Few Jewish organizations publicly complained, but the groups lobbied behind the scenes. Once the language was changed, AIPAC, the Anti-Defamation League and the Orthodox Union quickly praised the DNC.
“We welcome reinstatement to the Democratic platform of the language affirming Jerusalem as Israel’s capital,” AIPAC said in a statement. Of both the Republican and Democratic platforms, the statement said: “Together, these party platforms reflect strong bipartisan support for the US-Israel relationship.
The inclusion of the line about Jerusalem remaining “undivided” actually allowed Democrats to trump Republicans, who removed that word from their own 2012 platform language on Israel and Jerusalem. The RNC did not return requests for comment on why the word was removed.
The Republican Jewish Coalition said Wednesday that it would run ads in Jewish newspapers in swing states noting the omissions; it was not clear if the ads would run now that the language was amended
Delaware Gov. Jack Markell, who led a training session for elected Jewish Democrats at the Democratic convention, countered that the Democrats should run their own ad noting that the Democratic platform explicitly threatens the use of military force against Iran should it obtain a nuclear weapon, while the Republican platform is less specific, referring only to “all options.”