RJC vs. DWS, Round 2

The Republican Jewish Coalition accused Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) of trying to "stifle debate" by invoking the "don’t make Israel a partisan issue" argument, post Obama-Netanyahu contretemps.

We covered it here.

Now, via Politico, Wasserman Schultz, the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, hits back, speaking at the Christian Science Monitor breakfast. Her argument, essentially: Hey, I didn’t make this up. Ask AIPAC, ask the Jewish Federations, ask ADL.

Here’s the video:

Incidentally, Alan Solow, the outgoing chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, made the same argument during this week’s AIPAC conference. Josh Gerstein at Politico has it covered:

"We cannot allow Israel to become a wedge issue that divides our community and dilutes its strength. Of course, we as individuals can prefer some candidates over others, but we must not allow the U.S.-Israel relationship to become the distinguishing factor between the major parties. Our goal should be exactly the opposite: to promote all political actors to adopt strong pro-Israel positions across the board."

Solow was quite impassioned. The Chicago lawyer is a major Obama donor and a friend of the president. That said, this clearly is an issue that has exercised him — and as Gerstein noted, Solow has in the past criticized Obama, despite their closeness, so it’s not a matter of shilling for a friend.

I would add one observation: Nothing to do with Solow, whose delivery was strong and direct, but from what I could see, the speech landed like a dud. I don’t know if this is because Obama had already lost much of the AIPAC crowd, or if it was simply a matter of unfortunate timing — Solow spoke late in the conference and while the assembled were impatiently awaiting Netanyahu’s speech.