Republicans say Obama’s former aid, who’s working for Likud’s opposition, reflects “White House hypocrisy”, noting how Obama is more than “quietly rooting” for PM Netanyahu’s defeat in the upcoming Israeli election.
A former adviser to U.S. President Barack Obama is currently working to unseat Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a New York Times headline suggested this weekend. The accompanying article detailed the efforts of Jeremy Bird, the architect of the Victory 2015 movement, to replace the existing Israeli leadership.
Bird is a founding partner of the political consulting firm 270 Strategies. In 2012, Bird served as Obama’s national field adviser. He declined to be interviewed for the New York Times article, but did remark through a spokesman that V15 and its partners had asked him and his firm “to share best practices in organizing so they can maximize their impact both online and on the ground.”
The spokesman added that “V15’s efforts are already paying off as they have reached out to more than 200,000 targeted voters, both in person and on the phone, about the need for change in Israel.”
In the article, Republicans pointed an accusatory finger at Obama, saying that he was “playing politics” and cited Bird’s efforts as “proof that the president is quietly rooting for the defeat of his Israeli counterpart.”
Matthew Brooks, the head of the Republican Jewish Coalition, argued that Bird’s efforts in Israel “reflect the hypocrisy of this White House, which wants to stand on the notion that they’re not playing politics when in fact their fingerprints are all over this.”
Another point made in the article was that Bird’s activities in Israel began in November 2013, when he began advising another group — OneVoice — in its efforts to advance a solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He then signed on to collaborate with V15 after Netanyahu announced early elections a year later. Last month, the Israeli branch of OneVoice partnered up with V15 “to mobilize voters.”
View original Israel Today publication at: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=23833