Topic: WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily's Aaron Klein has fired up his mighty Wurlitzer once again -- the same one where he keeps his terrorist buddies when he needs to cue up a Democrat-bashing quote -- and lo and behold, he found a New York politician to bash Ehud Olmert.
A Dec. 14 article features the comments of New York state assemblyman Dov Hikind, who is demanding Olmert's resignation. Nowhere does Klein state what, if any, special expertise Hikind has that makes him a credible critic of Olmert (beyond buying full-page ads in Jewish newspapers making the same argument) or anything else regarding Hikind's background and political affiliation -- seemingly essential background information given that the vast majority of WND's readers are not Jewish and not from New York.
As we reported the last time Klein cited him, a 1999 Village Voice article described Hikind as "a combative disciple of Jewish Defense League capo Meir Kahane." And we know how Klein has previously whitewashed the Kahane movement's violent history. Hikind is also, like Klein, an opponent of the Olmert-led disengagement plan of writhdrawing from Israeli settlements in Gaza and the West Bank.
Indeed, this is the 11th WND article -- all but two of which carry Klein's byline -- in which Hikind is quoted. Among them:
- A March 2005 article by Klein stated that Hikind was one of a group fo Americans who "moved ... for three days" to an Israeli settlement in Gaza "protest Israel's planned withdrawal this summer from Gaza and parts of the West Bank." Hikind is the only person Klein quoted in the article. Klein wrote about a second Hikind-led visit to Gaza a few months later, as well as Hikind's unauthorized entry into post-evacuation Gaza in August 2005.
- In a May 2005 article touting Gaza as, of all things, a tourist destination just a few months before the Israeli pullout from Gaza began, Klein quoted Hikind as saying, ""Of course I would recommend people vacation in Gush Katif [settlement in Gaza]. I felt completely safe while I was there."
- A May 2006 article quoted Hikind bashing Olmert and claiming he is "establish[ing] a coalition to sponsor public information campaigns about what he called the dangers of an Israeli withdrawal from Judea and Samaria, and to lead solidarity missions to communities Olmert seeks to evacuate."
- Hikind was Klein's main source on a June 2006 smear piece claiming that the U.S. branch of Olmert's Kadima party plagiarized parts of its website from a state Democratic Party website.
So, it appears that Hikind is little more than a politician with an ax to grind (against a country where he is not an elected official) who has a kinship with a reporter who opposes the same things -- Olmert and disengagement -- as him. And Klein has a reliable quote-spouter when he feels the need to smack Olmert around.
