WASHINGTON, DC (Press Release)– Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA) withdrew from Rabbi Shmuley Boteach’s roundtable discussion event “The Meaning of Never Again: Preventing a Nuclear Iran,” following a distasteful advertisement placed in the New York Times showing National Security Advisor Susan Rice and a pile of skulls.
The bottom of the advertisement invited the public to a “bipartisan” forum today in the Dirksen Senate Office Building which was to feature “a Nobel Laureate, a Senator, and a Congressman [Sherman].”
“Since 1998, I have taken advantage of every opportunity to urge the toughest sanctions on Iran, including nearly twenty presentations at AIPAC policy conferences,” said Congressman Sherman. “I cannot appear at a forum which was advertised using an unwarranted incendiary personal attack. I will be working with Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel, and others, to create appropriate forums to focus on the danger posed by Iran.”
“Nothing has done as much to unify the Jewish community, and nothing has done so much to bring the Jewish community in agreement with the Obama administration, as this ad,” said Congressman Sherman. “Everyone is unified in rejecting this abhorrent ad: J Street and AIPAC, the Obama Administration and Prime Minister Netanyahu, and the leading organizations in the Orthodox, Conservative and Reform Jewish communities all agree — this ad is harmful distraction from efforts to combat Iran’s nuclear program.”
“I have the utmost respect and admiration for Professor Wiesel, and his advocacy in remembering the Holocaust and supporting the state of Israel have been instrumental. Senator Cruz and I both share concerns about a nuclear Iran. I am saddened that this advertisement has preempted what could have been a productive conversation.”
*
Everyone United Opposing the Outrageous Ad
Netanyahu and Obama
Netanyahu’s Office: “We condemn these ads and oppose personal attacks of every kind.”
White House: A senior administration official “This ad is being widely met with the revulsion that it deserves.”
AIPAC and J Street
AIPAC: “Ad hominem attacks should have no place in our discourse.”
J Street: “This advertisement amounts to a scurrilous scapegoating.”
All Three Branches of Judaism
Union for Reform Judaism: “What did Ambassador Rice do to merit such opprobrium?”
Rabbinical Assembly of the Conservative Movement: “Today’s ad attacking National Security Advisor Susan Rice is beyond the pale.”
Orthodox Union: “Inappropriate ad hominem attack doesn’t advance discourse on key issue of Iran.”
Anti-Defamation League:
Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director: “There is no justification for this incendiary personal attack. The spurious and perverse association of criticism of Israel’s prime minister with ignoring genocide not only poisons the discourse on a vital global security issue, it trivializes the horrific nature of genocide and the memory of its victims. Neither the security of Israel, nor the debate on Iran, are served by this ad.”
*
Preceding provided by the Office of U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman