Kamala picks official who urged sanctions against Israel as liaison to Jewish community

Vice President Kamala Harris recently appointed left-wing negotiator Ilan Goldenberg (47) as her new liaison to the Jewish community, sources connected with the matter told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Despite being born in Israel, Goldenberg provided significant assistance in sanctioning the Jewish state to the Biden-Harris administration, which he joined in 2021.

It should be noted that Goldenberg, who was born in Israel but grew up in New Jersey, renounced his Israeli citizenship in order to work during the Obama administration on "the Iran file at the Pentagon."

Goldenberg also served as an advisor to Vice President Harris on Middle East issues in 2023 and was previously a strong critic of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Palestinian leadership.

Also, during Donald Trump's presidency, he took aim at the administration's policy toward Israel. In 2021, he argued that the United States should not consider Jerusalem as the Israeli capital, against Trump's decision to move the American embassy to that city and against the Middle East peace plan presented by the then-president of the United States.

Goldenberg, a Middle East expert who also played a key role in the unsuccessful peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians in 2013 and the nuclear deal with Iran in 2015, helped lead efforts for the U.S. government to pursue and sanction Israelis in the context of the war against Hamas and other terrorist organizations in Gaza.

In an article published in Tablet, Michael Doran noted that, in an unprecedented move, the Biden-Harris administration established a team for the purpose of imposing sanctions on Israelis, which, the international analyst stressed, is "unconstitutional."

Doran explained that the effort is led by the International Economics Directorate at the National Security Council and that Ilan Goldenberg, who until April worked for Harris and has now moved to the Strategic Planning Directorate there, has a very important role. He added that the Office of Economic Sanctions Policy is leading the efforts at the State Department and that it is working in collaboration with the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control to prepare evidence.

According to Doran, the "evidence" is provided by organizations hostile to Israel, such as Democracy for the Arab World Now, among others.

Will a Kamala Harris government be hostile toward Israel?

News portal Breitbart indicated that sanctions are often directed against ordinary protest activities and have sometimes targeted the wrong people. It added that they are currently the subject of a lawsuit for alleged violations of the First Amendment.

Breitbart concluded that Goldenberg's election suggests that Kamala Harris will take a hostile approach toward Israel and its government, and that the Jews who support Israel (the vast majority) will not be represented in her administration.