James Abourezk

Infobox Senator | name=James George Abourezk


jr/sr=United States Senator
state=South Dakota
party=Democrat
term_start=January 3, 1973
term_end=January 3, 1979
preceded=Karl E. Mundt
succeeded=Larry Pressler
date of birth=birth date and age|1931|02|24
place of birth=Wood, South Dakota
dead=alive
date of death=
place of death=
spouse=
alma_mater=University of South Dakota, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology
religion=
state2=South Dakota
district2=ushr|South Dakota|2|2nd
term_start2=January 3, 1971
term_end2=January 3, 1973
preceded2=E. Y. Berry
succeeded2=James Abdnor
order3 = Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs
term_start3 = January 3, 1977
term_end3 = January 3, 1979
vicepresident3 =
viceprimeminister3 =
deputy3 =
president3 =
primeminister3 =
predecessor3 = None
Joseph C. O'Mahoney in 1947 (Senate Committee on Indian Affairs)
successor3 = John Melcher
profession = Attorney
religion = Syrian Orthodox

James George Abourezk (born February 24, 1931) is a former Democratic United States Representative and United States Senator, and was the first Arab-American to serve in the United States Senate. He represented South Dakota in the U.S. Senate from 1973 until 1979.

Early life

Born to Christian Lebanese parents, who had emigrated from the southern Lebanese village of EI-Kfeir , Abourezk was born in Wood, South Dakota and lived in South Dakota most of his life. Between 1948 and 1952, he served in the United States Navy during the Korean War. Back in the U.S., he received a degree in civil engineering from South Dakota School of Mines in Rapid City, South Dakota in 1961, and then earned an advanced degree from University of South Dakota School of Law in Vermillion in 1966. He passed the bar, and began a legal practice in Rapid City.

Political career

He was elected as a Democrat to the House of Representatives, and served from 1971 to 1973. He then was elected to the U.S. Senate, where he served until 1979.

As a senator, he criticized the Office of Public Safety (OPS), a U.S. agency linked to the USAID and the CIA that provided training to foreign police forces. He also was the chair of the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs and of the American Indian Policy Review Commission. Abourezk was an early supporter of the National initiative and with fellow Senator Mark O. Hatfield (R-OR) introducted an amendment allowing more direct democracy. However, this initiative failed.

In 1974 TIME magazine named Senator Abourezk one of the "200 Faces for the Future" [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,879402-2,00.html 200 Faces for the Future - TIME ] ] .

In 1978, Abourezk chose not to run for reelection.

Advocacy

In 1980, Abourezk founded the American-Arab Anti Discrimination Committee, a grassroots civil rights organization. In 1989, he wrote "Advise and Dissent: Memoirs of South Dakota and the U.S. Senate" (ISBN 1-55652-066-2) and he is the co-author of "Through Different Eyes: Two Leading Americans — a Jew and an Arab — Debate U. S. Policy in the Middle East."

Abourezk now works as a lawyer and writer in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Views on the Arab-Israeli conflict

Hamas and Hezbollah

In an interview with Counterpunch on April 16, 2006, Abourezk called the groups Hamas and Hezbollah "resistance fighters". [http://www.counterpunch.org/zeese04172006.html CounterPunch: America's Best Political Newsletter ] ] He repeated this statement in [http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1551.htm a 2007 interview] on Hezbollah's Al Manar television network and stated that that he "marveled at the Hezbollah resistance to Israel. ... It was a marvel of organization, of courage and bravery. He has consistently likened the actions of Hezbollah and Hamas leaders to the actions conducted by distinguished Israelis like Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir, who led militant organisations (Begin was head of Irgun, Shamir was head of the Stern Gang) in the struggle for Israeli independence throughout the 1940s. [ [http://www.counterpunch.org/abourezk06062008.html James Abourezk, 'Name That Terrorist', Counterpunch June 6, 2008] ]

U.S. support for Israel

In the Counterpunch interview, Abourezk also argued that America's support of Israel endures because "the Congress is pretty much reliant on money from radical Zionists".

He reiterated this statement in an editorial for Electronic Intifada on July 30, 2006, where he wrote:

...the U.S. Congress is despicable in its silence. They are all bought off by the Israel lobby and are afraid to criticize. If this were happening in any other country by any other country, there would be speeches on the floor of Congress, legislation introduced to stop aid and other help to whomever would be committing this cruelty. But since their campaign money comes from the Israeli lobby, we hear only silence. [ [http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article5325.shtml Electronic Lebanon: Israel's cruel offensive ] ]

In a letter dated December 2006, Abourezk wrote:

"I can tell you from personal experience that, at least in the Congress, the support Israel has in that body is based completely on political fear—fear of defeat by anyone who does not do what Israel wants done. I can also tell you that very few members of Congress—at least when I served there—have any affection for Israel or for its Lobby. What they have is contempt, but it is silenced by fear of being found out exactly how they feel. I’ve heard too many cloakroom conversations in which members of the Senate will voice their bitter feelings about how they’re pushed around by the Lobby to think otherwise. In private one hears the dislike of Israel and the tactics of the Lobby, but not one of them is willing to risk the Lobby’s animosity by making their feelings public...
I see no desire on the part of Members of Congress to further any U.S. imperial dreams by using Israel as their pit bull. The only exceptions to that rule is the feelings of Jewish members, who, I believe, are sincere in their efforts to keep U.S. money flowing to Israel.
I believe that divestment, and especially cutting off U.S. aid to Israel would immediately result in Israel’s giving up the West Bank and leaving the Gaza to the Palestinians. Such pressure would work, I think, because the Israeli public would be able to determine what is causing their misery and would demand that an immediate peace agreement be made with the Palestinians." [ [http://www.ifamericansknew.org/us_ints/pg-abourezk.html Yes, It's the Lobby: "Political Fear" Drives US Support for Israel ] ]

In an August 30, 2007 interview on the Hezbullah TV network Al-Manar, as translated by MEMRI, Abourezk stated that "the Arabs who were involved in 9/11 cooperated with the Zionists. It was a cooperation. They gave them the perfect excuse to denounce all Arabs." [http://www.memritv.org/clip_transcript/en/1551.htm Clip Transcript ] ] Abourezk also repeated his view that a pro-Israel lobby is "controlling the Congress" and also called Alan Dershowitz a "snake."

References

External links

* [http://www.adc.org/ American-Arab Anti Discrimination Committee official website]
* [http://www.counterpunch.org/zeese04172006.html Interview with Counterpunch, April 16, 2006]
* [http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article5325.shtml Editorial by Abourezk in the Electronic Intifada]
* [http://www.ifamericansknew.org/us_ints/pg-abourezk.html Letter by Abourezk entited "Yes, It's the Lobby: "Political Fear" Drives US Support for Israel"]
* [http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1551.htm MEMRI TV video of Hezbollah TV interview]
* [http://www.memritv.org/clip_transcript/en/1551.htm MEMRI Transcript of Hezbollah TV interview]

Persondata
NAME=Abourezk, James George
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=South Dakota politician
DATE OF BIRTH=February 24, 1931
PLACE OF BIRTH=Wood, South Dakota
DATE OF DEATH=living
PLACE OF DEATH=none