The Emergency Committee for Israel attacked President Barack Obama’s record on Israel in a full-page newspaper ad asking, "Why does the Obama administration treat Israel like a punching bag?" Published in leading new sources including the New York Times, the Miami Herald, and Variety, the ad depicted a punching bag with a Jewish star next to bullet points supporting the ECI’s claims. The ad mentions the now infamous incident in which French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Obama questioned Israeli Prime …More

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said the Obama administration must clearly signal to emerging Arab governments that vilifying Israel and Jews is unacceptable. "Now is the time for Washington to send a clear signal to the emerging governments of the Middle East and the international community that it is not OK to vilify Israel and it is not OK to demonize Jews," Cantor (R-Va.) said in his address Thursday to the Union for Reform Judaism Biennial taking place in suburban Washington. Cantor blasted Howard Gutman, …More

The Obama administration is reaping a whirlwind of criticism in the wake of pointed remarks about Israel by several U.S. officials over three days. The U.S. ambassador to Belgium, Howard Gutman, caused an uproar when he suggested on Dec. 1 that hostility among European Arabs and Muslims toward Jews was rooted in anger over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and should be distinguished from traditional forms of anti-Semitism. Jewish groups condemned his remarks, which drew calls for his dismissal from Republican …More

President Barack Obama has rejected Republican demands that he fire the US ambassador to Belgium after he said that some anti-Semitism is rooted in the Middle East conflict. Ambassador Howard Gutman, the Jewish son of a Holocaust survivor, explained to a European Jewish Union conference the difference between “classic bigotry” and a new brand of anti-Semitism, which is linked to the conflict, and could be more easily resolved. GOP presidential frontrunners Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich headed the …More

Republican presidential candidates and those who oppose President Obama’s policies are clamoring for the dismissal of US Ambassador to Belgium Howard Gutman after his questionable remarks on anti-Semitism at a European Jewish Union conference. Gutman addressed the Jewish conference on anti-Semitism by making a distinction between traditional anti-Semitism and Arab and Muslim hatred for Jews, which he claims is tied to the conflict in the Middle East. "There is significant anger and resentment and, yes, …More