by Andrew Bernard in the Jewish News Syndicate
Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Committee on the Judiciary traded accusations of Islamophobia and “playing the race card” on Thursday over the nomination of a Muslim-American lawyer with ties to what one senator described as “a mouthpiece for Hamas.”
The furor erupted during a vote on the nomination of Adeel Mangi for the Third Circuit Court of Appeals when the chairman of the committee Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) entered into the record a letter from the Anti-Defamation League accusing committee members of “berating” Mangi with “with endless questions that appear to have been motivated by bias towards his religion.”
Enjoy what you're reading? Subscribe for more!
The two sides also traded statements from Jewish groups on Thursday, with Democrats citing statements by the ADL and the American Jewish Committee, that Mangi had been mistreated, and Republicans citing the Zionist Organization of America and the Coalition for Jewish Values, in saying his nomination should be voted down.
“The left-wing Jewish organizations lining up to back Mr. Mangi’s nomination do not represent the consensus of American Jewry, much less its rabbinic leadership,” the coalition wrote. “Mr. Mangi’s alliance with the center raises genuine concerns about his judgment and his commitment to American principles. Those concerns have nothing to do with his religious background or faith.”
See the full article in the Jewish News Syndicate