AIPAC rebuked PM’s far-right merger for damaging bipartisan ties — official

AIPAC’s statement chiding the extremist Otzma Yehudit party can be seen as a rebuke of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for causing damage to bipartisan support for Israel, a former Jerusalem-based official of the pro-Israel lobby says.

“This has been growing for a long time, because Netanyahu over the past years has really been detrimental to AIPAC’s entire concept of bipartisan politics in the United States. He has been hurting that for a long time,” David Kreizelman, a former AIPAC foreign policy associate, tells The Times of Israel.

“This has created a situation where there’s a direct conflict with anything the community has to say about anti-Semitism and racism in Israel,” Kreizelman says. “He sort of overstepped the line now. It’s a serious problem.”

AIPAC “very rarely” comments on Israeli politics, Kreizelman adds. That’s why the group’s tweet on Saturday — which called Otzma a “racist and reprehensible party” though it did not mention Netanyahu, who has been active in promoting a deal that could help the party enter the Knesset — was such a big deal.

“It’s pretty major. It’s a very strong statement,” he says.

— Raphael Ahren