A leftist Israeli group dedicated to defeating the ruling conservative party in the Jewish state confirmed reports that it is receiving help from U.S. political operatives linked to President Barack Obama,
World Net Daily reported Monday.
The group, Victory 2015, also revealed that it is primarily funded by an American billionaire and a Mexican-born U.S. business executive, both of whom are strong supporters of the American president.
The latest development in the political fight in Israel comes as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is preparing to address a joint session of Congress next month in a visit to Washington strongly opposed by the White House. Netanyahu, invited by House Speaker John Boehner, is expected to urge the United States to increase economic sanctions on Iran over its suspected nuclear-weapons program.
Obama opposes stiffer sanctions while he and other world leaders are negotiating with Iran to try to prevent the theocratic regime from developing an atomic bomb, which would further destabilize the Middle East and pose a direct threat to Israel.
World Net Daily reported that the Israeli group, widely known as "V15," confirmed that it hired a U.S. political consulting firm headed by Jeremy Bird, a former top operative in Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.
Bird, founder of the firm, 270 Strategies, has proposed applying U.S.-styled politics to Israel’s March 17 parliamentary elections.
"Israelis don’t know who to run field [operations] as American, and that was the major contribution of Jeremy’s team," V15’s founder, Nimrod Dweck, told World Net Daily.
V15 is primarily financed by three wealthy supporters: billionaire S. Daniel Abraham, founder of the Slim Fast diet food line; entrepreneur Daniel Lubetzky, the Mexican-born son of a Holocaust survivor; and Alon Kastiel, a Tel Aviv businessman. All are opponents of Netanyahu’s.
In Washington, Sen. Ted Cruz has called on the State Department to explain a report over its involvement in the political intrigue in Israel. V15 is allied with another group, called OneVoice, which has reportedly received a U.S. grant.
The Texas Republican and possible 2016 presidential candidate is questioning whether OneVoice is misusing its State Department grant by engaging in politics.
Meanwhile,
leaders of Netanyahu’s Likud Party complained at a press conference Sunday that V15 and OneVoice are funded by "millions of dollars funneled from Europe, the U.S. . . . and international factors interested in bring down Prime Minister Netanyahu."
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