Andrew Breitbart, Anti-Semite?

Tragically, our friend Andrew Breitbart died a few years ago and isn’t here to defend himself. But it infuriates me to see Haaretz, the “New York Times of Israel,” label Andrew–who was a Jew–an anti-Semite:

In an article Friday by Chemi Shalev, the newspaper claims: “Breitbart and other Jews working for his website exemplified the kind of radical right wing Jews who hate their liberal co-religionists most of all: in many ways, they are auto-anti-Semites.”
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He also carefully notes, and echoes, Hillary Clinton’s lie that Breitbart News is “racist, anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic.”

This is an absurd smear. Andrew was a staunch supporter of Israel. The linked Breitbart News article includes this picture:

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The photo was taken a few years ago when a group of pro-Israel activists visited that country. Benjamin Netanyahu is, of course, in the foreground. That is Andrew Breitbart on the left, and do we ever miss him. Jim Hoft, the Gateway Pundit, is on the right. And next to him, seated, is our own Scott Johnson.

Scott wrote about that trip on this site; I haven’t taken the time to track down those posts. He may want to add his own observations. I simply want to say this: it is deeply contemptible for liberals at Haaretz, in the Clinton campaign, or wherever, to smear as “anti-Semites” the very people who most support Jews where they are threatened, in Israel and around the world. I don’t have words low enough for them.

SCOTT adds: I came to know Andrew on this 2007 trip as a proud Jew who loved everything about Israel. We traveled together as guests of America’s Voices in Israel, a program sponsored by the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations.

That is Larry Solov standing to Andrew’s immediate right in the photo; Larry was Andrew’s closest friend. Larry briefly chronicled the trip and the birth of Breitbart News here. Larry recalls: “We were blown away by the spirit, tenacity, and resourcefulness of the Israeli people on that trip….One thing we specifically discussed that night was our desire to start a site that would be unapologetically pro-freedom and pro-Israel. We were sick of the anti-Israel bias of the mainstream media…” You said it, brother.

Fern Oppenheim was our host for whom every door opened in Israel and the person who kindly snapped the picture above. Those who have disseminated this lie about Andrew are beneath contempt.

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