Here’s To You, Mrs Robinson … You Deserve That Medal

By James Zogby

The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the United States’s highest civilian honour, and last week the president, Barack Obama, awarded it to 16 individuals whom he described as “agents of change”. Among those to whom the medal was awarded were Senator Edward Kennedy; the late Jack Kemp, the distinguished former congressman and US housing secretary; and Muhammad Yunus, the Bangladeshi economist and founder of the microfinance Grameen Bank.

Another recipient was Mary Robinson, the first woman president of the Irish Republic and a world renowned advocate for human rights. Mrs Robinson was singled out for attack by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac). They argued, on the flimsiest of grounds, that Mrs Robinson was biased against Israel – although for the ADL and Aipac, anything short of effusive praise for Israel is seen as evidence of bias.

The case they built against her was based largely on her chairing the 2001 World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa, in her capacity as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. The Durban conference has been criticised by supporters of Israel for its harsh criticism of Israeli policies. There is, however, clear evidence that Mrs Robinson played an important moderating role in tempering the language of the conference, especially when it came to upbraiding those conference delegates who crossed the line into anti-semitism. Indeed, she was praised for her efforts by prominent Israelis, including Shimon Peres.

None of this, however, has deterred Mrs Robinson’s detractors. When faced with the facts that rebut their charges, they simply ratchet up their rhetoric. A recent piece in The Jerusalem Post, for example, makes a particularly absurd charge, blaming Mrs Robinson for the “destruction of the universality and moral foundation of human rights”.

Despite the harshness of these attacks, and the hurt that they have no doubt caused Mrs Robinson, I am convinced that this entire episode had less to do with her than with President Obama. And the charges against this distinguished Irish leader were not only wrong-headed, offensive and unfair to her, they were also a case of political misdirection.

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But as she said on Irish radio last week, the 'Israel right-or-wrong' brigade specialise in bullying.

I was thrilled to see her awarded the Medal, her election as Irish president was the happiest day in my life - and my mother's! She's a good woman.

sorry couldn't resist the temptation.

but I believe Beck and Hannity were leading the way in charging the she was a "jew-hater" <--- their words, not mine.

Like Zogby, I am also convinced it had less to do with her that with who was awarding her the medal.

Beck and Hannity are anti-Irish. May the Leprechauns of Hell chew at their heels through eternity.

...a source of intense embarrassment and shame - I apologise to you all :-)

:)

What city does Glenn Beck live in?

as a disagreement of their entire "cause."

"You don't like what I'm saying, you must hate (xx group.)" Never stopping to think about what they are saying nor the fact that they don't speak for everyone in their respective boxes.

:thumbsup: