Obama backer made anti-Semitic remarks

By · May 15, 2007

A Jewish group criticized U.S. Sen. Barack Obama for accepting support from a former basketball player who said the Jews killed Jesus. New York Magazine’s Daily Intelligencer reported that ex-New York Knicks guard Allan Houston is hosting a fund-raiser Saturday at his home for Obama, an Illinois senator seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. Houston drew fire from Jewish groups in 2001 when he said in a pre-game Bible study session that Jews had Jesus’ “blood on their hands” and were “stubborn.” Houston apologized at the time, saying his remarks were taken out of context, but the American Jewish Congress said Obama’s association with Houston was still inappropriate. “I don’t think Barack Obama would make comments like that about Jews,” David Twersky, the group’s communications director, told the Intelligencer. But “if someone made those kinds of remarks against African Americans, he would eschew their support. It would be a different standard.”