Biden on Aipac

It is quite a swipe at the organized Jewish community that the Jerusalem Post is reporting Senator Biden has launched against the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. "I take a backseat to no one — including Aipac — when it comes to supporting Israel," the Post quotes the Delaware Democrat just chosen as Senator Obama's running mate as saying. "They don't speak for the entire Jewish community. There are other organizations that are just as strong and consequential," he said. "Aipac does not speak for the State of Israel."

Well, it is true that Aipac does not speak for the state of Israel; it is not a foreign agent. But Aipac is the formal voice of the pro-Israel lobby in America, and through its governance structure, represents the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations that is the umbrella group for the Jewish community in this country. Aipac has not publicly criticized Mr. Biden, though it did take different stances than he did on some Iran-related legislation. Aipac has described Mr. Biden as pro-Israel, a description whose accuracy we do not dispute.

If Mr. Biden, though, really thinks there are other American Jewish organizations that are as strong or as consequential as Aipac when it comes to the America-Israel relationship it sure will be illuminating to see him name them. If he has in mind dovish groups such as the Israel Policy Forum or the J Street Project, Mr. Biden is only going to hurt the Obama ticket with that portion of the Jewish vote that is actually up for grabs in this election.

The Biden comment is eerily reminiscent of the anti-Israel polemicists Professors Walt and Mearsheimer, who wrote, "Many of the key organisations in the Lobby, such as the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organisations, are run by hardliners who generally support the Likud Party's expansionist policies, including its hostility to the Oslo peace process. The bulk of US Jewry, meanwhile, is more inclined to make concessions to the Palestinians."

When the Sun reported back in September 2007 that an Obama campaign advertisement was appearing on the Amazon.com page of Messrs. Walt and Mearsheimer's book, the campaign pulled it. "The ad has been removed from the site because the views of the book do not reflect the views of Senator Obama on the U.S.-Israel relationship," an Obama spokeswoman, Jennifer Psaki, told us then. It was the right move at the time. It is going to be more difficult, but just as appropriate, for Mr. Obama to distance himself from Mr. Biden's reported comments.