperson for the White House who has such clearly antisemitic and Israelophobic views, particularly while antisemitism is on the rise in the United States. This clearly demonstrates how the Biden administration is willing to turn a blind eye toward antisemitism and anti-Israel biases. To sweep under the rug, overlook and ignore Ms. Jean-Pierre’s antisemitism in the appointment of such a critically important position as White House Press Secretary is enabling it to continue.”
About The Endowment for Middle East Truth
Founded in 2005, EMET’s mission is to educate policymakers in Washington and the general public about the importance of Israel to the United States in their common struggle against radical Islam. For more information, please visitwww.emetonline.org. Follow EMET on Twitter and Facebook.
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