Press TV Airs Anti-Semitic Interviews to Mark U.S.S. Liberty Anniversary

Press TV, Iran’s English-language propaganda television station, marked the 45th anniversary of the sinking of the USS Liberty by interviewing anti-Israel and anti-Semitic activists Alison Weir, Michael Santomauro, and J. Bruce Campbell.

During the interview, which was held on June 8, the trio accused Israel of purposefully targeting the U.S. warship during the height of the 1967 Six-Day War. (The circumstances surrounding the U.S.S. Liberty, an American ship that was unintentionally fired on by Israeli forces, has been regular fodder for anti-Israel conspiracy theorists.) The interview also included several anti-Semitic statements and conspiratorial accusations of Jewish control over the U.S. government.

Michael Santomauro, an anti-Israel blogger and Holocaust denier, alleged that the USS Liberty is a cover-up maintained by U.S.-based Jewish support for Israel and the disproportionate influence Jews hold over the U.S. government. Jewish interest groups, whom Santomauro claimed provide over the overwhelming amount of funding to U.S. political parties, wield their power through what he termed “Jewish PAC money.”

J. Bruce Campbell, a contributing writer for the anti-Semitic website, Veterans Today, claimed that the attack on the Liberty was part of a conspiratorial U.S-Israeli plan he called Operation Cyanide, a secret military operation that Campbell alleges purposefully sent the Liberty to get sunk by the Israelis in order to place blame on Egypt. The desired result, Campbell claims, would have been for the U.S. to retaliate against Egypt and to “drop nuclear bombs on Cairo and Alexandria.” Campbell asserted that this was ordered by the U.S. to assist Israel in creating “great [sic] Israel stretching from the Nile to Euphrates rivers.”

When asked by the host whether he agrees that Israel controls the U.S. government, Campbell responded, “I would say the Jews in America [run the United States]. Israel is a euphemism … It is really American Jews who are behind this [the Iraq and Afghanistan wars] just as it was during 1967…” Campbell also claimed that American Jews want to kill “millions of Muslims” and “thousands of Americans. This is what American Jews want, this is what they make happen through Washington D.C.”

Alison Weir, president of the Council for the National Interest (CNI), an anti-Israel organization that opposes U.S. aid to Israel, added to Santomauro’s comment about the pro-Israel lobby and characterized the U.S-Israel relationship as an “extremely unhealthy situation.” Weir also said that large sums of donations from pro-Israel groups are the cause of “tragedy, misery, violence and war after war after war.” Weir’s comments are consistent with her record of using anti-Semitic imagery and portraying Israel and its agents as powerful forces that control American policy through intimidation and deception.

Press TV, which is based in Tehran, is used by the clerical regime to provide a platform for extreme elements and activists to air their views and opinions. Many of Press TV’s U.S.-based guests are frequently invited by the station specifically for their conspiratorial anti-Israel views. Earlier this year, Weir appeared as a guest on the station to discuss the 2012 American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference, calling the pro-Israel lobby “very dangerous to the world” and “for Americans.”

Anti-Israel Billboards Surface in Denver and Detroit

Pay much attention to the billboards you see on the highway? Well, some anti-Israel groups in the United States are betting you do and paying to advertise their message on prominent billboards.

Last week, three anti-Israel organizations  – If American Knew, Deir Yassin Remembered and Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends – responded to a pro-Israel billboard in Detroit by securing billboard space of their own with the message, “$8 million/ Day to Israel? Our money is needed in America!” Another billboard that recently appeared in Denver read, “Tell Congress: Spend Our Money at Home Not on the Israeli Military.” The Denver billboard was paid for by the Coalition to Stop $30 Billion, a New Mexico-based group that first displayed a similar message on a billboard in Albuquerque in 2009.

In addition to these new billboards, anti-Israel signs and advertisements have regularly appeared  on buses and subways in large metropolitan areas since 2010, including New York City, Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Chicago. The ads, which call for an “End [to] U.S. military aid to Israel,” were organized by a coalition of national anti-Israel organizations operating under the umbrella of a campaign called “Be On Our Side.”

It seems likely that the activists paying for and placing these ads are newly optimistic that their message will resonate in light of the fragile state of the U.S. economy and the national debt. The Coalition to Stop $30 Billion, for example, explains: “All this money is flowing away while America is suffering the worst financial collapse since the Great Depression.”

Iran’s Press TV Gives Voice to Anti-Israel Conspiracy Theorists

Mark Glenn, a contributor to the anti-Semitic, conspiracy-oriented publication American Free Press, was interviewed on March 11 by Iran’s English-language propaganda television station, Press TV. During the interview, Glenn claimed that the suffering inflicted on the Palestinians by Israel is greater than the atrocities Jews faced during the Holocaust.

Glenn, who subscribes to and promotes numerous anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, also said that “Israel’s existence is totally dependent upon keeping the people around her divided, squabbling,” and that “sympathy [for the Holocaust] has now extended itself way beyond its shelf life.”

Press TV, headquartered in Tehran, has long embraced extremist elements and activists and provided a platform for them to air their views and opinions, many of which reflect Iran’s worldview. Like Glenn. many of the guests interviewed by the station are known for their conspiratorial anti-Israel views.

For example, Alison Weir, president of the Council for the National Interest (CNI) and If Americans Knew, two anti-Israel organization that opposes U.S. aid and support to Israel, was interviewed by Press TV regarding the 2012 American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference. “AIPAC is very dangerous to the world and it’s especially dangerous for Americans,” Weir said in the exclusive interview.

Another frequent guest on Press TV and ally of the Iranian regime is Imam Abdul Musa, the head of the Masjid Al Islam Mosque in Washington D.C. and founder of Sabiqun, an anti-Semitic Muslim group advocating for a global Islamic state. In a 2010 interview, Alim Musa claimed that the Israeli Mossad and the U.S. government were behind most acts of terrorism, and has frequently called the U.S. government “Zionist occupied.”

“Occupy AIPAC” Conference Seeks to Lambast Pro-Israel Lobby and Cast Antiwar Agenda as the “99%”

An anti-Israel conference to counter this weekend’s annual AIPAC Policy Conference will begin today and includes a variety of events, rallies and public demonstrations through March 6.

This year’s protest event, titled “Occupy AIPAC,” seeks to capitalize on the success of the Occupy Movement and foster common cause between the popular social protests and anti-Israel efforts. The event’s Twitter feed tries to paint Israel and its supporters in the U.S. as part of the proverbial “1%” and  the left-wing antiwar movement as the 99%, a repurposing of the Occupy Movement’s rhetoric. In addition, one of the conference sessions links the Arab Spring and the Occupy Wall Street Movement with anti-Israel efforts.

The conference session that is likely to feature the most egregious rhetoric is titled “AIPAC: What it is, who its allies are, why it’s dangerous and how to stop it.” It will feature, among others, Hatem Bazian, the leader of the extreme anti-Israel organization American Muslims for Palestine; Jeffrey Blankfort, an anti-Israel journalist who claims that the “Israel lobby” controls U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East; and Alison Weir, the director of the Council for the National Interest. Weir’s writings and comments have at times crossed the line into anti-Semitism, including accusing Israelis of harvesting Palestinians’ organs. According to descriptions provided on the conference Web site, the session will include a segment on how AIPAC “promotes Muslim otherness.”

Conference attendees will have the opportunity to participate in several rallies and demonstrations against AIPAC events, including protests outside the White House during President Obama’s and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speeches.

Occupy AIPAC’s Twitter feed accuses AIPAC of excessive control over U.S. policy, including posts reading “We want our country back” and “End big money lobbyist control of MidEast Policy.”

The conference has already attracted at least one anti-Semitic attendee, Charles Carlson. Carlson is the co-founder and director of “We Hold These Truths,” an Arizona-based Christian anti-Semitic group that regularly protests outside Christian Zionist churches. In a message to his members inviting people to join him at “Occupy AIPAC,” Carlson wrote:

"Every political candidate for president is bowing and scraping to the state of Israel...they are not appealing for Israeli votes,  but for the tens of millions of American Christian Zionist votes…Thousands of mistaken and opportunistic Pastors also fear the truth because they have mislead their congregations.  Knowledge of Christian Zionism can drive a stake through it, to be someday buried in the graveyard of apostate, religious acts of war."