An apology from Valerie Plame is not enough

The silly season is upon us. The first slick, online video has hit voters in New Mexico’s 3rd Congressional District and it already has caused controversy. It deals with a video that Valerie Plame released on Monday for her congressional campaign (“New ad for Plame has her taking the wheel,” Sept. 9). The problem with the video is that parts of it are factually incorrect, and it raises many questions about Plame’s past regarding accusations that she posted anti-Semitic content on Twitter.

The Washington Post fact-checked Valerie Plame’s video and gave it three “Pinocchios.” The Jerusalem Post raised questions about the video by claiming that, “It’s unclear why

someone who now takes pride in their Ukrainian Jewish background would ever tweet an article headlined, ‘America’s Jews are driving America’s wars.’ ” The Federalist stated that her claim that she just skimmed the article was “laughable.” Even Alan Dershowitz from Fox News wrote, “For Plame to claim that she was unaware of the anti-Semitic content of Giraldi’s article is to ignore reality. Plame has to be aware since she was aware of Giraldi’s bigotry. Her apologies ring hollow.”

Plame uses the video to defend her anti-Semitic beliefs by highlighting her Ukrainian grandfather’s Jewish background. Plame’s paternal grandfather was Jewish, a fact she did not know until she was an adult, she admitted in her memoir. The campaign video attempts to hide her support of an article that she tweeted to her followers that it was “very provocative but thoughtful.” It’s important for everyone to understand that this “thoughtful” article asserted that Jews “own the media,” Jews should wear labels while on national television and their beliefs are as dangerous as “a bottle of rat poison.”

In my mind, there is no excuse, no rationale to excuse this type of rhetoric. An apology is not enough, especially since Plame has a history of sharing articles from the same source, including one claiming “Israel-occupied Congress confronts the White House.” The Federalist also claims that Plame further shared a 9/11 conspiracy theory involving “dancing Israelis.”

The level of anti-Semitism and hate crimes that have erupted throughout the United States is frightening. In 2016, 54.2 percent of religious hate crimes were anti-Jewish. I join with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi when she stated that “to be anti-Semitic is to be anti-American. It has no place in our country.” I hope that voters join with me and clearly state that anti-Semitism has no place in the 3rd Congressional District of New Mexico, as well.