Israel Matzav

'You can't just say you're pro-Israel, you have to be pro-Israel'

The Emergency Committee for Israel has issued its fourth ad, this time attacking Representative Jim Himes (D-Ct), yet another signer of the Hamas 54 letter.

Let's go to the videotape.



Greg Sargent claims that ECI's goal is to make it toxic for Democrats not to be pro-Israel.

Bill Kristol's hawkish, pro-Israel group, which has been running ads blasting Dems as anti-Israel, is now making it explicit: It is targeting Dems with paid media for the express purpose of making it politically toxic for them to criticize Israel.

That's what Kristol and a spokesman for his group, the Emergency Committee for Israel, suggested to me today, in statements accompanying a new ad it's set to release attacking Dem Rep Jim Himes of Connecticut.

"You can't just say you're pro-Israel, you have to be pro-Israel," Kristol said. The ad blasts Himes for signing a recent letter that allegedly accused Israel of "collective punishment" for enforcing the Gaza blockade.

...

Asked what the purpose of the ads was, [Michael] Goldfarb said:

Members of Congress should know that voters will hold them accountable for signing anti-Israel letters or doing anything else to undermine the US-Israel relationship. It is our job to make sure the voters have all the information.

That couldn't be clearer. Kristol's group is broadening efforts to go after Dems in ads, and there's been some debate about its real strategic goals. Clearly, the game plan is to put more Dems on notice that if they criticize Israel, they can expect to be targeted, too.

As if this is something unusual on the American political scene....

I have to guess that the ECI ads are having an impact, and that's a good thing. It's about time that politicians were punished for paying lip service to being pro-Israel while acting against her interests.

Now, if only they would go after Bill Pascrell.... (The word I have is that Pascrell is too strongly attached and is nearing retirement anyway, and that the resources are being saved to go after his son who is likely to succeed him. Pascrell represents the last district in the US in which I lived before I emigrated to Israel - and therefore the district in which I vote).

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:34 PM