Haim Saban, a top Democratic donor who donated millions towards Hillary Clinton’s failed presidential efforts, said Minnesota Rep. and DNC chair frontrunner Keith Ellison is “clearly an anti-Semite,” according to a CNN report.
Saban also said it “would be a disaster for the relationship between the Jewish community and the Democratic party” if Ellison is selected as DNC chair.
The nation’s first Muslim congressman, Ellison has a history of making anti-Israel comments and previously defended radical anti-Semite and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. In 2009, Ellison headlined a fundraiser on behalf of a Libyan-born Muslim activist who called for Palestinians to embrace “the jihad way.”
Prominent Democratic Sens. Bernie Sanders, Chuck Schumer and Elizabeth Warren have all endorsed Ellison for DNC chair.
“If you go back to his positions, his papers, his speeches, the way he has voted, he is clearly an anti-Semite and anti-Israel individual,” Saban said on Friday at an event hosted by the Brookings Institution, a left-wing nonprofit. “Words matter and actions matter more. Keith Ellison would be a disaster for the relationship between the Jewish community and the Democratic Party.”
The Anti-Defamation League, a top Jewish civil rights group has called for Ellison to be disqualified from serving as DNC chair over his history of anti-Israel remarks.
Ellison has a long history of radical positions and associations. (RELATED: DNC Chair Frontrunner Hiding From Questions About His Anti-Semitic Ties)
As originally reported by The Daily Caller News Foundation, Keith Ellison once proposed creating a separate nation just for blacks in America.
Ellison also called the Constitution the “best evidence of a white racist conspiracy to subjugate other peoples.” (RELATED: Black Congressmen Refuse To Condemn Ellison’s Past Proposal For A ‘Black State’)
In 2007, Ellison compared the September 11 terrorist attacks to the Reichstag fire in Hitler-era Germany. He stopped just short of accusing George Bush of playing a role in the terror attacks that left 3,000 Americans dead.
Ellison was the subject of a House Ethics Committee investigation in 2009 after failing to disclose that a group tied to the Muslim Brotherhood had paid for him to take a pilgrimage to Mecca. (RELATED: Dem Congressman Wants Anyone But Straight White Men To Apply For Internships)
Saban’s comments on Ellison are likely to exacerbate a growing divide between the Democratic party’s establishment wing and an increasingly disruptive progressive wing upset about a primary process which was revealed to have been stacked in favor of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton against Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, whom Ellison endorsed during the primary.
Follow Hasson on Twitter @PeterJHasson