Republican Jewish group hammers Dems on Israel

by Ben Kamisar - 06/21/16 10:58 AM ET

The major Republican Jewish group is out with a new online ad buy seizing on the Democratic Party’s internal disagreements over Israel to hammer the party as “anti-Israel.”

The Republican Jewish Coalition’s (RJC) three digital ads target three Bernie Sanders-backed members of the Democrats’ platform-drafting committee, all of whom have criticized Israel over its treatment of Palestinians. The goal of the ads — targeting academic Cornel West, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), and Arab American Institute President James Zogby — is summed up in their final few seconds.

{mosads}”Radical Democrat, stridently anti-Israel, hand-selected to be a member of the 2016 Democrat Platform Committee,” the narrator says in each.

“Sadly, this isn’t the old Democratic Party. It’s today’s Democratic Party.”

The ads highlight audio of West calling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “a war criminal,” hit Ellison for tweeting a picture that compared Palestinian lands to an occupation, and argue Zogby accused Israel of “a crime against humanity.”

While the ads end with a picture of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, she had no role in picking either of the three. Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz appointed the candidates, who were recommended by Sanders, the other Democratic presidential candidate, as part of a deal to give him more say on the committee.

Sanders has been less supportive of Israel than Clinton has, a point of view reflected in his choices for the platform committee.

Clinton came to Israel’s defense in response to repeated criticisms of the 2014 conflict, arguing that “America can’t ever be neutral when it comes to Israel’s security of survival” during an address last March to AIPAC.

Sanders skipped that major pro-Israel conference to campaign and referred to Israel’s “occupation” of Palestinian land in another speech that day.

The advertising push is aimed at trying to peel Jewish votes away from Democrats and to the Republican Party. President Obama won 69 percent of the Jewish vote in 2012, according to exit polls, but that vote made up just 2 percent of the total electorate.

A spokesman with the National Jewish Democratic Council paned the new ads in a statement to The Hill that frames presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump as intolerant and inconsistent on Israel.

“We understand why they don’t want to be defending their racist, sexist and bigoted candidate who peddles in anti-Semitic tropes, but notice how they don’t even mention Hillary Clinton’s actual record,” the group said.

“As they oppose the only consistently pro-Israel nominee in this race, this is going to be a tough year for RJC – all while more and more of their people stand with Israel and strengthening the US-Israel relationship by abandoning Trump.”

— This report was updated at 11:38 a.m.

Tags Bernie Sanders Donald Trump Hillary Clinton