No known history of fighting Jew-hatred

Published: 03/10/2014 at 9:32 PM

Ira Forman, the Obama administration’s special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism, has a long history of partisan Democratic politics, once even dedicating himself to fighting “the radical right.”

WND could not find anything notable in Forman’s professional history that would suggest an expertise in fighting anti-Semitism.

Forman was appointed to his administration position in May 2013, filling the role left vacant by the previous anti-Semitism czar, Hannah Rosenthal. WND previously reported Rosenthal served on the board of a controversial Israel-lobby group accused of working against the Jewish state, while her writings suggest Israel’s policies are to blame for anti-Semitism.

Meanwhile, an extensive Web search can find no comment from Forman on the situation in Ukraine, where leaders of the Jewish community have been raising concern amid multiple attacks against Jewish institutions.

From January 1996 through June 2010, Forman served as executive director of the National Jewish Democratic Council, a Democratic advocacy group.

When he assumed his position, he told the left-leaning Forward newspaper he was redefining the group’s mission to fighting “the radical right.”

“It is not the Democratic platform that has us worried,” Forman was quoted by the Forward in 1996 as saying to the committee formulating the official Democratic Party platform. “Rather, it is the Republican platform and the radicalization of the Republican Party,” he said, referencing what he claimed were efforts to cut back on social programs, introduce school prayer and ban abortion.

At the NJCC, Forman was a staunch supporter of the George Soros-funded MoveOn.org when the radical group faced accusations of anti-Semitism.

Forman previously served as a fellow at the Soros-funded Center for National Policy. In 1976 he was Ohio field director for Jimmy Carter.

In September 2011, Forman became the Jewish Outreach Director for Obama’s 2012 presidential campaign.

He reportedly helped to assemble the campaign’s controversial “Rabbis for Obama,” which purported to be 613 grassroots rabbis who supported the president for re-election.

The rabbi group faced criticism after the Obama campaign refused to sever ties with a radical rabbi on the list who has called for boycotts against Israeli products, dined with then-Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and was the first American rabbi to visit Tehran.

With additional research by Brenda J. Elliott.