Dayan to 'Post': They shouldn't interfere in our elections, and we shouldn't interfere in theirs.
By MATT ZALEN, SHANI ROSENFELDERUzi Dayan, 298.88(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
A Jewish American group and an Israeli film company blamed each other on Monday regarding claims they had misled a number of retired IDF generals and top Mossad officials who were filmed in a video endorsing Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama.
The Jewish Council for Education & Research (JCER), a non-profit organization that supports Obama's presidential run, distributed the clip online on Sunday.
Former head of the Mossad Ephraim Halevy and former IDF deputy chief of staff Maj.-Gen. Uzi Dayan accused the group of taking their words out of context, saying that when filmed they had been told that the issue at hand was the challenges facing the next man in the White House, and not that the film was aimed at endorsing Obama for president.
"It's not only misleading, it was an interview about what the next president was going to have to deal with," Dayan told The Jerusalem Post, "and to know that they used this interview and took [only] five seconds [of it], and put me in a list of people praising Barack Obama...
"It wasn't about the campaign, it was about the political and security issues of the Middle East that the next president should be involved in," he continued.
"Nothing was said about Obama or [Republican presidential candidate John] McCain."
"I don't want other people to interfere in our elections, and I must not interfere with the elections in the United States," he said, adding that to do so would be neither "ethical nor smart."
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Halevy, who appeared in the video praising the Democratic candidate, also said he had been misled. "I was interviewed for a documentary dealing with what issues the new American president must deal with regarding the Middle East," Halevy told the Post. "I was asked about the candidates and was complimentary to both."
But when asked about his opinion on who was more qualified to be president, Halevy said he had rejected the question.
"I said that I thought it was inappropriate for an Israeli to advise Americans on who they should vote for, as it would be for them to advise Israelis on who we should vote for," he said.
Both Halevy and Dayan said that representatives of the JCER had been in contact with them and had promised to deal with the matter.
But later the JCER issued a statement claiming that "the Israeli producers [had] assured [them] that all participants were fully informed of the nature of the project."
However, according to the independent Israeli production company, Revised Films, "The clip we created was composed of interviews with senior Israeli security officials, and its subject was American policy regarding Israel in light of the upcoming elections in the United States, while focusing on the two central candidates for president.
"After the film was completed, the JCER took charge of the footage and used it. The Obama campaign was not involved in any stage of the production, or [the film's] distribution."
The JCER, however, said in response that "while it has endorsed Barack Obama for president, neither the film nor any of our subsequent remarks imply that those interviewed were endorsing Obama's candidacy. This film is not an advertisement and will not be used as an advertisement.
"We are willing to work with the film's producers to address any new concerns now being raised by any of the participants."
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