Alleged Hamas Activist Turns to 'The Israel Lobby'

by JOSH GERSTEIN - NY Sun - October 29, 2007

An alleged Hamas activist seeking a lenient sentence from a federal court in Chicago is turning for help to a hotly disputed book about Israel's influence in America, "The Israel Lobby."

A new legal filing on behalf of Abdelhaleem Ashqar relies heavily on the book from John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago and Stephen Walt of Harvard University to argue that Ashqar's refusal to testify before grand juries investigating Hamas was justified by Israel's oppressive actions toward Palestinian Arabs.

"Every person in this court has been influenced by perception and mythology and kept ignorant through the hegemonical myth that Israel is the victim, defending itself against the barbaric Palestinians," Ashqar's attorney, William Moffitt, wrote before launching into a five-page synopsis of assertions in "The Israel Lobby" that American support for Israel is based on erroneous beliefs about the relationship between that nation and the Palestinians.

"There was no choice for Dr. Ashqar when subpoenaed in front of the grand jury. He could either join with his oppressors, reject his countrymen, forsake everything he believes, and never return to his beloved Palestine, or he could be labeled a terrorist. There is a special nobility in such a choice," the lawyer wrote.

Mr. Moffitt quotes the claim by Messrs. Mearsheimer and Walt that Arabs in Israel "are de facto treated as second-class citizens." The attorney also turns to the two professors' book for quotes in which an Israeli prime minister, Menachem Begin, called Palestinians "beasts walking on two legs" and an Israeli general, Rafael Eitan, said, "The only good Arab is a dead Arab."

Ashqar's filing goes on, with support from "The Israel Lobby," to accuse Israel of relentless expansionism, ethnic cleansing, deliberate violence toward women and children, and killing of military prisoners. Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza "was founded on brute force, repression and fear, collaboration and treachery, beatings and torture chambers, and daily intimidation, humiliation and manipulation," the brief says, quoting the Harvard and Chicago professors.

In February, a jury in Chicago acquitted Ashqar of racketeering conspiracy for his alleged involvement with Hamas. However, Ashqar was convicted of obstruction of justice and criminal contempt for his refusal to testify before a grand jury probing Hamas links in America.

Despite Ashqar's acquittal on the conspiracy charge, prosecutors are seeking a life sentence, arguing that he promoted deadly terrorist attacks. The defense dismissed as "farcical" the notion that the Palestinian Arab activist should face life in prison on a contempt of court charge.

A Harvard Law School professor who has prepared a detailed rebuttal to "The Israel Lobby," Alan Dershowitz, said yesterday that he was not surprised that the book was being cited in the courts. "Walt and Mearsheimer have become the rock stars of the anti-Israel hate groups. They are quoted on Web sites all over the country and all over the world. They have become fodder for Israel bashing," Mr. Dershowitz told The New York Sun.

Mr. Dershowitz called the book "drivel" and said it would not be cited in any reputable forum, but for the esteemed affiliations of the authors. "It's the names of the institutions. They've dragged Harvard and the University of Chicago down into the mud," the law professor said. Messrs. Mearsheimer and Walt did not respond to e-mail messages yesterday seeking comment for this article.

The new court filing from Ashqar, 49, paints the former Howard University business professor as a Palestinian Arab hero whose civil disobedience has roots in the theories of Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther King Jr. Ashqar's defense also contends that his refusal to testify was more laudable than that of a former New York Times journalist, Judith Miller, who was jailed for almost three months after refusing to identify a confidential source in an investigation into the leak of a CIA operative's identity. "Dr. Ashqar's choice displayed more bravery and principle than Judith Miller's choice," Mr. Moffitt wrote, before intimating that the Palestinian activist was resisting "genocidal oppression."

Ms. Miller was called as a prosecution witness at Ashqar's trial because Israeli authorities permitted her to witness an interrogation of one of Ashqar's co-defendants, Muhammad Salah. He is about to begin a 21-month sentence after being acquitted on the conspiracy charge but convicted of obstruction of justice. Judge Amy St. Eve, who presided over the trial, is set to sentence Ashqar on November 8.