Conservative Pro-Israel Group Launches with Anti-Sestak Ad
Under the name of The Emergency Committee for Israel. Pro-Israel Republicans, neocons, conservative Christians, and American Jews organize to oppose President Obama's anti-Israel moves. Their first act is placing an anti-Sestak commercial -- watch at link. The Left is furious. Google "huffington post" "The Emergency Committee" for a taste of the nastiness. | The group will target races for the House and the Senate, but theres little doubt the larger target is the Obama administration, which Bauer told POLITICO is the most anti-Israel administration in the history of the United States.
The Emergency Committee will fit into a broadening spectrum of American pro-Israel groups, many of which have followed AIPACs lead in seeking to avoid open rifts with the White House and the political parties. Kristol said this group was inspired in part by the new liberal group J Street, whose ability to amplify criticism of the Israeli government showed, he said, the power of a small new group if on the other side of the debate.
There are some who say theyre pro-Israel but arent really, he said, referring to J Street. Then theres AIPAC, which is a wonderful organization, but one thats very committed to working with the administration, so they pull some punches publicly.
One official at an American Jewish organization welcomed the group to the degree that it would make criticism of Democrats mainstream, but also expressed concern that a group with such Republican origins would contribute to a deepening partisan cast to the debate over Israel, with Republicans lining up behind the Israeli government while some Democrats align themselves with Netanyahus American critics.
Bauer dismissed that notion.
I encourage our Democratic friends to have a competition with us on who can be more pro-Israel, because I think its in the interests of the United States and not a political party, he said. Im really hoping that people like Sen. [Chuck] Schumer and others will aggressively speak out for Israel at a time like this.
And the groups emergence has already provoked rancor on the left. After a liberal foreign policy blogger noticed that the group had quietly registered a website, the national security editor for the blog of the Democratic-aligned Center for American Progress, Matt Duss, tweeted sarcastically, Because the world really needs another astroturf Israeli propaganda outfit. A spokeswoman for CAP said he spoke for himself and not the group.
Posted by: 2010-07-13 |