Metro
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DeVos Solidifies
Terrorism Stance
"I have no support for terrorism,
terrorists or those who support
terrorists," candidate says.
Don Cohen
Special to the Jewish News
R
epublican gubernatorial
candidate Dick DeVos has
made it crystal clear that he
canceled his scheduled appearance
at a Sept. 13 dinner organized by
the American Arab Political Action
Committee because of pro-Hezbollah
statements and activities by the
group's leadership. But that message,
delivered most recently at a previ-
ously scheduled meeting on Sept.
14 with the JN Editorial Board and
Jewish Renaissance Media executives
from the JN's parent company, has
been confusedin campaign state-
ments that have appeared in the local
news media.
"I canceled the meeting and it
staved canceled:' DeVos said about
the AAPAC meeting. "I will not be
associated with terrorism. It is unac-
ceptable: That is clear. I will not be
associated with or be engaged with
organizations that promote or other-
wise advance the idea that it is some-
how acceptable.
"It is not."
DeVos further told the JN: "I have
no support for terrorism, and no sup-
port for terrorists or those who sup-
port terrorists. That is clear."
A JN column by Editor Robert
Sklar on Aug. 31 titled "Don't
Mainstream Extremists" high-
lighted the vocal support by AAPAC
leaders Osama Siblani and Abed
Hammoud for Hezbollah, a U.S. State
Department-declared terrorist orga-
nization, as well as their anti-Israel
statements belittling the Holocaust
and charging that Zionists control
the U.S. government.
Sklar wrote, "The Arab commu-
nity has every right to choose its
leadership and representatives. But
statewide candidates and public
officials should not legitimize such
politically extreme views by attend-
ing events hosted by the AAPAC, the
CAAO [Congress of Arab American
Organizations] or likeminded
groups."
The column mentioned that DeVos
was scheduled to appear at a "Dinner
and Politics" AAPAC event, but after
the JN column appeared, and DeVos
confirmed its accuracy, he canceled
his appearance. While DeVos did not
attend the AAPAC meeting, he did,
at the suggestion of Arab American
supporters, meet with Siblani in
Dearborn on the evening of Sept. 11.
The meeting's intent was to clarify
why the AAPAC appearance was can-
celed, not to discuss the cancellation
itself, DeVos said.
"We did not discuss the cancella-
tion of the meeting," DeVos said. "It
was canceled. It was done."
"We did clear the air on a com-
munications problem," he said. "Our
campaign had erred. We had mis-
represented the facts. And that was
wrong. We had misrepresented the
reason for the cancellation."
DeVos accepted full responsibility
for the misrepresentation by staff. "I
felt I owed an apology for that mis-
communication," he said, "but that
did not change any of my views."
DeVos' Sept. 14 comments reaf-
firmed the explanation that DeVos
campaign manager Greg McNeilly
gave the JN a week before, but
Siblani's Arab American News con-
tinues to maintain that DeVos can-
celed under pressure and apologized
to Siblani for doing so.
In its Sept. 16-22 issue, the Arab
American News reported that
DeVos told them "the remarks made
by his staff to the Detroit Jewish
News were 'mistakes," and that
DeVos "took full responsibility for
them and he apologized for them
'repeatedly and genuinely, according
to Siblani." A press release issued by
the DeVos campaign on Sept. 14 did
not address the cancellation, focusing
instead on the candidate's desire to
DeVos on page 32
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