Is a pro-McCain Israeli front group trying to influence November’s election results in violation of

[MiaCulpa]

The Council for American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim advocacy group with an office in Southfield, Mich., has asked the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) to investigate whether the distributor of millions of copies of an anti-terrorism DVDs is a front for an Israeli-based group with the goal of helping Republican presidential candidate John McCain. If so, that could be a violation of campaign law.

Millions of DVD copies of the film “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against The West” were delivered recently to the doorsteps of potential voters in November’s upcoming presidential election between Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain, via their Sunday newspapers through an advertising purchase by a shadowy group called the Clarion Fund.

The distribution, which began last week with inserts in The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, The Grand Rapids Press, the Lansing State Journal and others, follows highly visible giveaways of the “Obsession” DVD at the Democratic and Republican parties’ conventions.

The 60-minute documentary showcases scenes of Muslim children being encouraged to become suicide bombers, interspersed with shots of Nazi rallies. “The threat of Radical Islam is the most important issue facing us today,” reads the sleeve of the DVD. ”But it’s a topic that neither the presidential candidates nor the media are discussing openly. It’s our responsibility to ensure we can all make an informed vote in November.”

CAIR refers us to a report in the Detroit Free Press:

“In its complaint, CAIR cites New York Secretary of State records showing that three people who incorporated Clarion Fund also are employees or have been employees of Aish HaTorah International, a Jerusalem-based Jewish educational organization that has offices around the world.

“American voters deserve to know whether they are the targets of a multimillion-dollar campaign funded and directed by a foreign group seeking to whip up anti-Muslim hysteria as a way to influence the outcome of our presidential election,” Nihad Awad, executive director of CAIR, said in a statement.

The three named as those who incorporated Clarion Fund and also employees of Aish Ha Torah are Obsession’s producer, Raphael Shore, Clarion spokesman Gregory Ross as a former employee of Aish Ha Torah, and Ari Morgenstern, spokesman for the Endowment for Middle East Truth, which is a partner with the Clarion Fund in “The Obsession Project.”

Full story here:

http://michiganmessenger.com/5247/is-a-pro-mccain-israeli-front-group-trying-to-influence-novembers-election-results-in-violation-of-campaign-law

[dipsydoodle]

1. In the UK

distibution of that DVD in that way would have been an arrestable offence.

[whistle]

2. Y E S ! The Clarion Fund in partnership with the Endowment for Middle East Truth

...both extreme right wing propaganda organizations

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/09/obsession_dvd_distributors_wer.php

http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2008/09/cair-is-calling-aish-a-foreign-based-group-that-is-seeking-to-whip-up-anti-muslim-hysteria.html