Georgia GOP Attempts to Link Top Democratic Candidate with Osama bin Laden #HummusHaters
With all the anti-Arab bashing we see in the news every week, Arab America is determined to expose those who discriminate against our community. We will recognize those who vilify the positive influence and contributions Arabs have made to the fabric of American society. And we will use hummus as our weapon. By naming those who vilify the Arab American community as #HummusHaters, we can express our culture positively while showing intolerance to bigotry.BY: Michelle Dermarkar/Contributing Writer
The race to become Georgia’s 6th Congressional Representative has taken a turn for the worst. The Congressional Leadership Fund, a super-PAC affiliated with the House Republican leaders, announced last month that it was spending an extra $2.2 million against top Democratic candidate, Jon Ossoff, in an effort to hold the seat for another Republican representative. This was in addition to the earlier $1.1 million invested in attacking the Democrat with old footage of Ossoff dressed as Han Solo in college.
In their latest campaign, the right-wing PAC makes a desperate attempt to link Ossoff with Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda by nodding to his past business ties with the news network Al Jazeera.
The democrat has taken the lead with 43% likely voters compared to the combined total of 38% of the top four republican candidates.
Jon Ossoff received top security clearance while working as a national security staffer and aide to Representative Hank Johnson. Subsequently, he became the managing partner and CEO to Insight TWI, a small business which generates investigations targeting corrupt officials and organizations. In this work, he became the executive producer for a documentary for the Qatari-owned network, Al Jazeera, which is why the House of Republican leaders are playing this against their opponent.
The commercial questions his credentials as a former national security staffer, editing together footage of Ossoff claiming to have five years of national security experience with videos of him playing drinking games and dressed as Han Solo while still in college.
Another ad from the Congressional Leadership Fund begins with a narrator stating that “Al Jazeera, a media outlet that has been described as a mouthpiece for terrorists, has been paying Jon Ossoff thousands of dollars” while visually showing clips of Osama bin Laden speaking. The commercial ends by asking, “What is he hiding? How can we trust him?”
Georgia’s House Republican leaders are hungry for the seat, but maybe it’s hummus they need to satisfy their appetite. Believing anyone who works with Arabs is a terrorist is not a very friendly way to earn the congressional seat. Perhaps a bit of hummus will help these Republicans learn that friends to the Arab community are not enemies.
