New Harris campaign Jewish liaison has anti-Israel history

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign reportedly named Ilan Goldenberg as the campaign’s liaison to the Jewish community earlier this week.

Goldenberg, who was born in Israel, previously worked at the White House’s National Security Council, the Pentagon, the U.S. State Department and the Center for a New American Security.

“Throughout his professional career, both in and out of government, he has served as a public defender of the Democratic Party’s criticisms of Israel, a critic of the GOP’s efforts to strengthen ties with the Jewish state and a proponent of deepening diplomatic relations with Iran,” The Washington Free Beacon reported.

“Before joining the Biden administration in 2021, Goldenberg participated in a briefing organized by the anti-Israel group J Street in which he described President Joe Biden’s historically pro-Israel view as ‘old school’ and said the United States must ‘publicly criticize the Israelis’ in order to pressure them to accept a ceasefire,” the Free Beacon added.

David Milstein, who advised Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign and worked for David Friedman, then U.S. ambassador to Israel, wrote that Goldenberg supported President Barack Obama’s abstention on an anti-Israel U.N. Security Council resolution, opposed U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and opposed U.S. recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

Goldenberg also supported the Iran nuclear deal, opposed the Taylor Force Act (which halts U.S. support until the Palestinian Authority stops paying terrorists) and called for funding to be reinstated for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, among other anti-Israel positions, according to Milstein.

“A ‘Jewish Liaison’ who worked with Biden and Harris to sanction Israelis,” wrote Friedman, the former U.S. ambassador. " That’s right, Israelis—not Hamas, not UNRWA, not Iran, not the Houthis.”

“With friends like these ... ,” Friedman added.

Others, including Jeremy Ben-Ami, the J Street president, praised Harris’s decision to bring Goldenberg on.

“Ilan Goldenberg is one of the most respected, thoughtful people in Washington working with the Jewish community and on Israel-Palestine,” Ben-Ami wrote. “What a great pick by the Harris-Walz campaign for this sensitive assignment.”

Hadar Susskind, president and CEO of Americans for Peace Now, wished Goldenberg a mazal tov and said “I’m glad to know that there is someone advising the campaign that has not only your knowledge and experience, but also empathy and sense of justice. Great choice.”