The leader of Norpac, a powerful pro-Israel political action committee based in New Jersey, has rejected a blogger’s assertion that the group “has a problem” with presidential contender Sen. Barack Obama, based on an email that Norpac sent out to its members.

Yesterday, Ben Smith of the Politico blog argued that Norpac had provided “another indicator that Obama has a problem with the pro-Israel groups.” Obama was not included in an email Norpac sent out instructing members to channel presidential donations through Norpac members involved in the Clinton, McCain, Giuliani, Romney, Brownback, and Edwards campaigns.

According to Choake, Obama was not included because there are currently no Norpac members actively involved in fundraising for the Obama campaign.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

“[We have] members who are active, or interested in being very active with [some of the presidential] campaigns, so [we wanted] to alert our membership to focus their donations to those members so that we’re effective,” Choake told the Forward. “The fact that Obama’s off the list has nothing to do with our policy towards Obama, just simply the fact that our membership is by and large very unfamiliar with him. He’s only been in the Senate for two years, [and] he’s a senator from Illinois, which is pretty far away from our core constituency, which is mostly in the Northeast.”

“If one of our members said, ‘You know what, I know this guy, I like him, I’m working with him,’ then we would say, ‘Anybody who’s interested in participating in the Obama campaign, please focus it through this particular member who’s on the finance committee.’ It’s just that simple.”

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$90 $180

$360

Other amount