Friday, October 30, 2020
Elder of ZiyonThis is a bit unusual.
Ammar Campa-Najjar is a 31 year old American of Palestinian ancestry who is running for Congress as a Democrat against 66-year old Lebanese-American Republican Darrell Issa, in the 50th District.
Both of them are campaigning on themselves being pro-Israel, and both of them are accusing the other of being anti-Israel.
Issa paid for an ad using Trump's words denouncing Campa-Najjar as an anti-Israel activist:
Campa-Najjar responded by saying that he definitely is pro-Israel, showing a photo of him shaking hands with former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak - the man who led the assassination of Campa-Najjar's paternal grandparents in Beirut in 1973. His grandfather, Muhammad Youssef al-Najjar, was reportedly a senior member of the Black September group that killed 11 Israeli athletes as the 1972 Munich Olympics. Campa-Najjar looked at his meeting with Barak as a supreme act of reconciliation.
Not only that, but Campa-Najjar then posted two videos from conservative groups claiming that Issa is the one who is anti-Israel:
In reality, both of them hold similar positions on Israel, wanting a two-state solution, although Issa is against the Iran deal while Campa-Najjar wants to bring it back with modifications. Otherwise, Campa-Najjar is a relative foreign policy hawk for a Democrat, even supporting the US assassination of Iranian general Qassim Soleimani.
At a time when the most vocal Democratic voices are distancing themselves from pro-Israel positions, this is unusual.
The 50th District is historically heavily Republican.
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