Adam Hasner just called to respond to the previous item on Ira Forman’s criticism of Hasner’s American Thinker article, acknowledging one error but maintaining that it doesn’t "take away from the core message that the Jewish community doesn’t have a friend in the White House."
"I regret the piece had one inaccuracy," said Hasner, referring to a passage in the article which claimed — based on an Internet hoax — that Obama had allocated $20 million "to resettling Palestinians with ties to Hamas in the United States."
But he stands behind the remainder of the piece, which included his argument that the president’s decision to send a delegation to the Durban II negotiation sessions last month before deciding to pull out of the conference was a mistake:
Anti-Israelism and other forms of latent anti-Semitism have also received a boost from President Obama’s initial decision to send a delegation to the negotiation sessions of the upcoming Durban II conference. The U.S. representatives’ silence in the face of repeated attempts to demonize Israel and vilify Zionism did plenty to gratify the gathering of wolves, before the President ultimately realized that America’s presence was making things worse rather than better. The damage has been done however, and while the U.S. has indicated after the fact that it likely will not participate in the plenary session, many nations that would have otherwise followed the U.S. in boycotting Durban II will now be lending their credence. Israel’s supporters must understand that this set of circumstances significantly helps our enemies’ effort to delegitimize Israel’s right to exist by harkening back to the "Zionism is racism" days of U.N. Resolution 3379.
(This afternoon, there are reports that much of the offensive language about Israel has been eliminated from a conference draft resolution.)
Hasner said he’s glad that Forman "woke up and is taking me on" to debate decisions that the Republican argues are the wrong ones for Israel and the Jewish community.
"I want to hold Obama to the campaign promises he made to the Jewish people," said Hasner.
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