Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
News

Jim Moran Called Out By Jewish Members of Congress

Rep. Jim Moran, Democrat from Virginia, received a sharply-worded rebuke from 16 of his Jewish colleagues yesterday for laying the blame for the Iraq War at the feet of Aipac.

“The idea that the war in Iraq began because of the influence of Jewish Americans is factually incorrect and unfortunately fits the anti-Semitic stereotypes some have used historically against Jews,” wrote the Jewish pols.

Moran has come under fire for remarks in the latest issue of Tikkun magazine, in which he said that Aipac “pushed the war from the beginning.” The controversy is a milder redux of one in 2003, when Moran said that the U.S. wouldn’t be in Iraq “if it were not for the strong support of the Jewish community,” and was booted from a leadership position by Nancy Pelosi.

Given Moran’s history of loose-canon remarks, it isn’t too surprising that he hasn’t backed down (“I regret any efforts to misconstrue my position and longstanding support for Israel,” he told the Politico).

What is perhaps surprising is that there are a bunch of Jewish reps who aren’t on the letter.

For the signatories, see the jump:

Henry Waxman
Rahm Emanuel
Shelley Berkeley
Gary Ackerman
Barney Frank
Nita Lowey
Jan Schakowsky Sander Levin Howard Berman Eliot Engel Allyson Schwartz Ron Klein Jerry Nadler Tom Lantos Jane Harman Adam Schiff

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

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.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

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

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.