WASHINGTON (JTA) — In separate statements, Jewish Democrats and Republicans challenged politicians from their own parties for associating with personalities perceived as unfriendly to Israel.
The National Jewish Democratic Council chided Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.) for appearing at an event with Code Pink, a pro-Palestinian antiwar group, and telling a woman who had disrupted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress last month, "You did me proud."
"Interrupting any dignitary invited to speak before Congress in this way is wrong, especially when it’s the leader of the Jewish State of Israel — the one true democracy in the Middle East, and America’s staunch, strategic ally," the NJDC said. "On other issues, Woolsey makes us proud, but today she did not."
Separately, Matt Brooks, the chairman of the Republican Jewish Coalition, expressed concern about foreign policy advisers to Jon Huntsman, the former Utah governor vying for next year’s GOP presidential nomination.
Advice from the likes of Brent Scowcroft and Richard Armitage — considered to be foreign policy "realists" who have advocated pressure on Israel — "will raise concerns in the Jewish community," Brooks told Politico.
Huntsman, until recently President Obama’s envoy to China, has called Israel a "strong ally" and has obliquely criticized the president for suggesting Israel negotiate on the basis of 1967 lines.
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