Tagged AIPAC

WASHINGTON (JTA) – There was common ground on Iran and preserving the social safety net at a meeting between Democratic senators and Jewish community leaders, although subtle tensions on both issues emerged. In the back-and-forth on Capitol Hill, the senators pushed back against the notion that the Obama administration… Read more »

Sen. Richard Lugar, right, accompanies actor George Clooney with Sen. John Kerry for Clooney's testimonial on Sudan issues, in washington, D.C., March 14, 2012. Lugar's defeat in a primary election has pro-Israel activists worried about bipartisanship in Congress. (Medill DC via Creative Commons)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Richard Lugar was never considered to be one of Israel’s leading advocates on Capitol Hill. The veteran Republican senator from Indiana, who suffered a primary defeat last week after 35 years in office, is famously his own man. Lugar, the top Republican on the Foreign Relations… Read more »

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach ata 2011 menorah lighting ceremony at Newark City Hall in New Jersey. (Robert Wiener, NJ Jewish News)

(NJ Jewish News) — Known by some as “America’s rabbi,” he is a Lubavitcher rabbi, a television host, frequent talk-show guest, and the author of 27 books — among them such provocative titles as “Kosher Sex” and “Kosher Jesus.” As of March 12, Englewood, N.J., resident Shmuley Boteach can… Read more »

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Barack Obama meet in the White House Oval Office to talk about Iran and other issues, March 5, 2012. (Ron Kampeas)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may not have bridged their differences on how to deal with Iran, but each managed to give the other a measure of reassurance. In his speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Obama held his ground, declining… Read more »

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Barack Obama, shown at a September 2011 meeting at the United Nations in New York, are likely to meet again in Washington at the beginning of March, when decisions on Iran will be coming to a head. (Avi Ohayan/GPO/FLASH90)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — There will be the speeches, and they will resound like an echo. And then there will be the talk. When President Obama speaks on March 4 to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the group the following day,… Read more »

Jewish backers of Rick Santorum, shown speaking at an Arizona Republican Party fundraiser in Phoenix on Feb. 21, 2012, say Jewish voters should look past his hard-line social conservatisim and consider his message on the economy and on Israel. (Gage Skidmore via Creative Commons)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — If Rick Santorum secures the Republican nomination, expect to hear this mantra from his Jewish supporters: In times of crisis, social issues don’t matter. The former Pennsylvania senator, who is leading in national polls in the race for the GOP presidential nod, is fiercely anti-abortion and… Read more »

Sen. Lindsey Graham, shown attending Independence Day celebrations at the U.S. embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, in July 2011, has authored a resolution that would make an Iranian nuclear capability a "red line." (Courtesy U.S. Embassy, Kabul)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Is America’s red line on Iran moving? A new bipartisan resolution introduced Thursday on Capitol Hill is part of a growing effort to shift the longstanding U.S. red line from Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon to having the capability to build one. Such a shift would… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — In one corner was the Center for American Progress, or CAP, arguably Washington’s leading liberal think tank. In the other was Josh Block, a pugnacious former spokesman for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, who aggressively pushed the notion to reporters that CAP has an Israel… Read more »

Elliott Abrams, former deputy national security adviser under President George W. Bush, will be the keynote speaker at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s 2012 Tucson Annual Dinner, which will be held on Tuesday, Jan. 24 at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Abrams is senior fellow for Middle Eastern… Read more »

Rick Santorum, shown speaking to Iowa high school students in West Des Moines on Jan. 3, 2012, is reaching out to pro-Israel donors to boost his campaign following his strong showing in the state's caucuses. (Gage Skidmore via Creative Commons)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Rick Santorum’s near-win in Iowa has made him the GOP’s latest “not Romney” to pick up steam, but he may have his work cut out for him in attracting Jewish support. Pro-Israel insiders say the Santorum campaign is now aggressively reaching out to Jewish givers who… Read more »

U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, shown addressing the World Economic Forum in Siwtzerland in January 2010, was influential in advancing gay rights and on economic reform. (World Economic Forum via Creative Commons)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Barney Frank’s talk of retirement was anything but retiring. The veteran Jewish congressman’s announcement on Monday that he would not seek re-election was replete with the same caliber of verbal bombs — lobbed and received — that characterized much of his career. Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat,… Read more »

Dennis Ross, shown speaking at a Washington Institute for Near East Policy conference, and the White House cited his desire to spend more time with his family as the reason for stepping down as President Obama's top Middle East strategist. (Stan Barouh, courtesy of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Dennis Ross got back in the driver’s seat, yet three years later the peace is still missing. Ross, a veteran of four failed presidential pushes for Middle East peace, announced Nov. 10 that he would be leaving his post as President Obama’s top Middle East strategist… Read more »

Billie Kozolchyk

My husband, Boris, and I always anticipate with excitement the annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, but we could not imagine the magnitude of this year’s event. For the first time, there were more than 10,000 delegates including 1,500 students. Among the students were 215… Read more »

Medical personnel clean the scene of where a bus exploded from a bomb, injuring 25 people, near the central bus station in Jerusalem, March 23, 2011. (Abir Sultan / Flash90/JTA)

WASHINGTON (JTA) – It happens almost like clockwork: Something happens in the Middle East, and it reverberates across the Atlantic with new letters from the U.S. Congress. With so many relatively new members looking to establish their pro-Israel credentials, the reaction in Congress to the recent violence in Israel… Read more »

Hadar Susskind

J Street, a pro-peace, pro-Israel lobbying group and political action committee, is often presented in the media as a left-wing counterweight to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. But that’s not J Street’s mission, Hadar Susskind, J Street policy and strategic planning director, told a lunch crowd of about… Read more »

Pro-Israel groups are caught in a dilemma over whether to back Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak or his opponents, such as those seen here gathering in Cairo on Jan. 25, 2011 to call for his ouster. (Muhammad Ghafari)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — As Egypt convulses, pro-Israel groups and U.S. Congress members are seized by the ancient maternal dilemma: If you have nothing nice to say, should you say anything at all? The question of whether to stake a claim in the protests against 30 years of President Hosni… Read more »