A lobbying group has cut ties with an ex-adviser to former President Barack Obama after videos surfaced that show the man making Islamophobic comments and threats to a food cart employee in New York City.
The videos, posted on X (formerly Twitter) by a Columbia University student, shows Stuart Seldowitz asking someone off camera, “Did you rape your daughter like Muhammad did?” and saying that killing 4,000 Palestinian children “wasn’t enough.”
Seldowitz was acting director for the National Security Council South Asia Directorate under Obama and was deputy director/senior political officer in the U.S. State Department’s Office of Israel and Palestinian Affairs from 1999 to 2003. More recently, he served as foreign affairs chair for Gotham Government Relations, which announced his new role in a press release in November 2022.
On Tuesday afternoon, Gotham announced on Twitter that it had cut ties with Seldowitz.
There’s just so much horrifying stuff about this story. The heinous stuff that he said, the fact that these videos clearly were recorded on different days so he had been at it for a while, or the fact that he was high up in the state department working on US-Israeli and US-Afghanistan policies while having such terrible views.
It’s also weird that he’s trying to insult this poor working man about his religion but not even pronouncing his Arabic evidence properly.
Yeah well when you go crazy in old age you go crazy with what you know. I guess it you are high up in the State Department on the Afghan desk or whatever, berating immigrants might be your brand of crazy. Dude needs a padded room, anyhow, maybe some deprogramming.
Yea everyone is like “we cannot condone his vile actions” bla bla. Well it is a bit too late for that isn’t? Not only did you condone, you clearly fucking rewarded it. It is terrifying to think how many more such men and women are involved in very critical world politics roles.
I am also a bit horrified that Mohammad had sex with 9 y.o. And looks like it is true. I did not know that. Although, she was not his daughter, but his wife whom he married when she was 6!
Regardless, this guy is asshole (not commenting on Mohammad here).
Ok who gave their Grandpa a Lemmy account?
You’re horrified, really? Where I live, you can marry a 12yo with parental consent right now.
This isn’t about a little girl in the fifth century, it’s about Islamophobia today. It’s on the lips of every debate-me-bro that watches clips of Christopher Hitchens to jerk off. It’s the entrance to the reactionary pipeline targeting the skeptic community.
If you haven’t heard this before, that’s good, because it means you haven’t been listening to people like John Haggee or Sam Harris. But if you’re curious just ask yourself what those two characters could possibly have in common.
Well, I am horrified by this as well. You do not think this is wrong? And where is it?
It’s not true, it is a very debated claim
What I understood from debates on internet - the debate is only about the girl’s age with numbers given between 6 and 10. In what sense you are saying it is not true?
The range is between 9 and 16
Ok, did not find the argument for 16. However it looks like having such young girls as wives was common at the time, and I do not believe profit ever objected against that. Am I wrong?
Yes it was common at the time and no he did not say anything specifically in support or against the practice at least to my knowledge