It’s CUFI and Israel Project vs J Street

White House receives more than 20,000 e-mails calling for it to end crisis with Israel.

By HILARY LEILA KRIEGER IN WASHINGTON
obama pointing 311 (photo credit: AP)
obama pointing 311
(photo credit: AP)
WASHINGTON – The White House received more than 20,000 e-mails calling for it to end the crisis with Israel in the 24 hours after Christian United for Israel urged its activists to send such messages, according to the organization.
“The incredible response to our action alert is a clear indication that Christian Zionists are firmly committed to a strong US-Israel relationship,” said Pastor John Hagee, founder and chairman of CUFI.
The CUFI campaign asked the Obama administration to return to “a more productive approach” after it harshly criticized Israeli plans to build more Jewish homes in east Jerusalem while US Vice President Joe Biden was on a visit to Israel, sparking some of the most serious tensions between the countries in years.
The initiative came the day after a similar call made by The Israel Project, with more than 18,000 supporters sending letters to American leaders and the media within one day of receiving an action alert.
The TIP letter campaign, which sends the message that “a strong US-Israel relationship is key to America’s security, values and interests,” is being followed with the launch of an ad campaign to raise awareness about the threat of a nuclear Iran. The ads are due to run hundreds of times on CNN, FOX News, MSNBC and other leading networks.
Earlier in the week, J Street also delivered a petition with over 18,000 signatures to White House during a leadership summit in Washington, providing a different take on the current US-Israel row.
The organization described the petition as showing that “large numbers of pro-Israel, pro-peace Americans agree with the vice president when he says ‘sometimes only a friend can deliver the hardest truth,’ and urging the administration to turn this crisis into an opportunity for progress on two states,” for Israelis and Palestinians.
Biden made the comment after the housing controversy erupted.
On Monday, J Street Executive Director Jeremy Ben-Ami released a statement saying, “The Obama administration’s reaction to the treatment of the vice president last week and to the timing and substance of the Israeli government’s announcement was both understandable and appropriate.”