By Felicia J. Persaud
News Americas, FORT LAUDERDALE, FL, Fri. Oct. 19, 2023: During her tenure as a senior advisor and national spokesperson to MoveOn, a political advocacy group, Caribbean immigrant Karine Jean Pierre, born in Martinique to Haitian parents, was accused by AIPAC, the largest pro-Israel PAC in America, of being “severely racist.”
This was mainly due to a 2019 op-ed Jean-Pierre wrote in which she noted: “You cannot call yourself a progressive while continuing to associate yourself with an organization like AIPAC that has often been the antithesis of what it means to be progressive.”
The pro-Israel lobbying group has “become known for trafficking in anti-Muslim and anti-Arab rhetoric while lifting up Islamophobic voices and attitudes.” In fact, Senator Bernie Sanders, while running for President, accused the group of providing a platform for “bigotry.” AIPAC has also run a number of attack advertisements against Democratic lawmakers, including Somali immigrant Congresswoman Ilhan Omar and Congresswoman Betty McCollum, who have spoken critically of Israel.
But on October 12th, Jean Pierre, had a complete about face as the now spokesperson for the Joe Biden White House. The Black, immigrant, Haitian American, LGBTQ White House spokesperson turned on progressive lawmakers in a way that smacked of hypocrisy.
Asked by Real Clear Politics reporter Philip Wegmann about calls from Progressive Representatives Omar, (Minn.) and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, (N.Y.), who have issued statements calling for a ceasefire and de-escalation of the situation in the Middle East, Jean-Pierre stated: “So, I’ve seen some of those statements this weekend. And we’re gonna continue to be very clear. We believe they’re wrong. We believe they’re repugnant and we believe they’re disgraceful.”
She added: “Our condemnation belongs squarely with terrorists who have brutally murdered, raped, kidnapped, hundreds, hundreds of Israelis. There can be no equivocation about that. There are not two sides here. There are not two sides.”
Talk about “repugnant” and “disgraceful?” What is repugnant and disgraceful, Ms. Jean-Pierre is your sudden about face as the new squealer of hypocrisy of America.
What Hamas did was wrong, very wrong, but so is the murder of innocent Palestinians by Israel. Why would America support a genocide of an entire group with our tax dollars while the world watches, instead of calling for finding the persons who perpetrated the crimes and the hostages, as well as an end to aerial bombings of innocent people in Gaza and the cutting off of all supplies, including humanitarian air?
Are we saying that all Palestinians are responsible for the murder of 1,300 Israelis and the abduction of 150 others? Should all Israelis be held accountable for the killing of over 3,000 Palestinians, including a Palestinian man and his son who were shot and killed when Israeli settlers in the West Bank opened fire on a funeral? Should they all be held accountable for the injury to thousands and the displacement of more than a million, and the use of white phosphorus in military operations in Gaza and Lebanon and the attempt to starve them to death?
As United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said on Friday Oct. 13th: “Even wars have rules. International humanitarian law and human rights law must be respected and upheld; civilians must be protected and never used as shields.”
America and Ms. Jean-Pierre should be reiterating this, not supporting wholesale slaughter in the name of politics and political donations. The entire situation has to be deescalated or the consequences will be dire for us even in America.
The writer is publisher of NewsAmericasNow.com, the Black Immigrant Daily News.
