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.
A Tight Squeeze It’s one of the oldest tricks in the book. When planning an event, always make sure the room is just big enough or, even better, a little too small for the number of people you are expecting. That way, the room will always be full and you can avoid any embarrassing bald…
The chase is over, and United Jewish Communities is the winner. Ever since he took office in January, major Jewish groups have been trying to land President Obama as a speaker at their annual conferences. So far, the furthest Jewish groups could reach in the administration were Vice President Joe Biden and the National Security…
Democrats need you to pray for health care reform. Well, maybe not pray. But what Senate Democrats are looking for is to hear more from religious groups in support of efforts to fix the health-care system. This was the message Senate Democrats had Wednesday at a press briefing with representatives of media outlets serving faith…
New Jersey and Virginia traditionally are the only states to vote for governor in the year after a presidential election, and so they are considered a referendum of sorts for a new administration in Washington. That’s one reason Democrats are so concerned this year about mobilizing usually reliable Jewish voters in these close races. But…
Florida Democrat Robert Wexler’s recent decision to leave Congress and join a Washington policy center dealing with Middle East peace left many in this status-crazed city baffled. It is not every day that a successful politician chooses to resign midterm. An aftershock was also felt in the smaller think-tank community, where the entry of a…
The Muslim World League, an organization emerging as a ubiquitous presence on the interfaith conference circuit, boasts close ties to the Saudi monarchy and produces a magazine that has published antisemitic screeds. That dual identity has put Jewish groups in a bind in deciding how to relate to the group and the widely attended, high-profile…
A prominent Jewish lawmaker representing one of the nation’s most highly populated Jewish districts surprised his constituents and his colleagues by announcing that he is leaving Congress to head a think tank that focuses on promoting Middle East peace. Florida Democrat Robert Wexler, 48, announced on October 14 that he would be leaving office in…
In a move seen as a landmark by Jewish activists on the right, a leading public university has referred a complaint about one of its student organizations to federal authorities, seeking an investigation of allegations of support for a terrorist group. The University of California, Irvine, asked the FBI to investigate claims that funds raised…
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