MUSLIMS AID EMBATTLED HOUSE MEMBER
Thomas B. Edsall, Washington Post, 8/2/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34022-2002Aug1.html
Members of the Muslim American community are providing extensive support
for Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.), defending the five-term incumbent
against a challenge financed in part by Jewish leaders critical of her
stand on Israel.
At least three-quarters of the $234,299 that McKinney has raised from
individuals this year is from donors with Muslim or Arab American surnames,
the great majority of whom live outside her district.
Meanwhile her Democratic challenger, former state judge Denise Majette, has
begun raising large sums from Jewish donors alarmed by McKinney's comments
on Middle East matters. Majette plans to spend $500,000 in the three weeks
leading to the Aug. 20 primary, top aides said.
As a result, the Atlanta-based 4th District Democratic primary has to some
extent become a proxy for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with the
outcome a test of strength between the Muslim American and pro-Israel
Jewish communities...
In an earlier Democratic primary, Rep. Earl F. Hilliard (D-Ala.), who was
backed by Arab Americans but not as strongly as McKinney, lost to Artur
Davis, who had strong support from Jewish donors across the county.
Hilliard, Davis, McKinney and Majette are black, but the two Democratic
contests have stirred unusual ethnic crosscurrents. Among other things,
they have underscored the tensions between Muslims and Jews -- and between
African Americans and Jews -- that sometimes animate local elections.
Hilliard, in a post-election interview with the online publication The
Black Commentator, said: "The only thing I know for sure, that I saw in
black and white, is $1,098,000 that [Davis] reported...[I]t came from Jews
and Republicans..."
"We have been sucked into a game of becoming involved in races because
AIPAC [the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the premier pro-Israel
lobby] has ruthlessly targeted every member of Congress that is not 100
percent Israel, right or wrong," said Sarah Eltantawi, communications
director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council.
The Ohio-based CAIR-PAC (pac@cair-pac.org), or Council on American-Islamic
Relations, recently sent out a fundraising e-mail telling recipients:
"Support Cynthia McKinney. She is our strategic choice...Pro-Muslim
Candidate. Supporter of Palestinian State for over 7 years. Against Secret
Evidence. Against Aid to Israel."
Bill Banks, McKinney's campaign manager, said Muslim Americans support her
reelection because "they feel she has spoken out for the [Middle East]
policies of the U.S. to be somewhat balanced." Banks contended that AIPAC
has made McKinney the "number one candidate to try to remove from office..."
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