Emergency Committee for Israel

The Emergency Committee for Israel 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, former Republican presidential candidate Gary Bauer, and conservative writer Rachel Abrams,[2] wife of Elliott Abrams.[3] Noah Pollak is its executive director.[2]

Kristol said his group, created in mid-2010, 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." Pollak said, shortly after the group's creation, that it planned to be involved in a number of congressional races. "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]

As it started up, the organization ran ads opposing the elections of U.S. Senate candidate Joe Sestak[2][4][5] and U.S. House of Representatives candidates 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]

In February 2012, the committee produced a 30-minute documentary covering President Barack Obama's record on Israel.[9] The documentary received 200,000 views in its first week.

In June 2012, the committee ran an ad encouraging the US Government to immediately put an end to Iran's nuclear program.[10] The ad ran in New York; Washington, DC; and additional markets.

In October 2012, the group released a robo-call which combined clips of Obama from 2009 and 2011 and a clip from a speech Benjamin Netanyahu gave in 2012, in a form that appeared as if the two were having a debate.[11] Pollak said that month that his group would release further "secret Obama-Netanyahu debate recordings".[11]

In January 2013, the grouped launched a web site opposing the nomination of Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense.

References

  1. ↑ Sargent, Greg (July 19, 2010). "War escalates between Joe Sestak and right-wing pro-Israel group". The Washington Post. Retrieved September 22, 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Smith, Ben (July 12, 2010). "Group to oppose President Obama's Mideast policy". Politico.
  3. ↑ "Conservatives launch group to attack supporters of Obama's Israel policies". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. July 13, 2010.
  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.
  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.
  6. ↑ Adam Kredo. "To tell the truth:J Street treads on partisan territory as it attacks new pro-Israel group as out-of-step". Washington Jewish Week. Retrieved September 19, 2010.
  7. ↑ Benhorin, Yitzhak (October 16, 2011). "Anti-Semitism tainting Occupy Wall Street protests". Ynet.
  8. ↑ Cohen, Richard (October 24, 2011). "Where are the anti-Semites of Occupy Wall Street?". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 26, 2011.
  9. ↑ "Daylight: The Story of Obama and Israel". http://www.youtube.com. External link in |work= (help)
  10. ↑ Miller, Zeke (June 14, 2012). "GOP Group's Ad: Bomb Iran". BuzzFeed.
  11. 1 2 Kampeas, Ron (October 29, 2012). "ECI's made-up Bibi-Obama robocall 'debate'-UPDATED". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved March 29, 2015.

External links

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