White House to J Street: We have your back

Jewish Journal - report on J Street Conference

...The Obama administration seemed to have a different message for the group: We have your back.

Debating pro-Israel money

It’s not every day that two Jewish congressmen politely debate whether Jewish political contributions control U.S. policy in the Middle East.... Rep. Bob Filner (D-Calif.) told the story of voting against a 1994 resolution condemning the hateful and anti-Semitic speech of Khalid Abdul Muhammad, at the time a top lieutenant of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. Filner said he couldn’t condemn the speech because of the First Amendment—“How can Jews survive without the First Amendment?” he asked—and was the only Jewish member of Congress to vote against it.

Filner said the vote hurt him among Jewish supporters, costing him $250,000 in contributions per election cycle.

“That kind of money is an intimidating factor. I raised a lot less money in succeeding years, but my conscience was cleared,” he said to huge applause.

As the discussion among Filner and Reps. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Jared Polis (D-Colo.) and Charles Boustany (R-La.) continued, Polis cautioned that “we need to be careful to not give cover” to those “who think there is a Jewish conspiracy” to control U.S. foreign policy. Filner retorted by citing two members of the Congressional Black Caucus—Earl Hilliard of Alabama and Cynthia McKinney of Georgia—who were defeated with the help of pro-Israel donors.

“That intimidates people,” Filner said.

Polis responded by saying that the pro-Israel lobby is no different than any other single-issue interest group in American politics, from labor unions to low-tax proponents like the Club for Growth to supporters of gun rights.

“This is not unique to American politics,” Polis said about the pro-Israel lobby. “Nor is this even one of the most influential groups in either of the parties.”

But Filner persisted, arguing as an example that labor unions were at least providing health benefits for the members—but on Israel, members of Congress “are taking positions that can lead to war” based only on how it affects their campaign coffers. Full story