WASHINGTON — A nonpartisan grassroots group in Israel has come under fire from conservative Jews — in both Israel and in the U.S. — for using American funds and expertise in its efforts to unseat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
But the group, V15, is undeterred by the controversy, and is pushing forward with a social justice-focused campaign that aims to replace the coalition government currently led by Netanyahu’s Likud party.
V15’s corps of enthusiastic millennial organizers espouse Obama-style concepts like “hope” and “change” to argue that successive Netanyahu-led coalitions have only resulted in despair and an inability to confront the country’s biggest problems. Ahead of the March 17 elections, the group is recruiting thousands of volunteers to boost turnout among left-leaning Israelis.
V15 — the “V” stands for “victory” — drew criticism recently when it hired Jeremy Bird, President Barack Obama’s former national field director. Morton Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, even linked Bird’s hiring to the dispute between Netanyahu and the Obama administration over the Israeli leader’s planned visit to the United States.
“It is simply hypocrisy and interference in Israel’s elections for President Obama to say that he will not meet with the Israeli Prime Minister because Israeli elections are too close, while his closest electoral advisers suddenly appear in Israel for the sole purpose of leading a campaign to unseat the Israeli Prime Minister,” Klein said in a statement in January.
–
Barak suggested that V15’s “negative get-out-the-vote campaign” against Netanyahu could flounder, and that, ironically, the group’s messaging resembles what Netanyahu has said in past campaigns.
“The right-of-center voters are the ones that always respond to the doom and gloom,” he said. “Netanyahu always says, ‘I’m the only one who can save Israel, and save you, and if you vote for someone else, we’re going to die.’”
And even if voters are disappointed by Netanyahu’s leadership, Barak said, Israeli’s numerous other political parties may not necessarily project convincing prime-ministerial bona fides.
“At the end of the day, it’s nice to talk about an alternative, but you’ve got to say something,” Barak said. “They’re saying, ‘Let’s vote for change,’ but there’s no message. Israelis may ask, ‘Change for what? What are we getting?’”
