Is Haim Saban Any Better Than Sheldon Adelson?

Adelson and Saban with the Israeli American Council guy

In 2000 I found myself in a car with state Senator Adam Schiff and his parents on our way to an event in a mansion on the West Side. Schiff was in the midst of what turned out to be the most expensive congressional campaign in American history at the time-- against villainous impeachment manager and right-wing ideologue James Rogan. The Pasadena-Burbank-Glendale district was changing demographically and this was to be Rogan's last term-- but we didn't know that at the time. A decade later the district is D+20 and Republicans don't even run candidates any longer. But in 2000 it was a swing seat. Schiff won 53-44% and the mansion we were driving to was the source of quite a big chunk of the cash it took to win. It was the home of the Democrats' very own Sheldon Adelson-- Egyptian-Israeli-American billionaire Haim Saban.

Like me, Saban, was eager to see Rogan defeated, in great part for his role in impeaching President Clinton. But I soon discovered there wasn't much else I had in common with Saban, as an impassioned Israel-first absolutist as Republican Israeli-Americans Sheldon and Miriam Adelson. Soon after Schiff was elected, I broke with him over his connivance with George Bush to attack Iraq, a position being pushed by Israel and, of course, Adelson's and Saban's Republican and Democratic money machines. As we saw before, Israel covers its bases. Two dual citizens, both billionaires, GOP mobster Sheldon Adelson and Democratic media magnate Haim Saban help finance both party establishments. Whoever wins, Israel has a friend in the Washington-- or, more appropriately, many, many friends. Adelson and Saban and their wives have shelled out tens of millions of dollars each for their "teams." This kind of undue influence over national security from a foreign state should be strictly illegal and Adelson and Saban should be-- but will certainly never be-- investigated for bribery (for starters).

Saban is far more comfortable with-- and supportive of-- Hillary than Obama, who he never trusted. Saban hasn't just helped parasites like Adam Schiff; he's helped finance the Clinton machine for years and has been uncomfortable with Obama and his slightly less subservient posture towards Israel. He put up the dough for the controversial Hillary movie that features international figures including Netanyahu of course singing her praises. "I hope she will run. She would be a wonderful president,” said Saban, who gave $1 million last year to a super PAC that raised money for Priorities USA and other groups. "If it happens, we will of course pitch in with full might. Seeing her in the White House is a big dream of mine."

Other big dreams of his include a nuclear smoldering Iran.

Major Democratic donor Haim Saban said on Sunday that if he were running Israel he would “bomb the living daylights” out of Iran if the current nuclear negotiations produce a bad deal for Israel.

Speaking at a conference of the Israeli American Council at the Washington Hilton opposite Republican casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, Saban said that if he were in the shoes of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the event of a deal with Iran that he judged to be dangerous with Israel, “I would bomb the living daylights out of these sons of bitches.”

Saban, a major Obama donor in 2012 and Hillary Clinton supporter in 2008, also expressed deep skepticism of Obama’s policy towards Iran.

“At the moment we could have increased the sanctions, we decreased them, and that was a mistake in my view,” he said.

He said that he hopes Sen. Lindsey Graham’s proposed bill to vote yes or no on the potential Iran deal will pass, and that “We should have taken some steps to show that we, the United States, mean business.” The military option, he said, needs to be “a real option and not lip service.”

...In a rare joint public appearance, Adelson and Saban discussed the peace process, the Iranian nuclear negotiations, the Boycott, Divestment Sanctions movement, and joked (or seemed to joke) about buying the New York Times together to produce more positive journalism about Israel. They are two of the most influential donors in American politics; Adelson is a major funder of Republican causes and candidates, and Saban, an Israeli-American, was once the top donor to the Democratic Party. Adelson and Saban are both backing the Israeli American Council, which hosted the event.

The two seemed to share a rapport and agreed on many issues, though Adelson presented a harder line on the peace process, saying that the “so-called Palestinians” are an “invented people” and that Israel should build a “big wall” to separate itself from them.

“It is not about granting a Palestinian state,” Saban said, in defense of the two-state solution. “It’s about securing the future of a democratic Israel.”

“You are committing demographic suicide,” Adelson argued. “Israel can no longer live if you say we want to live as a democracy.”

Sunday, the Washington Post interviewed Saban and reported that he described Obama's relationship with Netanyahu as "like oil and water." That has fed a perception, he said, that Obama has not been a friend to Israel, although Saban said he thinks that, in reality, "there’s never been this level of cooperation with any previous president." But he assured The Post that Hillary Clinton will "repair the relationship," which is the way Israel-firsters refer to allowing Israel to run U.S. foreign policy.

[The chairman of the Israeli American Council Shawn] Evenhaim asked the men whether they think the news media are biased against Israel. Saban said they are but cited two exceptions: Fox News Channel and the Wall Street Journal. He joked to Adelson that they should have bought The Post together.

“I wish that Jeff Bezos hadn’t bought the Washington Post,” Saban said, referencing the Amazon.com founder who purchased The Post a year ago. “For $250 million-- bupkis-- he stole it.”

Adelson countered, “Why don’t you and I go after the New York Times?” Saban said that he has “tried over and over to buy it” but that the family-owned Times is not for sale. Adelson quipped, “There is only one way to fight it: money.”

UPDATE: Israelis Grow Wary Of The Vegas Mafia Kingpin Taking Over Their Politics

Adelson doesn't like journalism-- and journalism doesn't like Adelson. And politicians are growing mistrustful of him as well-- at least in Israel. His giant Israeli newspaper, a mouthpiece for Netanyahu and other right-wing politicians is being viewed skeptically by a wide range of Israelis.

A bill titled a "law for the advancement and protection of written journalism in Israel” passed a preliminary hurdle in the Knesset today. Although it doesn’t say so explicitly, the bill is aimed at limiting the free distribution of Israel Hayom (Israel Today), the free newspaper owned by American casino magnate and Republican super-funder Sheldon Adelson.

...The anti-Adelson bill is like Israel’s Citizens United-- in reverse. Although launched a few years before the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision, Israel Hayom is like a Citizens United effort, where a political advocacy group attempted (and ultimately succeeded) in circumventing campaign finance limits by portraying an anti-Hillary Clinton film as media subject to First Amendment protection, rather than independent political expenditures.

Adelson has taken a page from American politics by casting Israel Hayom as a newspaper rather than an extended political pamphlet. One would expect nothing less from someone who doesn’t like journalism.