US House Democratic leaders tap pro-Israel lawmaker for top Mideast policy post

Democratic leaders in the US House of Representatives appointed one of the party’s most ardent supporters of Israel to a key foreign policy post, in a move that angered progressives who argue he is out of step with where the party is trending on the issue.

US Representative Gregory Meeks, who serves as ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, announced on Tuesday that Representative Jared Moskowitz would serve as the ranking member of the Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee.

Meeks also named two additional pro-Israel Democrats to the larger Foreign Affairs Committee: Representatives Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Wesley Ball, alongside progressive Representative Mark Pocan.

As ranking member, Moskowitz will have some control over Middle East policy-related legislation coming out of the House, though the influence that Congress has over foreign policy has significantly shrunk under both Democratic and Republican administrations.

Moskowitz will also be positioned to chair the subcommittee if Democrats win back the House in the November midterms. However, party leadership could choose to go another route.

In accepting the appointment, Moskowitz tweeted that he would work “to strengthen America’s relationships with Israel and our Gulf allies, expand regional peace, advance American diplomacy and ensure our foreign policy is grounded in strength, security and reality.”

The development however was quickly panned by progressives in the party.

“Don’t put Israel hawks out of touch with our voters in charge of our Middle East policy,” Representative Ro Khanna tweeted.

Former US president Barack Obama’s senior aide Ben Rhodes called Moskowitz’s appointment “a giant fuck you from Democratic leadership to Democratic voters.”

“It seems absolutely crazy that you’re putting a guy in charge who backed Trump’s Iran war and just completely, unequivocally backed Israel’s obliteration of Gaza,” said Matt Duss, a former foreign policy adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders who is now executive vice president of the Center for International Policy progressive think tank.

“Democratic voters – and a lot of Democrats in Congress – really want to do real oversight of Iran and Gaza, and with Moskowitz as chair they’d need to fight not only Republicans but their own leadership,” he added.

But some in the party defended the decision, although doing so more quietly.

A Democratic Congressional aide told The Times of Israel that the aim of the appointment was to assist Moskowitz ahead of a tough November election in a district that was recently redrawn in favor of Republicans.

The aide also noted that Moskowitz just defeated an avowed anti-Zionist in the Democratic primary for his Florida House seat and that the party still has a constituency that is not antagonistic toward Israel.

“Are Democrats trying to tell other Democrats that supporters of the US-Israeli relationship aren’t welcome in leadership positions — and who is next?” Representative Josh Gottheimer told the New York Times. “Is this a new litmus test for committee chairs? Moskowitz is beyond qualified.”

The Democratic Majority for Israel also pushed back against the criticism, noting in response to the post from Rhodes that Moskowitz handily won his recent primary against an anti-Israel candidate.

A May poll from The New York Times and the Siena Research Institute found that 74 percent of Democratic voters oppose the US providing aid to Israel.

Sixty percent of respondents said they sympathized more with the Palestinians, while only 15% sympathized more with Israel.

The survey also found that 48% of Democrats said the party has been “too supportive of Israel,” while eight percent said the party was not supportive enough, and 34% said US backing was “about right.”