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This week, President-elect Joe Biden appointed Reema Dodin as deputy director of the Office of Legislative Affairs. Dodin, who currently serves as Senator Dick Durbin’s (D-IL) deputy chief of staff and floor manager, will be the first senior Palestinian-American staff member of the White House.
Right-wing attacks on Dodin began as soon as the election was announced, with a specific focus on his past pro-Palestinian activism. Fox News produced a 2002 speech declaring that Palestinian suicide bombers “were the last resort of a desperate people.” Fox also linked Dodin to pro-Palestine protests, “including the occupation of a university building to demand the divestment of the University of California in Israel in 2000.”
The infamous anti-Muslim activist Pam Geller tweeted that Dodin represents “Jihad in the White House.”
“Tarnishing Reema Dodin is part of a larger effort to silence and delegitimize anyone who at some point in their life voiced strong criticism of Israel or participated in activism in support of Palestinian human rights,” Jamil Dakwar of the ACLU tweeted. “It is particularly concerning when such smears are directed at women of color.”
“Reema is the first to tell you that she has grown from her youth in her approach to driving change, but her core values of fighting to expand opportunities to build a stronger middle class remain her driving force,” said a Biden official. to Fox News. “She put her activism into action, becoming a respected and trusted leader in the United States Senate.”
The attacks on Dodin came shortly after Rep. Rashida Tlaib was criticized for mentioning BDS in the wake of Biden’s selection of Tony Blinken as secretary of state. “As long as he does not suppress my First Amendment right to speak out against Netanyahu’s racist and inhumane policies,” Tlaib tweeted, “the Palestinian people deserve equality and justice.”
Last week, Mike Pompeo became the first secretary of state to visit an illegal settlement. At the event, he condemned the BDS movement and declared that anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism.
“These bigots who attack Rashida Tlaib, Reema Dodin and others, could just go out and say it: They don’t believe that Palestinians have the right to speak, act, or actually exist in American public life, at all. as Palestinians, ”tweeted B’Tselem USA Director Simone Zimmerman. “We shouldn’t normalize this in any way.”
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