Championing Their Causes: Ruth Messinger, president of the American Jewish World Service; casino mogul Irving Moskowitz; writer Jay Michaelson, and Jeremy Ben-Ami, executive director of J Street.[Below are individuals from the list particularly connected to Israel]
...Michael Oren
Michael Oren, Israel's ambassador to the United States, is one of the more unusual figures on the Washington diplomatic scene. Renowned as a historian and best-selling author, he's a political outsider with no formal diplomatic experience, yet he holds perhaps the most sensitive post in Israeli diplomacy....
Oren, 54, is a New Jersey native who moved to Israel as an adult and now represents his adopted country back in the land of his birth. Born Michael Borenstein...
... he settled in Israel, Hebraicized his name, saw combat in the 1982 Lebanon War, and was arrested in the Soviet Union during a secret outreach mission to Soviet Jews. Familiar to American audiences during the 1990s as a journalist, Oren became a media star with the 2002 publication of his best-selling book, "Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East." His media savvy put Oren on the ambassadorial short list after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's February election victory.
It didn't hurt that Oren was a longtime fellow at the Shalem Center, a conservative think tank funded by Netanyahu allies Sheldon Adelson and Ronald Lauder. Since his arrival in Washington in July, Oren has uncharacteristically landed in the middle of controversy. In August, the State Department reportedly summoned him for a chewing-out over Netanyahu's settlement policies (Oren insisted it was just a friendly chat), and he famously snubbed an invitation to address J Street's founding conference....
...Stuart Appelbaum
The international labor movement this year became the most visible battleground in the efforts to boycott Israel, as a number of trade unions around the world voted to back boycotts of Israel's products and people. Stuart Appelbaum, 57, a graduate of Brandeis University and erstwhile Democratic activist, has led the effort to fight those boycotts. Appelbaum has long been among the most visible and outspoken Jewish labor leaders from his posts atop the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union and the Jewish Labor Committee. (He also became one of the most visible gay labor leaders when he came out this spring.) This year, Appelbaum further asserted himself by getting almost every major American union leader to sign a letter in opposition to the boycotts. Appelbaum also worked with a few other international leaders to put together a new labor coalition to work not only against the boycotts, but also for a two-state solution in Israel. In the United States, Appelbaum's work paid off when Richard Trumka, the new head of the AFL-CIO, appeared at JLC'S conference in late October to declare his support for Israel. Appelbaum's organizations have not only stood up for Israel ? they have been a steady presence in support of more rights for Palestinian workers.
Jeremy Ben-Ami
Jeremy Ben-Ami knows marketing. Ben-Ami, J Street's 47-year-old mastermind and executive director, identified an underserved niche (alienated doves hungry for inside-the-Beltway pull), distilled his group's organizational identity into an easy-to-digest message ("pro-Israel, pro-peace") and aggressively distinguished the fledgling lobby from its competition ("established pro-Israel groups" that, as he put it, "have enforced right-wing message discipline on Israel in Congress?). Though only a year-and-a-half old, J Street is already one of America?s most talked-about and controversial Jewish groups.
Its fans - including the 1,500 people who attended its inaugural conference in October - see J Street as a long-overdue breath of fresh air on a stultifying Israel advocacy landscape, while its detractors vigorously dispute its pro-Israel bona fides. Friends and foes alike point to J Street's willingness to go against the communal grain on issues like the Israeli military's operation in Gaza (which it criticized, calling for an immediate cease-fire) and Iran sanctions (about which it has been bearish, pressing for more time for diplomacy). Ben-Ami's strategy has built J Street a passionate base of support on the Jewish left. Now, he faces a bigger challenge: winning over a still-skeptical center.
Robert Bernstein
In addition to his long career at the center of New York's publishing world, Robert Bernstein was the founder in 1978 of the organization that later became Human Rights Watch. He has been regarded as one of America's fiercest defenders of human rights and, in many ways, the father of the nation's movement to hold countries and individuals accountable for violations of these basic tenets.
So it came as a shock when, in an October 19 Op-Ed in the New York Times, Bernstein, 86, denounced the organization he had founded. Pointing to its censure of Israel's actions during the Gaza conflict last winter, he charged that Human Rights Watch was unfairly scrutinizing Israel and aiding those who wish to turn the Jewish state into a pariah. Bernstein's Op-Ed was the most high-profile critique of what has become known as "lawfare," the attempt to use the language of human rights against Israel.
To its detractors, it is the latest front in the war against the Jewish state. Bernstein elevated that debate to a higher plane, triggering a serious conversation about double standards, the rules of warfare, and the question of whether the principles of human rights are being misused for political gain.
Steve Rosen
Steve Rosen was under indictment in February 2009 on charges of receiving national security information and giving it to unauthorized persons. But the legal troubles didn’t stop Rosen, a former American Israel Public Affairs Committee staffer, from speaking out about national intelligence issues. In a February 19 blog post, Rosen sounded the alarm over the selection of former diplomat Charles Freeman to chair the National Intelligence Council: “Freeman is a strident critic of Israel, and a textbook case of the old-line Arabism that afflicted American diplomacy at the time the state of Israel was born,” he wrote. Rosen’s post began an avalanche of criticism of Freeman, who ultimately withdrew from consideration for the job. Two months later, prosecutors dropped charges against Rosen and fellow former AIPAC staffer, Keith Weissman. The move didn’t come a moment too soon for the pair’s defenders, who felt the feds were singling them out for the sort of information-sharing that’s common practice in Washington policy circles. However, the affair ended Rosen’s decades-long career at AIPAC, which, as foreign policy issues director, he had helped fashion into a lobbying powerhouse. Yet Rosen, 67, got right back into the foreign-policy game. Last year, while still under indictment, he found a new professional perch at the hawkish Middle East Forum, where Rosen has established himself as an influential, right-leaning voice on Mideast policy.
Ruth Messinger
Ruth Messinger, 69, the indefatigable president of the American Jewish World Service, distinguished herself this year as one of the leading Jewish voices on the national stage fighting against poverty and for human rights.
...Messinger - an early and consistent foe of the genocide in Darfur - was among them...
"This is a time when we need to determine what we stand for, who we really are," she said. "We must be able to help people of all ages answer the question: 'Why be Jewish?' To resonate, the answer must be more than tribal identity. You must encourage people to acknowledge that our world is broken and that being Jewish in the world today means working to fix it."
[However, Messenger never addresses genocidal activities against Palestinians. Many analysts believe that the Darfur campaign, founded by the American Jewish World Service and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, has a mixed agenda.
According to Joachim Martillo, "Messinger fundraises for lobbying-oriented humanitarian aid through the American Jewish World Service in New York, which is collecting money for "Save Darfur." Last year she raised approximately $31 million of which Darfur was to receive approximately $3 million. Most of the money donated for relief and development in Sudan was channeled back into Jewish lobbying efforts, Messinger admitted with very little shame, adding that AJWS has no real way to do anything for Sudan. She urged Jewish students to participate in "Save Darfur" as a way to get connected and create a "presence" in world "humanitarianism," which would engage in a coordinated Jewish effort of organizing, electing and legislating.]
Jay Michaelson
...Forward columnist Jay Michaelson ...wrote articulating his personal struggle between love and disaffection for Israel, "How I'm Losing My Love for Israel"...
Irving Moskowitz
Irving Moskowitz has been called "the patron saint of the East Jerusalem settler movement" for buying up and developing properties for Jewish settlement there. In July, when Moskowitz, a Florida-based physician-turned-casino tycoon, got the go-ahead to build an apartment complex in a Jewish enclave in East Jerusalem, he helped expose fault lines between the Obama administration and the government of Benjamin Netanyahu. His plan to develop the site drew objections from the U.S. State Department, which called on Israel to halt construction. For now, the project is moving forward, with Israel insisting that Jewish development anywhere in Jerusalem not be curtailed. Moskowitz, 81, is a powerful and polarizing figure, not just in the world of Jerusalem real estate, but also on the philanthropy scene: He and his wife are at the helm of a charitable foundation that funds Jewish education, right-leaning Israel advocacy groups and disaster relief. They also award the Moskowitz Prize for Zionism. In 2009, all three of the winners were settler leaders.
...Roger Cohen
Roger Cohen ...Cohen journeyed to Iran and reported at face value the claims by members of the country’s beleaguered Jewish minority that life isn’t half-bad in the Islamic Republic. “I’m a Jew and have seldom been treated with such consistent warmth as in Iran,” the veteran foreign correspondent added for good measure. Moreover, he said, “Iran’s scurrilous anti-Israel tirades” can be understood as “a provocation to focus people on Israel’s bomb, its 41-year occupation of the West Bank, its Hamas denial, its repetitive use of overwhelming force.” ...
Power Players: Presidential advisor David Axelrod; Rep. Barney Frank, and Susan Sher, chief of staff to First Lady Michelle Obama.David Axelrod and Rahm Emanuel
David Axelrod and Rahm Emanuel, two of President Obama’s closest and most influential advisers, were accused by protesters in Israel and by right-wing bloggers of being “self-hating Jews.” News reports said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the men the same way, but Netanyahu denied it. Over the summer, Chief of Staff Emanuel and Senior Adviser Axelrod took much of the heat directed at Obama from the Israeli government and its supporters over what they saw as unfair pressure on Netanyahu. Publicly, Emanuel, 50, and Axelrod, 54, stayed away from the controversy over settlements and left the debate to the administration’s foreign policy staff. Privately, Emanuel kept an open door to Jewish leaders who were trying to convey their messages to the White House. Emanuel is not only the gatekeeper to the Oval Office, but also a leading force in domestic policy decisions. Despite his non-stop schedule, Emanuel — whose extensive use of foul language has become legendary — is seen frequently in synagogue and is close to local rabbis. Axelrod was involved in his Chicago Jewish community before moving to Washington. On the eve of Obama’s inauguration, Axelrod thanked the Jewish community for its support, saying he was kvelling.
Howard Berman
As the nuclear standoff with Iran took center stage in 2009, Howard Berman, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, became a critical player in efforts to block Tehran’s drive toward nuclear weapons. Berman, who became chairman in 2008, was faced with a challenge on the issue of sanctions against Iran: how to find a middle ground between the administration’s call for congressional restraint, which would allow diplomacy to take its course, and the pro-Israel activists in the Jewish community, who pushed to move the legislation forward. By initially putting the bill on hold and later using it to set a deadline for the administration’s diplomatic outreach effort, Berman managed to keep both sides satisfied. The California congressman, 68, is viewed as one of Israel’s key supporters on Capitol Hill.
Eric Cantor
With Senator Arlen Specter crossing over the line to the Democratic Party, and Norm Coleman losing the Minnesota senatorial race, Rep. Eric Cantor has become the only remaining Jewish Republican in Congress. But even as Jewish Republican representation declined this year, Cantor’s political career soared. At 46, the five-term Virginia congressman was elected unanimously to be minority whip, making him the second-ranking Republican in the House of Representatives... possible presidential bid in 2012.
Barney Frank
Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank is often alone among congressional lawmakers in voicing what much of the country’s left is supporting — whether it’s a call for cuts in military spending, the support of LGBT rights or the decriminalization of marijuana. Some would argue that his moxie and trademark outspokenness are what prompted his constituents to send him to Congress for the past 28 years. As chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Frank, 69, was a key player this year in shaping the Wall Street bailout...
Al Franken
It took Al Franken eight months of a ballot recount and legal wrangling before winning Minnesota’s “Jewish seat” in the Senate, a seat that has been held for the past three decades by members of the tribe. For a comedian-turned-politician, it was worth the wait. In July, Franken became not only the 13th Jew in today’s Senate, but also — more notably — the Democrats’ 60th member, giving the party its super-majority. Best known for his years on “Saturday Night Live,” Franken shifted slowly toward politics, emerging first as the author of a best-selling anti-Conservative indictment, then as a liberal talk-radio host and finally as a candidate. When he took on Jewish Republican Senator Norm Coleman in the Minnesota race, Franken said: “I don’t think Minnesota is ready for a gentile in this seat.” As a member of the Senate, Franken, 58, has yet to make his mark. He is frequently a guest at events organized by Jewish organizations...
Susan Sher
The close friendship between Susan Sher and Michelle Obama began in the 1990s, when the two women worked for Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley. It was Sher who tried to recruit Obama to City Hall. Obama returned the favor years later, when she called on Sher to join her at the White House. Sher, 61, came on board as an associate counsel to President Obama, and in June became the first lady’s chief of staff. Along with Danielle Borrin, Sher serves as the White House liaison to the Jewish community. In practical terms, that makes her the community’s point person inside the White House. Jewish activists have praised Sher and the Obama administration for their open-door policy. But there is one door that Sher had difficulty opening: When her husband, Neil, brought a plate of macaroons to the White House for its first-ever Passover Seder, it took help from the Oval Office to get the cookies past the Secret Service.
Arlen Specter
At age 79, Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter switched to the Democratic side of the aisle, depriving Jewish Republicans of their sole representative in the Senate. Specter was always known as a moderate Republican, but his vocal criticism of the Bush administration on constitutional issues eventually cost him the support of his Pennsylvania constituency. Facing a tough primary race against a conservative challenger, Specter crossed party lines in April, arguing that the GOP had shifted too far to the right....has worked in the Senate to promote groundbreaking legislation that would provide compensation for organ donors. A staunch supporter of Israel and a regular visitor to Damascus...
...Solomon Dwek
No one could have predicted Solomon Dwek’s spectacular second act. Dwek, the son of a prominent Syrian rabbi, was disgraced in 2006 after bouncing a check for $25 million. He was charged with bank fraud and forced into bankruptcy after his real-estate business went bust. His failure as a real-estate mogul led directly to a new career, as a cooperating witness in a sprawling FBI sting. This summer, Dwek emerged as the informant whose secretly recorded conversations led to the arrest of 44 prominent rabbis and politicians in New Jersey and Brooklyn on charges ranging from corruption to money laundering to organ trafficking. Pages of criminal complaints chronicle the exploits of “the CW,” or cooperating witness, reportedly Dwek, as he allegedly brokered payoffs and kickbacks. He is said to have been given an Apple Jacks cereal box filled with $97,000 as part of a money-laundering scheme. Those charged in the investigation include three New Jersey mayors, two state assemblymen and five rabbis. The arrests reshaped New Jersey politics, and exposed Dwek’s insular Syrian Jewish community to unwanted public scrutiny. Many Syrian Jews reacted angrily, denouncing Dwek for allegedly informing on his own people... Full story
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