After an Orthodox Union official appeared in a pro-Obama video, the O.U. emphasized it does not endorse political candidates.
In the video, titled “Israelis for Obama,” the director of the O.U.’s Institute for Public Affairs, Nathan Diament, is briefly shown and identified on screen by his name and organization. He does not speak on the video, which is available on the Internet.
Diament did not approve of the usage of the footage in the video and said it came from a old report on an Israeli news program called “Fact,” considered the Israeli equivalent of “60 Minutes.” The senior correspondent of that program appears in the video endorsing Obama.
The O.U. received numerous calls and e-mails asking whether Diament’s appearance indicated an endorsement, said Diament, so it posted a statement on its blog Thursday emphasizing that the OU is a “tax-exempt, non-partisan organization and does not endorse or oppose candidates for elective office,” and that the same applies to Diament.
The Israeli producers of the video have told the O.U. that Diament’s image will be removed in the upcoming DVD version of the film. Diament asked that he be cut him out of the YouTube version as well, but thus far that has not occurred.
Diament has known the Democratic nominee since well before either of them were in their current positions: The two attended Harvard Law School together.
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