Aaron Klein

Aaron Klein is an American journalist and author. He is a Middle East correspondent and head of the Jerusalem bureau for WorldNetDaily [cite web |url = http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=42535 |title = WND to open Jerusalem bureau |date= 25 January 2005 |work = WorldNetDaily |accessdate= 2007-08-31 ] [ [http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/archives.asp?AUTHOR_ID=239 Aaron Klein article archive] , WorldNetDaily,] and a columnist for "The Jewish Press". His WND articles have been republished on Ynetnews and in "The New York Sun." [ [http://www.nysun.com/authors/Aaron+Klein Aaron Klein article archive] , "The New York Sun."] Klein is a frequent guest on cable news and has regular segments and commentary on U.S. talk radio programs.Fact|date=August 2007 In 2008, Klein gained additional attention for penning numerous investigative pieces critical of presidential candidate Barack Obama.

Interviews

Aaron Klein has interviewed many Middle East newsmakers, including government officials and terrorist leaders. His first interview with terrorists was in 1999 when, at age nineteen, he spent time with members of Al-Muhajiroun, a group reportedly connected to al-Qaeda. His article about the experience,cite news|url= |title= My Weekend with the Enemy |author= Aaron Klein |work= Jerusalem Post |publisher= Free Republic |date= 30 May 2000 ] "My Weekend with the Enemy," was published in "The Jerusalem Post."

Radio

Klein routinely serves as a co-host of WABC Radio's John Batchelor Show. He appears frequently on the Savage Nation, Mancow in the Morning, Michael Reagan Show, Gordon Liddy Show and Rusty Humphries Show, among others.

In December 2005, Klein was denied a journalist visa to broadcast with ABC Radio in Syria.cite web |url= http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47924 |title= 'Ministry of Fear' in Mideast |author= John Batchelor |work= WorldNetDaily |date= 15 December 2005 ] Officials from Syria's embassies in Washington, D.C. and Amman, Jordan were quoted as saying Klein's Jewish faith was a problem.cite web |url= http://www.nysun.com/article/24529 |title= 'Ministry of Fear '- Part II |author= John Batchelor |work= The New York Sun |date= 15 December 2005 ] Some leaders in Lebanon, including Druze leader Walid Jumblatt and parliamentarian and former Prime Minister Michel Aoun, condemned Syria for its refusal to admit Klein.cite web |url= http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3182668,00.html |title= Jewish reporter denied entry to Syria |author= Joseph Farah |work= Ynetnews |date= 11 December 2005 ]

In June, 2007, amid a volatile exchange over whether Hamas is a terrorist organization, British lawmaker George Galloway abruptly booted Klein and radio talk-host Humphries from his London office and handed them over to Parliament police, claiming the two were Zionist operatives who had breached security by falsely presenting themselves as reporters. [http://www.jewishpress.com/displayContent_new.cfm?contentid=26552&mode=a&sectionid=1&contentname=Galloway_Defends_Hamas%2C_Ejects_Klein_and_Humphries_From_Office&recnum=1]

During their interview with Galloway, Klein called Hamas a terror group, to which the Scottish politician responded, "I don't think Hamas is a terror organization, and it's a very foolish conflation that you make, because Hamas are a national liberation movement with specific goals to liberate their own country, which has been taken from them by others."

Interjecting, Klein stated Hamas' suicide bombings and rocket attacks target civilians. A heated exchange ensued, resulting in Galloway calling the police on Klein and Humphries. The two reporters were eventually released but also were reportedly told London police had prepared an "intelligence report" on the incident.

The entire fiasco was recorded on audio tape. Excerpts of the tape were played on Fox News Channel's Hannity's America. [http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=58962]

Book

Klein's book,cite web |url= http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6465696.html |title= Forward into Fall: Contemporary Affairs |author= Donahue et al |work= Publishers Weekly |date= 6 August 2007 ] cite web |url= http://www.nypost.com/seven/08172007/gossip/cindy/a_most_unwelcome_housewife_shuffle_cindy_cindy_adams.htm?page=2 |title= A Most Unwelcome 'Housewife' Shuffle |author= Cindy Adams |work= New York Post |date= 17 August 2007 |quote= ] "Schmoozing With Terrorists: From Hollywood to the Holy Land, Jihadists Reveal their Global Plans - to a Jew!" Aaron Klein. WND Books, September 2007. ASIN|0979045126. Hardcover: ISBN 0-97904-512-6, ISBN 978-0979045127.] based on his interviews with terrorists, was released in September 2007 with the title, "Schmoozing With Terrorists: From Hollywood to the Holy Land, Jihadists Reveal their Global Plans - to a Jew!"

Chapters of the book reportedly include Klein's described meetings with a recruited Palestinian suicide bomber; confrontations with the alleged Muslim desecrators of Jewish and Christian holy sites; a section in which terror leaders are petitioned to describe what life in the U.S. would be like under the rule of Islam; a chapter on Christian persecution in the Middle East; and a chapter claiming the U.S. funds terrorism.cite web |url= http://frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=2306E1FD-A88C-4C24-A9B1-34BB2847F9F4 |title= Interview with Aaron Klein |author= Jamie Glazov |work= FrontPage Magazine |date= 31 October 2007 ]

Obama

*William AyersIn February, 2008, Klein first reported Senator Barack Obama, a frontrunner for the Democrat presidential nomination, sat on the board of a nonprofit organization, the Woods Fund, alongside William Ayres, who was a Weathermen leader and has written about his involvement with the group's bombings of the New York City Police headquarters in 1970, the Capitol in 1971 and the Pentagon in 1972. [http://www.onenewsnow.com/Politics/Default.aspx?id=68535] [http://www.foxbusiness.com/article/obama-worked-terrorist-expert-says_492428_1.html] [http://sev.prnewswire.com/publishing-information-services/20080225/DC1492325022008-1.html] [http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20080225/pl_usnw/obama_worked_with_terrorist__expert_says] [http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS134696+25-Feb-2008+PRN20080225] [http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?pageId=57231]

The Weathermen sought the downfall of the U.S. government and was classified by the State Department as a terror group in the 1960s and 70's.

*Rashid Khalidi

Klein also reported while Obama served on the board, the Woods Fund granted funding to an Arab group Klein said mourns the establishment of Israel as a "catastrophe" and supports intense immigration reform, including providing drivers licenses and education to illegal aliens. [http://www.jewishpress.com/displaycontent_new.cfm?contentid=30283&contentname=Obama%20Served%20On%20Board%20That%20Funded%20Pro-Palestinian%20Group&sectionid=14&mode=a&recnum=0] The co-founder of the Arab group in question, Columbia University professor Rashid Khalidi, also has held a fundraiser for Obama. Klein detailed what he said was a relationship between Obama and Khalidi, whom Klein labeled as a harsh critic of Israel who has made statements supportive of Palestinian terror and reportedly has worked on behalf of the Palestine Liberation Organization while it was involved in anti-Western terrorism and was labeled by the State Department as a terror group.

Klein's piece gained U.S. media attention and was also criticized by some as "the first major swift-boating" of Obama, referring to conservative-led attacks against Presidential candidate John Kerry during the 2004 presidential election. [http://news.yahoo.com/s/thenation/20080227/cm_thenation/45291517] [http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/2/29/1028/25810] [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-young/the-swiftboating-of-obama_b_88279.html] CBS News called Klein a "key purveyor of the [Obama] smear campaign." [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/03/14/opinion/main3938453.shtml]

Critics have called Klein's reporting on Obama made up of guilt by association attacks.cite web |url= http://conwebwatch.tripod.com/stories/2008/obamaklein.html |title= Anti-Obama Frenzy: The Case of Aaron Klein |author= Terry Krepel |work= ConWebWatch |date= 27 March 2008 ]

*Obama church newsletter prints Hamas manifesto

Klein also released a series of reports on Obama's church, the Trinity United Church of Christ, including pieces stating the church's official newsletter reprinted controversial pieces such as open letter by a pro-Palestinian activist that labeled Israel an "apartheid" regime and claimed the Jewish state worked on an "ethnic bomb" that kills "blacks and Arabs." [http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=59884]

Klein also reported the church newsletter republished an opinion piece by a senior Hamas official that, Klein said, defended terrorism as legitimate resistance, refused to recognize the right of Israel to exist and compared the terror group's official charter – which calls for the murder of Jews – to America's Declaration of Independence. [http://www.investors.com/editorial/editorialcontent.asp?secid=1501&status=article&id=291335140632942] The controversial pieces were published on the "Pastor's Page" of the Trinity United Church of Christ newsletter reserved for Obama spiritual advisor Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr.

*Hamas 'endorses' Obama

In April 2007, Klein and WABC radio host John Batchelor conducted an interview with senior Hamas political advisor Ahmed Yousef in which Yousef expressed "hope" Obama will win the presidential elections and "change" America's foreign policy.

"We like Mr. Obama, and we hope that he will win the elections," stated Yousuf. "I hope Mr. Obama and the Democrats will change the political discourse. ... I do believe [Obama] is like John Kennedy, a great man with a great principal. And he has a vision to change America to make it in a position to lead the world community, but not with humiliation and arrogance."

Obama's chief political strategist, David Axelrod, said he was "flattered" by the Hamas comparison to Kennedy, but he condemned Hamas as a terrorist group and said Obama objects to any diplomatic contact with the terrorist group.

Klein's Hamas interview gained media attention and was used as a campaign fundraising tool by Republican presidential candidate John McCain. [http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/04/18/mccain-camp-uses-obamas-hamas-compliment-as-fundraising-fuel/] [http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/04/on-this-week-mc.html] [http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/359202.aspx] [http://thehill.com/campaign-2008/mccain-uses-obamas-foreign-policy-positions-to-raise-funds-2008-04-18.html] [http://www.investors.com/editorial/editorialcontent.asp?secid=1501&status=article&id=293411448193568] [http://www.worldnetdaily.com/?pageId=61852]

The interview was also noted by Pennsylvania newspapers just prior to a key presidential primary in that state between Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton in which Clinton was victorious. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review wrote an editorial titled, "Hamas & Obama: Terrorists Flatter" questioning Axelrod's response to Hamas' endorsement. [http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/mostread/s_563184.html]

Klein's Hamas interview became a dominant theme of the 2008 presidential elections, with McCain and Obama trading repeated barbs over Hamas' comments. McCain quoted the Hamas comments dozens of times during media interviews. Hamas' comments were referenced in five front page pieces in the NY Times.

tudent career

Klein is a graduate of Torah Academy Boys High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he edited "The T.A. Times", the school's monthly newspaper. After high school, he enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania, later transferring to Yeshiva University in New York City, where he edited the undergraduate bimonthly student newspaper, "The Commentator."

Some of Klein's critical investigative pieces for "The Commentator" provoked administrative ire.cite web |url= http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/regional/121599ny-yeshiva-edu.html |title= Yeshiva Students Say the University Is Behind Removal of Campus Paper |author= Karen W. Arenson |work= The New York Times |date= 15 December 1999 ] In December 1999, The New York Times reported that issues of the student newspaper had repeatedly been removed from the campus at the administration's behest during Klein's tenure as editor-in-chief, prompting Klein to threaten to sue the University. The conflict attracted additional media attention. Yeshiva University later signed a contract in which it agreed to discontinue the practice and reimburse "The Commentator" for the confiscated issues.cite web |url= http://yuweb.addr.com/v64i6/news/news1univpay.shtml |title= University Pays "Commentator" in Censorship Case |author= Aaron Klein and Alex Traiman |work= The Commentator, V. 64, #2 (undated) ]

References