Progressive, Jewish, and Anti-Zionist Challenger to Israel Agent Jane Harman in CA Congress Race

http://www.forward.com/articles/128512/

In recent years, Harman was in the spotlight, mainly because of controversy. First, she was passed over by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for chairmanship of the House Intelligence Committee, an act that exposed the deep ideological and personal rift between the two California lawmakers. Later it was revealed that Harman was under FBI investigation after being caught on a wiretap, speaking to a person identified as an “Israeli agent.” In the conversation, Harman allegedly promised to intervene with the Justice Department and plead for leniency for two former employees of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. In return, the person was reportedly expected to lobby Pelosi in favor of appointing Harman to head the intelligence panel. Harman has denied any involvement in such a quid pro quo deal.

But while the AIPAC affair did not become a major issue in her recent re-election campaign, the broader question of her support for Israel emerged as a key theme. Although foreign policy issues rarely play a role in House primary races, and despite the fact that the district has only an estimated 44,000 Jewish residents, each woman vying for the seat has spent time and money blasting her rival’s views on Israel. Winograd has accused her rival of making Israel a central issue in order to “raise money and drive a wedge among voters.” But according to Harvey Englander, a Harman re-election campaign consultant, “It is Miss Winograd who continues relentlessly to attack Congresswoman Harman’s support for Israel.”

In a letter sent last January to major Democratic donors on behalf of Harman, Rep. Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and dean of the unofficial congressional Jewish caucus, blasted Winograd for saying in a speech that she would like to see a binational state in Israel.

“In Marcy Winograd’s foreign policy, Israel would cease to exist. In Marcy Winograd’s vision, Jews would be at the mercy of those who do not respect democracy or human rights,” he wrote. “Jane’s victory will represent a clear repudiation of these views.”

“Waxman’s letter was meant to head off Jewish donors” from giving to Winograd’s campaign, Sonenshein said.

The two candidates also sparred over Iran in early May, after Winograd attacked Harman as “reckless” for saying in a television interview that she favored keeping the military option on the table when dealing with Iran. The Harman campaign responded with its own attack, citing Winograd’s criticism of the administration’s approach to Iran in an interview she gave to the Tehran Times.

Winograd, a high school teacher, labor activist and co-founder of the Los Angeles chapter of Progressive Democrats of America, first challenged Harman in 2006; at that time, she came in a strong second, with 40% of the votes in the Democratic primary.

Born to a Jewish family in West Los Angeles, Winograd grew up in a “strong Zionist” home, and although, she said, her family was not “particularly religious,” she attended a Jewish camp, sang at her brother’s bar mitzvah and visited Israel when she was a young adult.

“For years I avoided wrestling with the issue of Israel,” she said in a May 28 interview with the Forward. But after the Second Lebanon War, she added the Israeli issue to her agenda and organized a demonstration outside the Israeli consulate.

“Frankly, I’m not a Zionist,” Winograd said, explaining her support for a one-state solution in which Jewish Israelis and Palestinian Arabs will share the country. “I think we should all be equal — one voice, one vote.”