WASHINGTON POST GIVES DUNCAN HUNTER AD FOUR PINNOCHIOS; HIT RIVAL WITH NAKED 'ANTI-MUSLIM BIAS'

By Ken Stone

Reprinted with permission from Times of San Diego, a member of the San Diego Online News Association

Photo:  Screenshot from Duncan Hunter campaign ad suggests that Ammar Campa-Najjar’s father said “They deserved to die,” referring to Israelis killed in 1972 Olympic attack. Image via Youtube.com

October 1, 2018 (San Diego) - Rep. Duncan Hunter’s YouTube ad attacking his Democratic rival has received four Pinocchios — the worst rating, used for “whoppers” — from The Washington Post’s Fact-Checker column.

In a 1,600-word story posted Monday and titled “Indicted congressman falsely ties opponent to terrorism,” the Post’s Salvador Rizzo examines a series of claims against Ammar Campa-Najjar.

The story challenged Hunter’s claims regarding Campa-Najjar’s family ties.

“This ad uses naked anti-Muslim bias in an effort to scare Californians into voting for an indicted Republican incumbent,” Rizzo concluded. “The Democrat on the receiving end of these attacks isn’t even Muslim. All the claims in the ad are false, misleading or devoid of evidence.”

Among the claims are that Ammar’s father — Yasser Najjar — said: “They deserved to die,” referring to the Israelis killed by Palestinian terrorists at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

But after reviewing the public record, The Post said: “These nuanced and complex views dating to at least 1996 are far removed from saying the Israeli victims in Munich deserved to die — a remark that we couldn’t find any record of, anyway.”

Rizzo also noted that the Post gave Hunter Three Pinocchios in a previous fact-check for suggesting that his indictment was “a hit job by Democrats.”

“The U.S. attorney in San Diego, who was appointed by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, approved the indictment,” Rizzo said.

A spokesman for Hunter didn’t respond to a request for comment.

For his part, Campa-Najjar’s campaign put out a press release and linked to a video statement by Abby Campa — Ammar’s Mexican-American mother — denouncing, in Spanish, Hunter’s ad as racist.