Israel Matzav

Wexler resigning from Congress

The Miami Herald is reporting that Boca Raton Congressman Robert Wexler is resigning from Congress to head up a 'pro-Israel' think tank. As you may recall, Wexler was one of President Obama's earliest supporters in the Jewish community and vouched for us that Obama was pro-Israel.

In a conference call Tuesday night with Democratic leaders, Wexler said he will become director of the Washington-based Center for Middle East Peace and Economic Cooperation. Wexler, 48, is expected to make a public statement about his plans at a 10 a.m. Wednesday press conference at his Boca Raton office.

...

He was a high-profile spokesman for the Democratic party during the 2000 presidential recount in the state and fought for a paper trail for voters using electronic machines.

He argued fervently against President Bill Clinton's impeachment and in favor of impeachment hearings for former Vice President Dick Cheney. But partisanship did not affect his relationship with Gov. Charlie Crist, his buddy from his days in the Florida Senate.

In 2007, when most of the Florida political establishment was aligned with Hillary Clinton, Wexler was one of the earliest and highest-profile supporters of Barack Obama's presidential campaign.

He emphatically vouched for Obama's candidacy in Jewish communities across the country.

``I don't think you can overstate his importance to the campaign,'' said Democratic fundraiser Kirk Wagar.

I'd say good riddance but for one little tidbit. Israel Radio reported this morning that Wexler is in line to become the US ambassador to Israel. Please spare us. We've already had one recent very identifiably religious Jewish ambassador to Israel who bent over backwards to show how he wasn't favoring Israel. We don't need another.

If Obama is looking for a new ambassador to Israel, the guy I would recommend is his current ambassador to Japan, John Roos. When Roos was appointed ambassador to Japan, there was criticism voiced at his lack of diplomatic experience and his having never been to Japan before. John wouldn't have at least one of those problems in Israel. He was the head of the Israel practice group at Wilson Sonsini, a large Silicon Valley law firm with a big presence in Israel, before he became the firm's CEO, has visited here many times and has many contacts in the business community here.

Roos also has an appreciation of what it means to live under the threat of terror. When he came here the week before 9/11 for the high tech conference that he founded, his firm only reluctantly agreed to let him travel here, and even then they did not want him to stay overnight in the conference hotel, which was across the street from the site of a major Tel Aviv terror attack. You can't get here from San Francisco without staying overnight. John came anyway. Almost no one else from abroad did that year.

UPDATE 6:18 PM

Well, at least when I wrote where Wexler was going, I instinctively put 'pro-Israel' in scare quotes. Commenter jdamn links to a post that shows that the 'Center for Middle East Peace and Cooperation' is connected to J Street. I should have known.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:52 AM