A broad swath of groups will participate in today’s White House meeting of Jewish-American leaders, according to a list of meeting participants obtained by The Hill.
16 Jewish-American leaders have been invited to the White House Monday for an off-the-record discussion with President Obama this afternoon. The meeting was a late addition to the president’s official schedule and announced this morning.
The groups represented include: The National Jewish Democratic Council, Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Hadassah, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, AJCommittee, United Jewish Communities (UJC), National Council of Jewish Women, American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), Orthodox Union, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA), United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, Union for Reform Judaism, J Street, and Americans for Peace Now.
Many of groups had enjoyed some — though not extensive — access to White House officials during the Bush administration. Two groups, J Street and Americans for Peace Now, appeared to be relatively new additions to the roster of groups traditionally included in such meetings.
One source expressed satisfaction with the wide range of groups represented in the meeting, as well as appreciation that the Obama administration has chosen to reach out to the Jewish-American community beyond issues like Israel and Iran — issues, the source said, which dominated similar discussions with the Bush administration.
Here’s the list of the 16 meeting participants headed to the White House Monday afternoon:
- Jeremy Ben-Ami, executive director, J Street
- Debra DeLee, president and CEO, Americans for Peace Now
- Ira Forman, CEO, National Jewish Democratic Council
- Abe Foxman, national director, ADL
- Marla Gilson, Washington director, Hadassah
- Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice-chair, Conference of Presidents
- Jason Isaacson, Washington director, AJCommittee
- Kathy Manning, incoming chair, UJC
- Nancy Ratzan, president, National Council of Jewish Women
- Lee Rosenberg, president-elect, Aipac
- Stephen Savitsky, president, Orthodox Union
- Alan Solow, chair, Conference of Presidents
- David Victor, president, AIPAC
- Andrea Weinstein, chair, JCPA
- Rabbi Steven Wernick, executive vice-president, United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism
- Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president, Union for Reform Judaism
Update, 3:50 p.m.:
Andrea Weinstein, chair of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, said of the meeting:
“We are thankful for the opportunity to sit down with the president as a community to discuss a wide range of domestic and international issues important to the Jewish community. We are honored to have been invited, along with a broad spectrum of Jewish organizations, to join President Obama in this historic meeting. JCPA is pleased to have the opportunity to share with President Obama our efforts toward fighting hunger and poverty, a concern to which he is personally committed.”
Marla Gilson, director of Hadassah’s Washington Action Office, said:
“Hadassah is honored to be included in this meeting with the President of the United States, and to sit with our esteemed colleagues who represent America’s Jewish community. Hadassah, the largest women’s membership organization in the country, is encouraged that President Obama has invited representatives from a diverse selection of Jewish organizations, so we may all provide our thoughts and opinions on behalf of our membership, fellow leadership, and organizations as a whole.”