…The emails, obtained by The Intercept as part of a FOIA request submitted by the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy, show Block repeatedly instructing the VOA producer that Jebreal “a crazy person” and “anti-Semite” should not be booked or even acknowledged as someone worthy of hearing from. While Block blithely argued that her political perspectives and intellect should be ignored, the duo took time to have a spirited debate over her “looks.” (Bakhtiar says his “editor was keen on having her on because of her looks (although she is hardly my type)” while Block excitedly exclaims: “Now that make sense!”
Instead of Jebreal, Block urged the booking of “someone like Ghaith al-Omari, who is a former PLO official and peace process negotiator.” Al-Omari is a fellow at the D.C.-based Washington Institute for Near East Policy–alongside pro-Israel stalwarts such as longtime pro-Israel U.S. diplomat Dennis Ross and former Bush Treasury official Matthew Levitt–and, as such, remains faithfully within the D.C. consensus for how Israel and Palestine are discussed. The institute previously boasted as one of its fellows Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon. On news of al-Omari’s joining, Haaretz described the group this way: “Established in 1985, the Washington Institute is known for its ties in the U.S. and Israeli governments…” More