I
World
Playing from page A29
THIS WEEKEND
ATTHE NEW DIA.
Friday Night Live!: Jazz vocalist Libby York serenades visitors at Friday Night Live!
Plus, don't miss special Halloween gallery tours that are sure to give you a fright!
Saturday: Watch ceramic artist Jeff Blandford demonstrate
his techniques—live in the galleries.
Target Family Sundays: Raas, a folk dance traditional to North India, is known for
energetic performances using decorated sticks. Students from the University of
Michigan, Michigan State University and Case Western Reserve University perform
in a Raas competition in the DIA's auditorium.
Now on View: Monet to Dali: Modern Masters from the Cleveland Museum of Art
Sponsored by:
Bank of America •••
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' • '''- '
Programs are made possible with support from the Michigan Council for ;-.-ts
and Cultural Affairs and the City of Detroit.
DETROIT INSTITUTE
MIDDLE
SCHOOL
OF ARTS
32nd Annual
PTSA presents their
• Over 100
security.
Exhibitor Booths
• Lunch Room
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Admission: $2.00
NO STROLLERS PLEASE
Five Mile
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A30
.s. E
these seem to have been well-known
in real time.
The ads call Wright an anti-Semite,
without substantiating the claim;
Wright is not known to have targeted
Jews and had friendly relations with
Chicago Jewish groups.
Another RJC ad accurately quotes
Democrats praising McCain, the
Republican presidential nominee. But
Obama backers are quick to note that
the Democrats in question are all sup-
porting the Illinois senator's presiden-
tial bid.
Other RJC ads severely distort
Obama's positions and relationships.
Obama has never backed down
from endorsing Jerusalem as Israel's
undivided capital, as one ad claims.
Instead, he amended the pledge,
made in May to the American Israel
Public Affairs Committee, to note that
— whatever his personal views — the
city's final status is a matter for nego-
tiations between the Israelis and the
Palestinians.
That's also McCain's view and gener-
ally uncontroversial. Brooks says the
difference is that McCain has never
had to clarify his views on Jerusalem.
Furthermore, he added, McCain has
pledged to immediately move the U.S.
embassy to Jerusalem. Obama will
not make such a pledge; a succession
of candidates who have, including the
current president, have reneged after
Election Day.
Arguably the most dubious ad is the
one titled "Barack Obama's advisers:
pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel, even hos-
tile to America?'
Robert Malley, a Middle East scholar
and former U.S. negotiator, is not anti-
Israel, as the ad suggests; nor is David
Bonior, a former Democratic congress-
man from Michigan who is on the
Obama team. Both men have been
critical of Israeli settlement policies
and of Israeli conduct during negotia-
tions, but have upheld Israel's right to
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West of Farmington • North of 1-96
October 23 @ 2008
Saturday
November 1
10:00am - 4:00pm
1444280
At think-tank talks in Washington,
Malley gets exercised about preserving
the two-state solution, in part because
he says he sees it as a guarantee to
Israel's survival.
Malley is not even advising Obama
— the ad makes the claim based on a
single erroneous media report which
engendered many others. Bizarrely,
when both sides — Malley and the
Obama campaign — sent out releases
in May denying once and for all that
Malley ever advised the campaign,
many of the resulting news reports
suggested Malley was quitting a cam-
paign he had never joined.
It's true that Obama's campaign
once called Malley an "informal advis-
er" — that's a euphemism for experts
who send in unsolicited position
papers. And he is hardly a "Palestinian
apologist:' as the ad asserts: Although
Malley assigns blame to Israel and the
Palestinians for the failure of the 2000
Camp David talks, he has not spared
Palestinians criticism for their intran-
sigence and corruption.
Brooks stood by the characteriza-
tion. "If he is not anti-Israel, he is cer-
tainly pro-Arab."
How Big Is Zbig?
It is true that Zbigniew Brzezinski, a
national security adviser to former
President Carter named in the same
ad, has in the past proven friendly to
theories that Israel is more of a burden
than a boon to U.S. interests; however,
his role in the campaign was marginal.
He apparently was an Obama sur-
rogate on one conference call early in
the primaries for Democrats Abroad,
not a constituency that the party ever
treats as important, and he introduced
Obama at an Iowa campaign event a
year ago.
At that event, Obama called
Brzezinski "one of our most out-
standing scholars, one of our most
outstanding thinkers"; he also com-
mended Brzezinski's role in brokering
the Israeli-Egyptian peace, saying
he brought "about a lasting peace
between Israel and some of its neigh-
bors."
The Obama campaign insists
that Brzezinski and the Democratic
nominee have only discussed Iraq,
not Israel. In the RJC's defense it is
also true that the campaign's YouTube
channel includes Brzezinski's endorse-
ment.
Perhaps the only substantive plaint
in the advisers ad is about Gen. Merrill
"Tony" McPeak, who is indeed a senior
adviser to the campaign.
In a 2003 interview with the
Oregonian, when asked to assign
blame for the Middle East peace
impasse, McPeak reportedly said:
"New York City. Miami. We have a large
vote here in favor of Israel. And no
politician wants to run against it:"
When the quote came to light dur-
ing the primaries, Obama denounced
it, but kept McPeak, who in a long
military career — he is the former
U.S. Air Force chief — has forged close
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