Nathan Guttman, staff writer, was the Forward’s Washington bureau chief. He joined the staff in 2006 after serving for five years as Washington correspondent for the Israeli dailies Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post. In Israel, he was the features editor for Ha’aretz and chief editor of Channel 1 TV evening news. He was born in Canada and grew up in Israel. He is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Last minute attempts by both the Obama administration and the Israeli government accelerated Monday to take the edge off of a vocal and at times ugly weeks-long dispute focused on the speech Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will give to Congress Tuesday morning. In the run-up to his much anticipated address, Netanyahu offered the administration and…
Bipartisanship was the name of the game as American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s annual conference opened in Washington on Sunday, but a bitter feud over Benjamin Netanyahu’s planned speech to Congress threatened to strip bare any pretense of harmony. As the Israel lobby kicked off its meeting, Netanyahu jetted into town after proclaiming that he…
Regulars at the annual parley of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee are used to hearing speakers warn that “critical times” face supporters of Israel. Mostly, this is no more than a standard injection of some alarmism to jolt members into action. This year the term is amply justified. And the catalyst is not some…
Jerry Goldman, a Jewish attorney from Philadelphia who represents the families of men and women killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks, never expected to meet with a top Al Qaeda terrorist convicted in connection with that attack, and at the terrorist’s own request. But that’s what happened when Goldman met Zacarias Moussaoui, known as…
In fewer than 140 characters, U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel of New York summed up the feelings of many African-American lawmakers toward Israel’s leader these days. “Bibi:” the 23-term representative tweeted, “If you have a problem with our POTUS’s foreign policy meet me at AIPAC but not on the House floor.” Rangel, a frequent attendee of…
In a reflection of the increasing role the U.S. Department of the Treasury is playing in clandestine operations, America’s “sanctions guru” was sworn in on February 9 as the country’s second-in-command spymaster. David Cohen, whose appointment as deputy director of the CIA was announced in January, will be the highest-ranking Jew now in the spy…
The raging dispute between Benjamin Netanyahu and the White House over the Israeli prime minister’s planned speech to Congress has badly damaged relations between the two countries and destroyed any semblance of trust between the leaders of two of the closest allies on earth. But the biggest casualties may be the normally omnipotent pro-Israel lobby…
Conservative supporters of Benjamin Netanyahu are now claiming President Obama was not blindsided by the controversial speech to Congress because the Israeli premier’s office only confirmed the event after the White House was informed. Right-wing backers of Netanyahu say the timing of the official announcement — highlighted by a correction in a New York Times…
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