The World Jewish Congress, headed by billionaire philanthropist Ronald Lauder, took out ads in the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post today to publish a blistering letter criticizing the Obama administration’s Israel policy. You can read it here, but I’ve pasted an excerpt below so you can get the gist:

Mr. President, we are concerned about the dramatic deterioration of diplomatic relations between the United States and Israel.

The Israeli housing bureaucracy made a poorly timed announcement and your Administration branded it an “insult.” This diplomatic faux pas was over the fourth stage of a seven stage planning permission process – a plan to build homes years from now in a Jewish area of Jerusalem that under any peace agreement would remain an integral part of Israel.

Our concern grows to alarm as we consider some disturbing questions. Why does the thrust of this Administration’s Middle East rhetoric seem to blame Israel for the lack of movement on peace talks? After all, it is the Palestinians, not Israel, who refuse to negotiate.

But the most surprising thing about the letter comes buried in the last paragraph of this New York Times write-up:

Mr. Lauder, who said the letter was scheduled to be published Thursday as an advertisement in The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, said he discussed the letter with Mr. Netanyahu and received his support before taking out the ad.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Netanyahu-approved-of-todays-blistering-letter-90954994.html