WASHINGTON (JTA) — The leading pro-Israel lobby in the United States is telling lawmakers that they are free to criticize Israel’s looming annexation plans — just as long as the criticism stops there. Two sources — a congressional aide and a donor — say the American Israel Public Affairs… Read more »
Tagged J Street
As Joe Biden welcomes J Street endorsement, a sign of the liberal pro-Israel lobby’s increasing influence
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Joe Biden welcomed the endorsement of J Street, the liberal pro-Israel lobby, on Friday. While it might seem like a small news item today, the moment represents something much larger: a consolidation of the group’s influence among mainstream Democrats. “I’m honored to have earned J Street’s first-ever… Read more »
J-Street honors Gellman
J Street founder and President Jeremy Ben Ami (right) honored Larry Gellman Dec. 16 at the first major event the pro-Israel group hosted in Tucson. More than 110 people, including a broad range of political leaders, rabbis, and Jewish professional and community leaders, attended. The event featured a timely… Read more »
What exactly is Elizabeth Warren’s Israel policy?
WASHINGTON (JTA) — When it comes to pressuring Israel, Elizabeth Warren doesn’t have a specific plan. The senator from Massachusetts, who has caught up in polling with front-runners for the Democratic presidential nomination, now faces intensified scrutiny as a newly viable contender. And what has emerged is that Warren… Read more »
Presidential hopeful Michael Bennet: I think about my family’s experience during the Holocaust every day
(JTA) — Since announcing his presidential run in May, Michael Bennet has been polling between zero and 1 percent. He didn’t qualify for the latest Democratic debate and he’s a long shot to make the next one. The Colorado senator raised only $2.1 million in the third quarter of… Read more »
5 Jewish facts to know about Elizabeth Warren
WASHINGTON (JTA) — In the waning days of 2018, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., formally declared her interest in running for the presidency. Warren was not the first to do so — former Maryland Rep. John Delaney has for months been canvassing for Democratic votes in Iowa, the first caucus… Read more »
How Jewish groups are reacting to Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital
(JTA) — Jewish groups expressed both disappointment and pleasure at the expected announcement by President Donald Trump that the United States will recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The Reform Jewish movement, the largest in the United States, called Wednesday’s announcement “ill-timed but expected.” The announcement, said Union for Reform… Read more »
In the age of Trump, a quandary for Jewish leaders: Access or resistance
WASHINGTON (JTA) – The Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the umbrella body for the community’s policy groups, and J Street, the liberal Middle East peace lobby, held conferences this weekend about seven blocks apart. Downtown D.C. is pleasantly people-free on weekends, and the weather, weirdly unseasonable, was mild, so… Read more »
Trump’s Israel envoy pick shakes up American Jewish status quo
WASHINGTON (JTA) -– Nearly six years ago, when President Barack Obama was set to elevate one of his top emissaries to the Jewish community to the Israel ambassadorship, Dan Shapiro asked for – and got – the endorsement of one of Obama’s fiercest pro-Israel critics. “Dan has always spoken… Read more »
Jewish groups urge Israel’s US envoy to reject award from ‘anti-Muslim’ think tank
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Reform movement and other liberal Jewish groups are urging Israel’s U.S. ambassador, Ron Dermer, not to accept an award from an organization deemed by the Anti-Defamation League to promulgate anti-Muslim extremism. The ADL itself stopped short of asking Dermer not to accept the award next… Read more »
In battle for the Senate, the Iran nuclear deal is looming large
WASHINGTON (JTA) – While the Iran nuclear deal gets fleeting attention in the presidential race, it is shaping up as a key issue in at least nine states integral to Democrats’ hopes of regaining control of the U.S. Senate. Rival pro-Israel factions are pouring money into many of those races, and candidates are… Read more »
Hillary Clinton email trove shows concern with Netanyahu’s psyche
WASHINGTON (JTA) – As U.S. secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton spent plenty of time in daunting foreign territory. No, I’m not talking about Myanmar here. I’m speaking of the mind of Benjamin Netanyahu. A batch of emails released this week as part of the trove related to the… Read more »
AIPAC to fight White House head to head in battle over Iran deal
WASHINGTON (JTA) – Cancel your summer vacations. That was the order AIPAC’s executive director, Howard Kohr, gave his employees in a staff meeting convened this week at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee after the United States announced the Iran nuclear deal. With the influential pro-Israel lobby group pushing for Congress… Read more »
With White House set to approve Iran deal, options to shape outcome remote
WASHINGTON (JTA) – The Iran deal may not be done, but bids by its opponents to shape it are all but buried. Skeptics of the nuclear negotiations have all but given up on a congressional role before the June 30 deadline for an agreement between Iran and the major… Read more »
Will U.S. Jewish groups pivot left if Herzog wins?
WASHINGTON (JTA) – Come early next year, there might be yet another world capital that opposes Israeli settlement expansion and sees Benjamin Netanyahu as principally responsible for Israel’s isolation: Jerusalem. Isaac Herzog, the Labor Party leader, is faring well in the polls since Netanyahu called for new elections earlier… Read more »
Some lessons from the New Year texts
For the past several years, and again this year, I have been honored to be chosen to read the Torah in my synagogue on the first day of Rosh Hashanah – and each year I struggle with the troubling text and try to figure out what it is saying… Read more »
Amid declining Jewish caucus in Congress, rising concerns over communal influence
WASHINGTON (JTA) – From 31 in 2009 to a likely 19 in January, the unofficial Jewish caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives is shrinking fast. Jewish lawmakers have traditionally been the first stop for Jewish lobbyists seeking inroads for their issues, including Israel, preserving the social safety net,… Read more »
Op-Ed: The Israel conversation we should be having
NEW YORK (JTA) — The recent vote by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations rejecting J Street’s membership bid was not entirely surprising. J Street had been reaching out to conference members and community contacts for weeks. We knew that gaining the necessary two-thirds majority was… Read more »
Fact-checking J Street and its critics
(JTA) — The vote is over, but the debate rages on over the recent rejection of J Street’s application to join the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. Depending on where you stand, the 22-17 vote rejecting the application was either about J Street’s own missteps or… Read more »
In Presidents Conference loss, did J Street win its fight for mainstream acceptance?
WASHINGTON (JTA) — J Street wasn’t welcomed under the umbrella, but it hasn’t been left out alone in the rain. J Street’s failed effort to join the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations showed that many in the Jewish community still regard the dovish Israel policy group… Read more »