Graham: The Swastikas, AIPAC, And Stefany Shaheen

By Michael Graham, NH Journal

When some knuckle-dragging idiot spray-paints Swastikas outside a Manchester coffee shop, you’re the last person New Hampshire needs to hear from.

You posted on Facebook that “the hateful vandalism at The Moka Pot is unacceptable.” Really?

You claim to be outraged by an antisemitic symbol slapped up on a wall? You?

Sorry, Stef, but nobody’s buying it. After all, a couple of swastikas are JV team stuff compared to what you and your family have been willing to do to get you elected.

(Photo via Manchester Police)

Granite Staters concerned about whipping up anti-Jewish animosity are far less bothered by a spray-painted stunt than by the hundreds of thousands of dollars you and your campaign allies spent attacking Americans who support Israel.

You must remember the ads because you ran them. You denounced your NH-01 primary opponent Maura Sullivan because “150 donors who support AIPAC supported her campaign.” Another ad said that money came from “supporters of AIPAC, the powerful pro-Israel lobby aligned with Netanyahu.” An image of the Israeli prime minister loomed on the screen.

Why not just spray that on the coffee shop wall?

Do you understand that these weren’t attacks on Israel or its government, Stefany? These were attacks on Americans.

Because despite what your new progressive pals say, AIPAC — the American Israel Public Affairs Committee — is funded by Americans, not Israel. All of the 150 people who wanted Sullivan to win that primary were American citizens who also want strong ties with the only Western democracy in the Middle East.

What was wrong with accepting their help? Why are their donations suspect? When you told Adam Sexton on WMUR that “it matters who supports your campaign” and then called out AIPAC supporters … why did it matter?

Would you say the same, Stefany, about donations from supporters of U.S.-China relations? Or supporters of Mexico, Nigeria or Chad? How about Black Lives Matter?

Nope. Only one group of politically active Americans gets your condemnation.

Compared with your campaign against Sullivan, a swastika is small potatoes.

What makes your “Hey, she’s getting her money from the ‘you-know-whos’” smear campaign even worse is that it comes at a time when Jewish Americans are under attack. Literally.

Since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack that killed about 1,200 people — and was cheered on by many of your “Free Palestine” friends, by the way — antisemitic assaults have soared. A flamethrower attack in Colorado. Two murders outside a museum in Washington, D.C.

In New York City, Jews are randomly attacked on the streets. On college campuses, they are roughed up just walking to class.

And this is the moment you suddenly decide to make Israel an issue?

Well, nobody can say you didn’t come by it naturally. Your mother, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, spread the falsehood that Israel was creating a famine in Gaza. She also continued to demand tax dollars for a U.N. organization after proof emerged that many of its employees participated in the Oct. 7 attacks or were part of Hamas.

And then there’s your dad, Billy. On Thursday, he posted a statement from a fringe loony claiming President Donald Trump “isn’t in charge. He has to answer to the Zionist billionaire class in the United States.”

Claims of a Jewish conspiracy are among the oldest antisemitic tropes around. Billy Shaheen is spreading one, along with the statement: “This is exactly why we must vote for House members and senators to cause Trump to leave the office.”

Not his corruption. Not his constitutionally questionable actions. No, it’s that Trump is in the clutches of the Global Zionist Conspiracy. (Aka the “J-O-Os.”)

It’s all so shameful and so despicable. Whipping up antisemitic bigotry at a time when Jews, who make up less than 2% of the U.S. population, are the target of 14% of all reported hate crimes and more than 60% of all religiously motivated hate crimes.

And you think a graffiti swastika is “hateful”?

You and your campaign put them all to shame. Or would, if you had any.

This story was originally published by the NH Journal, an online news publication dedicated to providing fair, unbiased reporting on, and analysis of, political news of interest to New Hampshire. For more stories from the NH Journal, visit NHJournal.com.