Disingenuous Attack by Emergency Committee for Israel: All About Electing Republicans, Not Iran

NJDC — June 14, 2012 – 11:45 am | Comments (0) Add a comment

The latest attack by the so-called Emergency Committee for Israel (ECI)—a Republican front group that has been condemned by vaunted American Jewish communal organizations—has nothing to do with Iran, or Israel. It has to do with one thing: electing Republicans and defeating President Barack Obama. The easiest way to demonstrate this is by looking at the words of ECI’s own leaders, as they’ve praised the President’s policies on Iran and Israel—even recently. They clearly don’t even believe their own ads. This is a Republican front group that puts politics first, plain and simple—regardless of the damage it does to the bipartisan U.S.-Israel alliance or the global effort to stop Iran that President Obama has led.

1. ECI co-founder Bill Kristol said he agreed with Obama’s Iran approach during a recent debate. [Haaretz, May 16, 2012] Kristol said:

”[The Obama Administration has] toughened up on Iran. And the President has said—which I agree with—that you cannot contain or deter a nuclear Iran. It’s the greatest threat to Israel. ... So I guess he would come down on my side ... So I’m happy to sit here and agree with President Obama to a considerable degree ...”

“I’m allowed to praise him—as I just did—when I tend to agree with him. I think on Iran he has moved a lot from where he was in 2009…” [YouTube, May 17, 2012]

Watch the video here: http://youtu.be/u6os3E5MeO8?t=42s

2. Like Kristol, ECI’s Executive Director Noah Pollak has publically debunked his organization’s own smears against the President. [Think Progress, June 2, 2011]

3.ECI is nothing more than a Republican front group working to elect Mitt Romney. ECI has a clear record of focusing their attacks solely on the President and Congressional Democrats. Further, they’ve stayed silent when Republicans espouse and support policies detrimental to the U.S.-Israel relationship. [The Hill, December 7, 2011] ECI’s only attack ad ever against a Republican was against the virulently anti-Israel presidential candidate Representative Ron Paul (R-TX) prior to the South Carolina primary. However their ad was pulled because ECI Board member Gary Bauer endorsed Rick Santorum, and the ad was seen to be “clearing the field” for Bauer’s preferred candidate. [JTA, January 11, 2012]

4. ECI is routinely criticized by mainstream Jewish communal organizations for politicizing the U.S.-Israel relationship, and the Israeli government has warned that “this political ping-pong is bad for us.” [Haaretz, October 24, 2010] The American Jewish Committee has called their dishonest tactics “highly objectionable, indeed counter-productive” [JTA, September 19, 2011] while the Anti-Defamation League has warned that their partisan-motivated attacks “will be costly to what we call the support of Israel.” [Forward, September 22, 2011]

5. President Barack Obama has done more than any other President in history to stop Iran’s nuclear program. He has made it clear that all options are on the table to stop Iran—including a military option—and has united the world against Iran’s nuclear program. Click here to learn the facts of Obama’s record.

6. Mitt Romney offers only hyperbole and smears on Iran, not solutions - and he has virtually nothing different to offer than President Obama’s policy. Experts and journalists alike have noted that Mitt Romney has not proposed any meaningful policies to stop Iran that are different from what President Obama has already implemented. [Los Angeles Times, May 31, 2012] [The New York Times, March 5, 2012] [The New York Times, March 5, 2012] [National Journal, November 14, 2011]

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