2/1/2015
Chuck Ross
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Chuck Ross
Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz offered a series of candid remarks at a recent event in Florida, slamming MSNBC over what she claims is its anti-Israel bias, breaking with the Obama administration by identifying recent terrorists as Islamic, and questioning intermarriage and assimilation for Jewish people.
The Florida congresswoman’s eye-opening comments came at a breakfast event held earlier this month at a south Florida branch of the Jewish Federation.
Previously unpublished audio of the event was obtained by The Shark Tank, a Florida-based political blog.
“We have the problem of assimilation. We have the problem of intermarriage,” Wasserman Schultz said after mentioning her husband, who she seemingly met through the Jewish Federation.
“We have the problem that too many generations of Jews don’t realize the importance of our institutions strengthening our community — particularly with the rise of antisemitism and global intolerance, which obviously we saw in horrific technicolor in just the last week in Paris.”
The DNC chair, whose leadership has been considered rocky at times, identified “Islamic fundamentalists” as responsible for the Paris attack and others, thus breaking with the Obama administration which has all but avoided mentioning Islam in reference to any of the attacks.
“Unfortunately what happens, particularly with the global war on terror and the Islamic fundamentalists who are combating and leading it, [Jews] are the crux of the reason that they are engaged in that fight,” Wasserman Schultz told the audience.
She then launched into a pointed critique of the mainstream media’s coverage of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, while singling out MSNBC, a network on which she frequently appears.
Wasserman-Schultz told the audience about a “troubling” segment she was watching on MSNBC the night before the event.
What was troubling about the segment was “the way it was promoted, the way it was talked about,” she said.
“Clearly [MSNBC was] highlighting what Israel had done to Gaza and the plight of Palestinians,” Wasserman Schultz said. “My first thought was where is the balance, where is the spotlight on what Jewish children in Israel go through from being victims of rocket attacks.”
“The media’s coverage — and it’s not just MSNBC — I’ve seen it on CNN and even in the broadcast media as well. We have work to do. We have work to do to educate and to make sure that people understand there’s a very simple solution to this. It’s called recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish and Democratic state.”
Wasserman Schultz’s congressional spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
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