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NEW YORK (JTA) – The Emergency Committee for Israel in a full-page ad in The New York Times attacked President Obama’s treatment of the Jewish state.
“Why does the Obama administration treat Israel like a punching bag?” the ad, which appears in Thursday’s edition, asks in bold lettering. A punching bag with a Jewish star is superimposed on the right, next to bullet points supporting the claim.
Among the points are French President Nicolas Sarkozy calling Netanyahu a “liar” in a conversation with Obama and U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta saying that Israel needed to “get to the damn table” for negotiations with the Palestinians.
"The Obama administration has been using Israel as a punching bag. The pro-Israel wing of the pro-Israel community is punching back,” Weekly Standard editor William Kristol told Politico. Kristol and Gary Bauer, president of the group American Values, are the leaders of the ECI.
The National Jewish Democratic Council in a statement addressed each point made in the ad.
The statement, signed by NJDC Chair Marc Stanley and President and CEO David A. Harris, asked, "Why does ECI treat the truth like a punching bag? Why do they spread fictions and smears about President Barack Obama and his powerfully pro-Israel record? The answer is simple; because they are far-right Republican partisans.
“The sad truth is that they’re more committed to hurting this President than they are to helping the U.S.-Israel relationship, and that’s reprehensible," the statement concluded.
In addition to The New York Times, print ads were to run in Las Vegas, Miami and Los Angeles.
