Kamala Harris’ New ‘Jewish Liaison’ Led Biden’s Effort to Sanction Israelis

Vice President Kamala Harris has named Ilan Goldenberg, who spearheaded the Biden administration’s sanctions against Israel, as its new liaison to the Jewish community Monday.

Michael Doran documented in Tablet magazine on Sunday how Goldenberg, a left-wing Israeli-born peace negotiator, helped lead an unprecedented effort by the Biden administration to hunt and target Israelis for sanctions — in the middle of a war against Hamas terrorists.

Doran wrote:

President Biden recently achieved a historic first for which he has received no credit. He is the first president to form an interagency team dedicated to imposing sanctions on an ally, namely, Israel.

…

The White House has established an interagency initiative to produce sanctions against Israeli entities and individuals. The International Economics Directorate at the National Security Council (NSC) leads the effort. Ilan Goldenberg, who until April worked for Vice President Kamala Harris and has now moved to the Strategic Planning Directorate in the NSC, also plays a very enthusiastic role. In the State Department, the Office of Economic Sanctions Policy has the lead. It works closely with the Office of Foreign Assets Control at Treasury. Together they prepare evidentiary packages.

These “evidentiary packages” are frequently based on one-sided information supplied by anti-Israel groups like Jamal Khashoggi’s Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN). The sanctions boost the cause of the anti-Israel “Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions” (BDS) movement. The sanctions often target ordinary protest activity; they have occasionally targeted the wrong people. They are currently the subject of a lawsuit that claims they violate the First Amendment.

On Monday the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that Harris has tapped Goldenberg to reach out to Jews:

Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign has named Ilan Goldenberg, an Israeli-born former peace negotiator, as its liaison to the Jewish community, sources say.

Three people with close ties to the organized Jewish community and the Harris campaign confirmed the pick to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. The campaign did not return a request for comment.

Goldenberg, who has served as Vice President Kamala Harris’ adviser on Middle East issues, has previously been an acerbic critic of both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Palestinian leadership. He formed close ties with the organized Jewish community during the failed 2013-2014 Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, when he was a lead on the Obama administration’s negotiating team.

Goldenberg has attacked President Donald Trump’s very successful Israel policy. In 2021, he suggested that the U.S. should not, as Trump had, consider Jerusalem to be Israel’s capital. He has also been skeptical of Trump’s decision to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem and to close the “consulate” there, which had been a haven for anti-Israel bureaucrats and activists. His hostility to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can be described as extreme.

JTA notes that Goldenberg renounced his Israeli citizenship — he was born in Jerusalem before his family immigrated — so he could take a U.S. government job in which his focus was “the Iran file at the Pentagon” under Barack Obama.

In 2020, Goldenberg penned an op-ed with Hady Amr — later an anti-Israel official within the Biden administration — panning the Trump peace plan, which later led to the Abraham Accords and a flourishing of ties within the region.

The Goldenberg pick suggests that Kamala Harris will take a hostile approach to the Israel and the Israeli government, and that Jews who support Israel — the vast majority — will not be represented in her administration.

Update: David Milstein has compiled an even more extensive list of Goldenberg’s anti-Israel writings and actions.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of “”The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days,” available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of “The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency,” now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.