The Washington Examiner reported on Tuesday that Debbie Wasserman Schultz told a training session of Jewish Democrats on Monday that Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, has said that Republicans are dangerous to Israel because they criticize President Barack Obama’s record. The Democratic National Committee Chairperson took to the airwaves Tuesday to deny that she made the statement and went even farther when she accused columnist Philip Klein of misquoting her intentionally because he worked for a conservative leaning newspaper.
The Florida congresswoman argued that she never attributed the comments to Oren and that she just said the GOP was treating the Middle East “like a political football, which is dangerous for Israel” when she appeared on Fox News.
Klein immediately defended his story and has since posted an audio tape that confirms his story is accurate and truthful, meaning Wasserman Schultz has been neither.
In her Tuesday interview with Fox News, Wasserman Schultz claimed Klein had deliberately misquoted her:
“I didn’t say [Oren] said that,” she said. “And unfortunately, that comment was reported by a conservative newspaper. It’s not surprising that they would deliberately misquote me. What I always say is that unfortunately the Republicans have made Israel a political football, which is dangerous for Israel. And Ambassador Oren has said that we can’t ever suggest that there is any daylight between the two parties on Israel because there isn’t. And that that’s harmful to Israel. That’s what I said, and that is accurate.”
The audio tape leaves no question as to whether Klein or Wasserman Schultz is telling the truth-Wasserman Schultz not only lied to hide her true comments, but took her dishonesty to another level when she knowingly made false accusations against both Klein and the Washington Examiner in her attempt to hide what she said.
Allegations of this nature hurled at a columnist can destroy a career. The ease with which the DNC head went about trying to destroy Klein’s reputation, thus his career, to save herself from having to face the fallout of her statement show clearly she will say and do whatever she deems necessary to advance her objective.
Wasserman Schultz is heard on the audio tape saying “We know, and I’ve heard no less than Ambassador Michael Oren say this, that what the Republicans are doing is dangerous for Israel.”
Wasserman Schultz went on to say “They’re undermining Israel’s security by suggesting that the United States and Israel don’t have anything other than a unique and close and special relationship. It undermines Israel’s security to its neighbors in the Arab world and to its enemies. And we need to make sure that the fact that there has never been and will never be daylight between the two parties or the support for Israel that we have in the United States, that that is conveyed to Jewish Americans across this country. That’s our responsibility. It’s the responsibility we’re asking all of you to take on.”
Ambassador Oren quickly refuted the characterization that Wasserman Schultz attributed to him even before the release of the tape. He issued a statement Tuesday saying, “I categorically deny that I ever characterized Republican policies as harmful to Israel. Bipartisan support is a paramount national interest for Israel, and we have great friends on both sides of the aisle.”
http://www.examiner.com/article/dnc-chair-wasserman-schultz-caught-lie-as-audio-tape-surfaces
