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.
The growing sentiment within the organized Jewish community was unmistakable. Amid recent fears of a crisis in relations between Washington and Jerusalem, key players were calling on the community to take off its gloves. Yet when the umbrella group responsible for addressing the administration on behalf of American Jewry finally spoke, it was with measured…
Apparently the criticism of National Security Advisor James L. Jones’ Jewish joke reached the White House. On Monday General Jones issued a short statement clarifying his remarks and providing a written apology, provided to reporters by the White House press office: I wish that I had not made this off the cuff joke at the…
National Security Adviser James L. Jones doesn’t necessarily come across as the amusing guy at policy events. Rather, the veteran general is known for his measured and careful wording, and his somewhat monotonic delivery. Maybe that is why some were surprised when Jones decided to open his remarks at the 25-year anniversary gala of the…
Responding to concerns of the Jewish community over pressuring Israel’s government, President Obama has written a letter to Jewish leaders, assuring them that special relations between the United States and Israel will not change. Obama addressed the letter to Alan Solow, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and a personal…
U.S. Army general David Petraeus might have shocked some pro-Israel activists when he openly spelled out the difficulties caused to American military efforts by the lack of progress in the Middle East, but fellow generals were not taken by surprise. “CENTCOM commanders had always said this was the No. 1 issue that affects everything that…
In a tug-of-war over the question of how the Obama administration’s approach toward Israel is affecting the views of American Jews, Jewish Democrats and Republicans are each touting data seeming to point in opposite directions. Republicans say that polling shows Jews are turning their backs on President Obama and the Democrats, while Democrats argue that…
When President Obama dropped in on a meeting of his national security adviser in March, he found him deep in discussion with a number of advisers from past administrations on one of the most sensitive of topics on the ever-sensitive Middle East: whether the United States should at some point lay out its own plan…
The informal boycott imposed by Israel’s ambassador to Washington on the dovish lobby J Street ended Thursday with a meeting between Ambassador Michael Oren and Jeremy Ben-Ami, J Street’s founder and president. Prior to Thursday’s meeting, the Israeli embassy in Washington maintained only low-level contacts with the dovish lobby and ambassador Oren declined an invitation…
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