Thread by @Ali_Gharib

Pretty gross that @maggieNYT shared this extremely garbage Free Beacon hatchet job on the Quincy Institute.

Let's go thru a few of the bullshit points in here!

A long thread!

The article mentions Koch in the hed ("New Koch Group Dogged by Charges of Anti-Semitism") and mentions in passing that the group is also funded by Soros, then has this whopper:

Like, I dunno, but maybe it's scurrilous to suggest that one of "the organization’s financial backers" who happens to be a Holocaust survivor is actually an anti-Semitic, Lindbergh-style America Firster. Maybe just me.

Next point...

The Free Beacon piece says that Paul Pillar "has argued that the Republican megadonor Sheldon Adelson’s first loyalty is to Israel." They have a quote from a Pillar article:

Here's the actual Pillar article. nationalinterest.org/blog/paul-pill… Look at the next sentence! I mean, Adelson ACTUALLY SAID it was 'unfortunate' that he served in an American uniform rather than an Israeli one — there is a video! Is Pillar not allowed to mention this?

Next, the Free Beacon says that @EliClifton 'suggested' some things!

Here's the thing: The Free Beacon twisted Eli's statements, but as for the underlying facts, Eli didn't _suggest_ these things — he said them, because he has the facts on his side.

Here's Free Beacon:

Here's the Nation article: thenation.com/article/archiv…

Eli was talking about the report (bloomberg.com/news/articles/…) that an FDD staffer worked in the NSC while still on FDD's payroll. The "insinuated itself into the American bureaucracy" is Free Beacon's language, not Eli's.

Eli never said that FDD was "originally a mouthpiece for the Israeli government" — again, Free Beacon's language.

Eli said FDD was "an organization that, according to its application for tax-exempt status, was founded to enhance the image of a foreign country, Israel.”

That is... true! It's a fact! I reported it myself in 2014. thenation.com/article/archiv…

The language Eli used is exactly what FDD itself used in its IRS Form 1023 application for non-profit status. Here's a screen shot of the actual document:

This is literally something FDD said about itself in an official federal govt form signed by the organization's founder.

Repeating these simple facts, according to the Free Beacon, makes Eli — a Jew who lost family in the Holocaust — an America First anti-semite.

Asked about Eli's completely accurate recitation of these facts, Quincy head Andrew Bacevich said, "I guess if you are interested in Eli Clifton's views it would make sense to contact Eli Clifton."

Eli told me the Free Beacon never got in touch.

Then the Free Beacon cites Eli's work at ThinkProgress, where we worked together and were censored by a bad higher-up for saying Factual and True critical things about Israel and it's right-wing American supporters.

One of the things Eli said was that AIPAC push for pressure against Iran in the early 2010's mirrored its push for war with Iraq. AIPAC has vociferously denied it did any lobbying for the Iraq War, but that's not quite true.

As Eli reported in '14, AIPAC's literature from 2001-04 took strong positions. AIPAC's "Congressional Briefing Book" made the case for regime change: "As long as Saddam Hussein is in power, any containment of Iraq will only be temporary until the next crisis or act of aggression.

And AIPAC's 2002 newsletter uncritically reported and then promoted Israeli officials' (false) allegation that Saddam and Al Qaeda were linked. (Receipts here: lobelog.com/aipacs-2002-br…)

I dunno, guys, seems like AIPAC can be safely said to have pushed the war.

There are a lot of other allegations in this piece, but I'm bored of this dumb exercise, so I'll stop here. I just want to briefly add that...

The right-wing, neocon Free Beacon has a long and shameful history of taking critics of Israel, the US-Israel relationship, and the push for Iran War and falsely labeling them as anti-Semites.

I can't for the life of me figure out why @maggieNYT is promoting this garbage.