And oh yes, the Naturei Karta anti-Zionist "Black Hats" waiting for the messiah were out in force yesterday in front of the White House in their own protest -- maybe 3 or 4 hundred strong. But that's another story for another day

WASHINGTON SCENE: ADC and AMC "Protest", and Nobody Comes...

MID-EAST REALITIES - www.MiddleEast.Org - Washington - 2/8/2002: Ariel Sharon is on his fourth visit to Washington since both he and George Bush II took power. It is a War Council, coming at a time of unprecedented danger (Sharon clearly sees opportunity), coming at a time when he finally has Yasser Arafat, now the titular figurehead of the Palestinian people, under a newfangled form of town arrest in Ramallah with tanks pointing in his direction just a stone throw away.

And Sharon has George Bush right where he wants him as well. As the Financial Times reported just a few days ago, Bush's State of the Union Speech "reads like a blueprint for U.S. policy designed by Ariel Sharon, the Israeli Prime Minister."

But even under such circumstances, the pathetically mislead and terribly impotent groups who have squandered such huge amounts of time and money "organizing" for decades now, are so lacking in credibility that hardly anyone even bothers to join them in their "demonstrations". Such was the case yesterday in Washington at "Freedom Plaza" when the whole bunch of incestuous and in many ways ridiculous Arab and Muslim groups called their forces to a lunchtime protest...and hardly anyone, hardly even themselves, showed.

Bottom Line: The Arab and Muslim groups headquartered in Washington are disastrously weak, nearly totally inept, and worst of all almost completely lacking in credibility. Indeed many serious observers of the Washington scene believe the struggling Palestinian people would be better off if these terribly inbred and grossly mislead groups would depart the scene; for they usually do more harm than good...except that is for feeding their own faces and giving themselves totally undeserved rewards.

Worst of all at the top of the list are two proselytizing groups whom some people around the country still don't realize are just highly manipulated and always controlled front-groups -- "client organizations" for the Arab "client regimes". For secular Arab Americans there is The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) and its various multi-named sub-affiliates set up to raise and waste still more guilt money, primarily from gullible unknowing Arabs overseas. For Muslims there is the American Muslim Council (AMC), one of the many Saudi creations that have sprung up in recent years to make sure American Muslims remain forever disjointed and under their thumb.

Bottom line: Both of these lead groups are politically corrupt empty shells whose main reason for being is to soak up what little energy and funding exist from their communities and make sure that the Arab regimes are protected by self-selected spokesman whenever any media comes looking for a quick Arab or Muslim talking-head. The reality is that both ADC and AMC, along with the various others mini-groups they ever-so-incestuously interact with, are actually widely despised by their own; but knowing and understanding this requires a level of insight and sophistication nearly always lacking in the media these days. This "no credibility" result is easily on display however at such events as yesterday. For even when you add up the speakers, their friends, the staff persons, the media, and those who just happened upon all the shouting, the total still comes to only about a hundred even at such a crucial historical moment and even with Ariel Sharon himself personally just blocks away!

After all that has happened in the Middle East; with the Palestinian Intifada raging; with American and Israeli forces publicly threatening to attack Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Palestine, et. al.; and with Ariel Sharon himself passing by in the Streets just a few feet away; all these Arab and Muslim "client organizations" together were able to manage was a few unknown speaker along with a few dozen bearded and black-robed Jewish fundamentalists who are even less known or respected by American Jews than ADC and AMC are by American Arabs and Muslims.

One other interesting note in all this. They did scream and shout about Sharon on Thursday -- even though nobody other than themselves and the couple of Arab press who purposely misreport Washington affairs were there -- but no one involved with the "client organizations" even mentioned Yasser Arafat.

And oh yes, the Naturei Karta anti-Zionist "Black Hats" waiting for the messiah were out in force yesterday in front of the White House in their own protest -- maybe 3 or 4 hundred strong. But that's another story for another day