- WASHINGTON - After the brutal
Democratic runoff for a House seat in Alabama, blacks, Jews, and Muslim
Americans are preparing themselves for another fight over the August primary
involving Georgia Democrat Cynthia McKinney.
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- The Georgia race is being run on a parallel track of
the Alabama runoff, where attorney Artur Davis drew national Jewish support
in his successful effort to unseat incumbent Rep. Earl Hilliard, who was
viewed as too even-handed in Middle East politics.
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- The Israeli lobby scored its biggest history in years
with Hilliard's defeat. Hilliard, a five-term incumbent, a civil rights
era campaigner and Alabamaís first black congressman since Reconstruction,
was defeated by a flood of pro-Israel money sent to his opponent. Official
word has it that 80 percent of Davis' campaign funding - almost one million
dollars - arrived just in the nick of time from New York City.
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- Jewish donors have already begun funding McKinney's challenger
Denise Majette, a former state court judge from Atlanta who maintains a
fervent pro-Israel position.
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- As one of Capitol Hill's greatest supporters of the Palestinians,
McKinney has become the target of pro-Israeli Jews and conservative non-Jews
alike.
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- Although some moderate pro-Israelis are worried about
the bad blood with black politicians already caused by Hilliard's defeat,
and are suggesting that the lobby refuse the opportunity to go after McKinney,
many in the Jewish community are said to be intoxicated with Hilliardís
defeat, and are now focused on taking down McKinney.
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- Realizing the danger, McKinneyís staffers have
been taking a very low profile on anything to do with the Middle East.
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- Even more thoughtful pro-Israelis in town are said to
be privately worried about the effect McKinneyís possible defeat
will have on relations between Jews and blacks ó often regarded
as the cornerstones of the Democratic Party.
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- They also have expressed concern about the mobilization
of the pro-Arab and Muslim resources sent to Hilliard, even if it was too
late.
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- Indeed, Arab and Muslim American organizations are already
soliciting their members to show their support by donating to McKinney's
re-election campaign.
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- "Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (D-4th, Georgia),
who is arguably the strongest supporter of issues of concern to the American
Muslim community, urgently needs our help to win re-election," writes
the Council on American-Muslim Relations, CAIR, in an urgent notice to
its members.
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- "She has consistently and unflinchingly supported
a balanced US foreign policy in the Middle East and has opposed lopsided
bills that harm the interests of America, Israel and the Muslim world.
She is a strong defender of civil liberties of all Americans and is known
throughout the world as the voice of the voiceless ó the champion
of human rights. She has condemned racial profiling of any and all Americans
and has consistently spoken out against the Secret Evidence Act and other
legislative measures which seek to discriminate against certain racial
minorities in this country," says CAIR.
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- "If we really want to help the people of the Middle
East reach peace, then we need to stand up for Cynthia now and help defend
her against this type of political assault."
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- "Hilliard was a lesson for us to grow on,"
said Abdurrahman Alamoudi, former executive director of the American Muslim
Council and current president of the American Muslim Foundation. "We
just started late with Hilliard."
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- McKinney's main "problems" started last summer
when she said the Bush administration's decision to pull out of the Durban
racism conference was a "travesty."
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- Last October, after New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani returned
a $10 million gift to the city from Saudi Prince Alwaleed ibn Talal after
the prince gently criticized the US policy in the Middle East, McKinney
issued a public letter supporting the prince, asking that the donate the
money to black charities.
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- Finally, in an April radio interview, McKinney called
for an investigation into whether President Bush might have had prior knowledge
of the Sept. 11 attacks and if he profited from them.
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- http://www.arabnews.com/Article.asp?ID=16940
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