Angry Over Attack Ads, Obama Campaign Yanks Reps
Los Angeles — The presidential campaign of Senator Barack Obama is refusing to participate in debates with representatives of a Republican Jewish group that is behind an advertising blitz attacking the Democratic nominee.
In mid-October, the Obama campaign instructed its representatives not to participate in forums with representatives of the Republican Jewish Coalition. So far, Obama campaign representatives in California and Pennsylvania have canceled their appearances at previously scheduled debates in front of Jewish audiences.
Since early fall, the RJC has placed a series of paid advertisements in Jewish publications — including on the Web site of the Forward — that attack Obama on issues of Middle East policy and criticize individuals with whom the Illinois senator has associated. The ads present Obama as a threat to Israel’s security. Obama supporters contend that the ads are misleading, and Jewish Democrats have fiercely attacked the RJC over its ad campaign.
The RJC’s executive director, Matt Brooks, criticized the Obama campaign for its actions.
“If they had a problem with our ads, [then] a perfect forum to discuss what we’re saying — which we feel is well cited and sourced — is these kinds of forums and debates,” he said. “What it shows is
that they’re trying to run away from the facts, stifle debate and intimidate opposing points of view, and that’s totally undemocratic.”
Mel Levine, a former California congressman who serves as a Middle East policy adviser to Obama, pulled out of a planned debate with the RJC’s California director, Larry Greenfield, on October 19 at the Valley Cities Jewish Community Center in L.A.’s San Fernando Valley. That debate went on, since Levine recruited University of California, Los Angeles law professor David Kaye, who has no official role in the Obama campaign, to be his replacement.
The Obama campaign has been making efforts to replace its campaign representatives with supporters who can address the Jewish community but are not officially tied to the campaign.
An organizer of the Valley Cities JCC debate, Haim Linder, said that he was initially “not pleased” that Levine dropped out of the debate on such short notice. But Linder, the first vice-president of the Council of Israeli Community — an L.A.-area Israeli group — said that in the end it worked out, since there would be a replacement.
Levine said he will continue engaging in debates on Middle East issues with McCain surrogates — as he did October 16 in Las Vegas with Senator Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican — but not with representatives of the RJC.
“The Republican Jewish Coalition has proven to be consistently irresponsible and dishonest throughout this campaign,” said Levine, who had previously published an opinion article in the Forward attacking the RJC over its ad campaign. “And we’re not going to get on the same platform with them any longer and do anything to elevate their stature.”
In Pennsylvania, state representative Josh Shapiro canceled his appearance at a debate scheduled for October 26 at Temple Sinai in Dresher, Pa. He would have faced off against Scott Feigelstein, the regional director of the RJC in Pennsylvania.
Feigelstein blasted Shapiro’s decision.
“It’s not in concert with the First Amendment and it’s offensive,” Feigelstein said. “I am planning on showing up regardless.”
Shapiro could not be reached for comment.
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.
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. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Most Popular
- 1
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- 2
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 3
Culture How two Jewish names — Kohen and Mira — are dividing red and blue states
- 4
Opinion Mike Huckabee said there’s ‘no such thing as a Palestinian.’ It’s worth thinking about what that means
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward The NCAA men’s Final Four has 3 Jewish coaches
-
Fast Forward Yarden Bibas says ‘I am here because of Trump’ and pleads with him to stop the Gaza war
-
Fast Forward Trump’s plan to enlist Elon Musk began at Lubavitcher Rebbe’s grave
-
Film & TV In this Jewish family, everybody needs therapy — especially the therapists themselves
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
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 comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag 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.