Max Blumenthal, the journalist son of Hillary Clinton‘s top adviser, continued his anti-Semitic attacks on the memory of Elie Wiesel, forcing the Democrat candidate for president to ostensibly distance herself from his remarks, though some are not convinced of her sincerity. The connection goes much deeper than she would like to admit.
Wiesel, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and outspoken pro-Israel activist, passed away last Saturday. As soon as news of his passing went public, Blumenthal began posting harsh criticism of the deceased Jewish author and Holocaust chronicler on social media.
Elie Wiesel went from a victim of war crimes to a supporter of those who commit them. He did more harm than good and should not be honored.
— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) July 2, 2016
Elie Wiesel is dead. He spent his last years inciting hatred, defending apartheid & palling around with fascists. pic.twitter.com/3bRTq4QDye
— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) July 2, 2016
Max Blumenthal is not connected to Clinton or her campaign, but his father, Sidney Blumenthal is one of her closest confidantes and advisers. His name came to the public’s attention during the Senate hearings on Benghazi for advising Clinton as Secretary of State to promote a civil war in Libya. It was revealed in the hearings that Sidney Blumenthal was working on behalf of a defense contractor that sought business in a post-Gaddafi Libya. It was also revealed that he sent many of his son’s articles to Clinton via email and she frequently responded enthusiastically.
In one such email exchange two days after the Benghazi attacks, Clinton responded in what was clearly a twisted attempt at humor, “Your Max is a mitzvah!” The exchange referred to Max Blumenthal’s review of the anti-Islamic YouTube video, Innocence of the Muslims, in which he claimed that the video was responsible for the Benghazi attacks. Clinton later used Max Blumenthal’s article to bolster her own claims that this was the case, but when this theory was debunked, she recanted.
Max Blumenthal is vocally and viciously anti-Israel, comparing the Jewish State to the Islamic State (ISIS), referring to Israel as JSIL (a play on the White House acronym for the Islamic State;ISIL). He also blames Israel for apartheid and ethnic cleansing. His recent anti-Wiesel remarks were taken up as a rally cry by anti-Israel activists, leading Clinton to distance herself from her adviser’s son.
“Secretary Clinton emphatically rejects these offensive, hateful, and patently absurd statements about Elie Wiesel,” Jake Sullivan, senior policy aide to the Clinton campaign, said in a July 6 statement to The Jerusalem Post. “She believes they are wrong in all senses of the term. She believes that Max Blumenthal and others should cease and desist in making them.”
In a recent article on Alternet, Max Blumenthal said he was introduced to the writings of Elie Weisel by his family’s rabbi who suggested he read Wiesel’s classic Holocaust novel, Night, in preparation for his Bar Mitzvah.
