Israeli generals say Obama camp duped them

Several senior former Israeli defense officials have blasted a US Jewish organization linked to Barack Obama for distributing a short video in which they seemingly urge Americans to vote for the Democratic presidential candidate.

Commissioned by the Jewish Council for Education & Research (JCER), which has made itself part of the Obama campaign, the video is titled "Israel's Generals Speak," and features some of the Jewish state's top military minds purportedly backing Obama's planned approach to the region.

But on Monday, one of those generals, former IDF Deputy Chief of Staff Uzi Dayan told Voice of Israel radio that he had been deceived.

Dayan said that the filmmakers had told him they were making a documentary on what the next US president will have to deal with in the Middle East. Dayan answered their questions fully, only to be surprised when a mere five seconds of what he said appeared in the clip in a way that supports Obama's intention to hold talks with the current Iranian leadership.

Dayan in fact firmly objects to direct, unconditional talks with Iran's leadership.

Former Mossad chief Ephraim Halevy also appeared in the video, and also said that his words were taken grossly out of context.

The clip appears to show Halevy also backing Obama's positions vis-a-vis Iran and other regional threats to Israel, but the former spymaster said that similar remarks praising John McCain and his policies were conspicuously absent.

Halevy declined to answer when the filmmakers asked him who he supported for president, insisting that it was not the place of Israelis to advise Americans on whom they should vote for.

Both Dayan and Halevy have demanded that the JCER remove their segments from the campaign video.

Other Israeli generals appearing in the clip who hold more left-leaning views said they too were deceived by the filmmakers, but did not voice any opposition to it being used as part of Obama's campaign.

JCER
527 GROUP

The co-Executive Directors of JCER are Mik Moore and Ari Wallach.

Mik has fourteen years of experience working in the often overlapping worlds of communications, politics, and the Jewish community. He is currently on leave from Jewish Funds for Justice, where he serves as Chief Communications Officer. Mik serves on the board of The Jewish Week and is board chair of the Jewish Student Press Service. He studied at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, spent a year in Israel with the Zionist youth movement Young Judaea, and holds a B.A. from Vassar College and a J.D. from Georgetown Law.

Ari has been working at the intersection of business, politics and communications for over 12 years. He is currently on leave from the consulting firm of studioBenZion (sBZ) and was formerly VP of Corporate Development at Seed Media Group, where he was responsible for strategic alliances and business development. He serves on the board of the American Jewish Committee’s ACCESS program and has been a past participant of the Hillel Spitzer Forum, The Bronfman Reboot initiative and The Jewish Week’s “The Conversation.” He was born in Guadalajara, Mexico and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area by the artist Susan Wallach and the late Raul Wallach.

Ari’s father, a Polish-born partisan with the Jewish underground in W.W. II, was hailed by Sen. Harry Reid as “a national treasure” upon his passing. He holds a B.A. from the University Of California, Berkeley.

Sara Kaplan-Levenson - National Outreach Coordinator
Sara has been working in the fields of health, mental health and health-related research for several years. Her current interests focus on the intersection of health, media, and policy. She holds a B.A. in Psychology from Wesleyan University and is pursuing a dual Masters in Public Health and Social Work from Columbia University.

-—http://www.jcer.info/about_us

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