Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) President Morton A. Klein and ZOA Chair Mark Levenson, Esq. released the following statement:
Praise for Ezra Cohen-Watnick: ZOA strongly praises the Trump administration’s appointment of Ezra Cohen-Watnick as the new Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security on November 10, 2020. Cohen-Watnick is staunch opponent of the dangerous Obama Iran deal, and a champion of efforts to counter Iran’s malign terror and nuclear activities in the Middle East.
Criticism of Col. (ret.) Douglas Macgregor: The ZOA strongly urges new Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller to immediately retract his appointment of Col. (ret.) Douglas Macgregor as one of Acting Sec’y Miller’s senior advisors.
Col. Macgregor made classic antisemitic and ludicrous and absurd statements that should disqualify Macgregor from public office. Macgregor falsely accused Jews of, in essence, buying Congress and war-mongering; falsely accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former PM Ehud Olmert of “bullying Obama”; and absurdly claimed that if Israel strikes Iran’s nuclear facilities, Israel’s action to prevent Iran from annihilating Israel would be “an unprovoked assault.”
Macgregor’s appalling antisemitic statements include that “[John] Bolton become very, very rich and is in the position he’s in because of his unconditional support for the Israeli lobby” and that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo “has his hands out for money from the Israeli lobby, the Saudis, and others,” and falsely accusing Jews of dragging America into repeated wars. Macgregor’s antisemitic remarks are reminiscent of Jew-hater Ilhan Omar’s heinous remarks, “it’s all about the Benjamins baby.” Public office should not be held by those who falsely attribute the widespread, moral, American support for America’s ally Israel to Jewish money.
During his RT (Russian Television) interview in 2012, Macgregor made a whole raft of absurd remarks, such as “How long can Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Olmert play this game of essentially trying to bully Obama and push him into an action that he would otherwise choose not to take?” This statement reversed the real situation. In fact, Obama and people such as Col. Macgregor were bullying Israel to not defend herself.
Macgregor also engaged in false scare tactics during his RT interview, including claiming that if Israel attacked Iran’s nuclear facilities, the U.S. economy would tank, there would be terror attacks on American malls, and nations will give Iran nuclear weapons.
During his RT interview, Macgregor also woefully ignored the Iranian threat, misleadingly insisted that Iran does not have nuclear capability, and falsely blamed America for Iran’s aggression. Macgregor also stated: “What we need to do is move beyond this ridiculous confrontational setting” – thereby falsely blaming America for Iran’s desire to destroy us. Macgregor also absurdly accused America of having “an interventionist elite” that thinks itself morally justified in taking any action anywhere against anyone that it deems appropriate – and added that, “the Iranians are justifiably concerned about that.” It is dangerous to have a Pentagon senior adviser who takes Iran’s side over that of the United States.
Macgregor’s antisemitism, Israel-bashing and his fallacious “blame America and Israel” attitude towards the Iranian terror regime are out-of-step with the Trump administration’s most basic policies, and should disqualify Macgregor from serving as a senior advisor to Acting Sec’y Miller.