MAR 29, 2024 JLM 66°F 09:07 AM 02:07 AM EST
Free Speech as Hate Speech: The James Cavallaro scandal

Either the U.S. State Department doesn’t know about the social-media antics of its nominees, or it doesn’t care.

The Algemeiner reports that another vocal anti-Zionist claimed free-speech martyrdom last week in the latest example of an individual harboring visceral hatred of Israel being rewarded with a prestigious position.

Professor James Cavallaro, an expert on human rights in Latin America, had been nominated the previous week to a three-year term as a commissioner with the Inter-American Human Rights Commission, a body within the Organization of American States (OAS). It was a position that Cavallaro had held before, having been previously nominated by President Barack Obama’s Secretary of State, John Kerry. He certainly had no reason to doubt that he was a shoe-in who would bring, in the words of a U.S. State Department press release, “valuable expertise to the commission’s work.”

Either the State Department doesn’t know about the social-media antics of its nominees, or it doesn’t care. When a colleague at The Algemeiner news outlet, Andrew Bernard, began sifting through Cavallaro’s Twitter feed, he discovered a cesspool of abuse directed at several targets, including the good professor’s ostensible boss, U.S. President Joe Biden. In one April 2020 tweet, he referred to Biden as “Nasty MFer Joe.” In another tweet the previous month, he opined sarcastically that Biden’s electoral success in the U.S. South “must mean he is no longer a senile gaffe machine.” For someone who professes to loathe former President Donald Trump, Cavallaro sure sounds a lot like him.

Similar treatment was dished out to other politicians. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) was dismissed as a “shameless mother*****.” Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) was told she was a “pedantic, pompous and self-righteous individual” who would be well-advised to “learn from the Palestinian people” (this was in reply to Collins’ tweet urging Israel to ignore Trump’s advice to bar left-wing Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) from visiting the country). Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) was excoriated as a “racist imbecile.” And so on.

Once Cavallaro’s tweets were exposed, the State Department speedily withdrew his nomination. At a press briefing, spokesman Ned Price emphasized that Cavallaro’s social-media attacks on Israel (more on those in a moment) were not the only factor behind the decision to pull him out of the running. “I know that [Israel has] been the focus of much of the commentary, but it went well beyond that,” explained Price. “Some of his commentary … was deeply inappropriate. Once that information came to light, we lost confidence in this individual and his ability to serve as a successful nominee.”

True, calling your boss a “Nasty MFer” in your Twitter feed isn’t exactly going to make you a “successful nominee.” But assisted by the fact that the majority of Cavallaro’s tweets consisted of attacks on Israel, his supporters have portrayed his canceled nomination as one more instance of the unaccountable power of the Israel Lobby in the United States, which has allegedly subjected him to the same treatment as former Human Rights Watch chief Ken Roth, whose offer of a fellowship at Harvard University was rescinded (and then placed on the table again once the school conceded it had made an “error.”)

Image - Daniel Cima via Wikimedia Commons


Did you find this article interesting?
Comments
To leave a comment, please log in

DISCOVER MORE

"Iron Swords" - War in Gaza Hamas The Iran Threat Biden Administration Hezbollah The Leftist-Islamist Alliance Israeli Technology Palestine = Hamas = ISIS Israeli_Nature 10/7 Hamas Massacres Biblical Archaeology Jihadi Infiltration into the West Heroes of Israel The Bible Muslim Persecution of Jews