Emergency Committee for Israel

The Emergency Committee for Israel's Leadership is a right-wing[1] 501(c)(4) political advocacy organization in the United States.[2] The group’s board members include Weekly Standard editor William Kristol and former Republican presidential candidate Gary Bauer, Republican Virginia congressman Scott Rigell, and conservative writer Rachel Abrams,[2] wife of Elliott Abrams.[3] Noah Pollak is its executive director.[2]

Kristol said his group was inspired by the new "liberal" J Street group, "whose ability to amplify criticism of the Israeli government showed the power of a small new group — if on the other side of the debate." The Emergency Committee plans to take on other congressional races as well according to Pollak. “We want to be hard-hitting; we want to get into the debate and shake things up and make some points in a firm way,” he said.[2]

The organization ran ads opposing the elections of U.S. Senate candidate Joe Sestak[2][4][5] and U.S. House of Representatives candidate Rush D. Holt, Jr., Mary Jo Kilroy, and John F. Tierney, portraying them as "openly hostile" to Israel.[6]

In October 2011, the committee produced a video portraying Occupy Wall Street as anti-Semitic.[7] Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen referred to the video and said he found no evidence of antisemitism during his two visits to the demonstration site.[8]

Reference

  1. ^ Sargent, Greg (July 19, 2010). "War escalates between Joe Sestak and right-wing pro-Israel group". The Washington Post. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/2010/07/war_escalates_between_right-wi.html. Retrieved September 22, 2010. 
  2. ^ a b c d e Smith, Ben (July 12, 2010). "Group to oppose President Obama's Mideast policy". Politico. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/39613.html. 
  3. ^ "Conservatives launch group to attack supporters of Obama’s Israel policies". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. July 13, 2010. http://www.jta.org/news/article/2010/07/13/2740043/conservatives-lanch-pro-israel-group. 
  4. ^ Pareene, Alex (July 12, 2010). "Bill Kristol will protect Israel with attack ads against Democrats: The Emergency Committee for Israel says Joe Sestak loves terrorists". Salon. http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/07/12/emergency_committee_israel_kristol. 
  5. ^ O'Toole, James (July 25, 2010). "Ads target Jewish voters: Senate nominee Sestak may be forced to defend his pro-Israel stance". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10206/1075193-176.stm. 
  6. ^ Adam Kredo. "To tell the truth:J Street treads on partisan territory as it attacks new pro-Israel group as out-of-step". http://washingtonjewishweek.com/main.asp?SectionID=4&SubSectionID=4&ArticleID=13420&TM=38113. Retrieved September 19, 2010. 
  7. ^ Benhorin, Yitzhak (October 16, 2011). "Anti-Semitism tainting Occupy Wall Street protests". Ynet. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4135361,00.html. 
  8. ^ Cohen, Richard (October 24, 2011). "Where are the anti-Semites of Occupy Wall Street?". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/where-are-the-anti-semites-of-occupy-wall-street/2011/10/24/gIQAP89eDM_story.html. Retrieved October 26, 2011. 

External links