A close battle for Pennsylvania’s open Senate seat is quickly turning into a proxy war between self-described pro-Israel forces on the left and right.
The immediate fight is over the pro-Israel credentials of Rep. Joe Sestak, who knocked off the incumbent Arlen Specter in the Democratic primary and is now facing Republican Pat Toomey, a former congressman.
The Emergency Committee for Israel, a group recently founded by neoconservatives and evangelical Christians, released a TV ad in the Philadelphia market last week attacking Sestak and questioning whether he understands “Israel is America’s ally.” J Street countered this week with an ad defending Sestak and urging viewers to tell him to “keep fighting for peace and security in the Middle East.”
Neither Sestak nor Toomey is Jewish.
For J Street, the campaign is turning into a test of whether the organization, which backs United States pressure on Israel and the Palestinians in pursuit of a two-state solution, can break through and insulate candidates from attacks launched by centrist and right-wing segments of the pro-Israel community.
Meanwhile, the Emergency Committee for Israel sees the race as a first step in convincing Jewish voters to break with President Barack Obama’s Middle East policy and candidates who support it.
The organization — dubbed the “pro-Israel wing of the pro-Israel community” by neoconservative scion William Kristol — is clearly primed to take shots at candidates who insist they are pro-Israel even though they support Obama when he pressures Israel.
Already the race is being closely watched throughout the country.
Until now, a number of Congress members with known dovish tendencies have declined J Street’s support for fear of alienating AIPAC and its backers. One prominent example is Rep. Adam Schiff (D-L.A. County), a Jewish lawmaker who took J Street’s money in 2008 but is not on its roster of 61 endorsees this year.
Jeremy Ben-Ami, J Street’s president, acknowledged that the Pennsylvania race is a test for his group.
“There’s no question that this race is a very important test of what kind of support J Street and its supporters can deliver,” he said. “We will show a substantial amount of money can be raised from our political action committee, and that a substantial amount of money can be raised for a candidate that opposes the right wing on these issues.”
Donors thus far have dedicated $100,000 to Sestak’s race through the J Street PAC — a hefty chunk of the $650,000 the organization has raised this cycle.
In neck-and-neck races such as this one, a lot can turn an election — including Israel issues. In 1992, Specter was a Republican senator in a GOP-unfriendly year when he came from behind to defeat challenger Lynn Yeakel. Among the reasons for Specter’s rally: Yeakel refused to criticize her church for hosting speakers critical of Israel.
In an interview in the New York Jewish Week, Sestak was called “a perfect example of an elected official running for higher office who uses these rote, throwaway phrases about being pro-Israel, but who has developed a pretty consistent record of associating with organizations and individuals who are anything but.” The statement was made by Gary Bauer, an evangelical Christian leader who ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 1999.
Gary Erlbaum, a Philadelphia-area real estate developer who strongly backed Specter in the primary, thinks Sestak, 58, could be vulnerable in a state with an estimated 300,000 Jews (about 2.3 percent of the population).
“I have dear friends I work with in the Jewish community every day who are strongly to the left, strongly identified with the Democratic Party — they are very much opposed to Sestak,” said Erlbaum, who is not part of the Emergency Committee for Israel. “While they might not get behind Toomey, they’re more likely to take a pass.”
In the Emergency Committee ad, Sestak is depicted in black and white, appearing aged and pinched. These photos are contrasted with color photos of Hamas militants while the announcer scores Sestak’s appearance at a fundraiser for the Council on American Islamic Relations in 2007.
The ad notes that the FBI called the group a “front group for Hamas” — but the law enforcement agency did not make that determination until 2009. In 2007, some Jewish activists urged Sestak not to participate, but at the time the FBI had good relations with CAIR and used it for outreach to the Muslim community.
The ad also notes that Sestak signed onto a J Street–backed letter to Obama asking him to pressure Israel to open crossings to the Gaza Strip.
In response to the ad, Sestak told the Jewish Exponent of Philadelphia that during joint military exercises with Israel, when he was a Navy admiral, he had been prepared to “lay my life on the line” for Israel had it been attacked.
Sestak predicted that Jewish voters would dismiss the ad as the effort of a few “right-wing ideologues.”
On the other side, the J Street ad highlights Sestak’s career as an admiral, noting that he led an exercise in 2003 that integrated the U.S. and Israeli radar systems. The ad also notes that Sestak consistently voted for defense assistance to Israel.
Toomey, 48, who served in the House from 1999 to 2005, voted against the overall foreign aid package from 2001 to 2003, joining a caucus of conservative Republicans who objected to assistance included for overseas groups that provide abortions.
“Isn’t aid the litmus test of support for Israel in Congress?” Ben-Ami said in support of Sestak.
Erlbaum said Toomey is otherwise seen as having a solid pro-Israel record. He strongly defended Israel’s actions in the flotilla incident, saying in a statement that “Israel has a legitimate right to self-defense … I refuse to join the ‘blame Israel first’ crowd.”