Director of ACLU Human Rights program peddles anti-semitic lies amid SNL joke controversy
The program director claims that only Israel's "apologists" would call the SNL joke anti-semitic
On Sunday, February 21, the Director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Human Rights program told his Twitter followers to observe how “Israel’s apologists“ would “accuse SNL of anti-semitism” for approving an allegedly anti-semitic joke from their then-most recent episode.
In his tweet, Jamil Dakwar indicated his support for antisemitic falsehoods about the State of Israel’s “apartheid.” Dakwar did so in response to anticipated online backlash over a recent joke made by SNL host Michael Che regarding Israel’s vaccination numbers.
During his segment Weekend Update, which he hosts alongside fellow comedian Colin Jost, Michael Che joked that “Israel is reporting that they vaccinated half of their population, and I’m going to guess it’s the Jewish half.”
It should be noted the aforementioned “joke” is based on the idea that Israel is an apartheid state that discriminates against Arabs and Palestinians within its borders. Che takes this premise a step further by attempting to ty it to Israel’s reported vaccination numbers.
Omar Baddar, a political analyst at Al-Jazeera, posted the video, writing that SNL “took a dig“ at “Israeli apartheid.”
Jamil Dakwar responded to Baddar’s video, tweeting that “Israel’s apologists will now accuse SNL of anti-Semitism.“
It was quickly slammed by prominent figures across the aisle as being based on false, anti-semitic premises. Notably, Avi Mayer, the managing director of global communications at the century-old political advocacy group American Jewish Committee, hopped on Twitter to debunk this incorrect presumption.
Specifically, Mayer provided Israeli vaccination data which directly contradicted Che’s presumption that Jews in Israel were prioritized over Arabs for vaccinations merely for their “race.“ He points out that “Every Israeli citizen-Jewish and Arab, Muslim, Christian, of any or no faith-is eligible to be vaccinated.“
The irony of a director of the ACLU espousing support for anti-semitism shouldn’t have to be stated. At this point in time, unfortunately, it’s surprising for neither the ACLU nor Dakwar.
On February 8, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that President Biden had instructed the State Department “to re-engage immediately and robustly with the UN Human Rights Council.”
It is quite relevant to point out that the UN “Human Rights” Council has seated some of the most egregious offenders of human rights on the globe. These include China, Cuba, Venezuela, and Russia, to name just a few.
According to UN Watch, from its founding in 2006 up to 2015, the UNHRC has condemned the state 61 times, more than half of all condemnations throughout the time period.
Despite all of this, Jamil Dakwar nevertheless supported the Biden administration’s plan to rejoin the UN Human Rights Council. The director of the American Civil Liberties Union Human Rights program supports current federal efforts to bring the US back into the UN Human Rights council, which consists of human rights abusing members who condemned the democratic State of Israel more times than they did any other country. Yes, you heard that correctly.
Dakwar doubled-down on his implicitly anti-semitic tweet the same day, claiming, “Israel is violating its international legal obligations to ensure that quality vaccines be provided to Palestinians living under Israeli occupation and control in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.”