EILAT, Israel – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud Party hit back Sunday at a U.S.-linked organization staffed with former Obama campaigners now working to defeat Netanyahu in an upcoming general election.

Victory 2015, or V15, attracted U.S. media attention after it hired 270 Strategies, a consulting firm whose senior leadership is comprised mostly of former top staffers for President Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign.

During a press conference Sunday, the Likud Party officially accused V15 and other related nonprofits of being supported “through millions of dollars funneled from Europe, the U.S. and the New Israel Fund and international factors interested in bringing down Prime Minister Netanyahu” who think “that all means are appropriate.”

The Likud further called for Israel’s Central Elections Committee to outlaw V15′s activities to “ensure the integrity of the election.”

The party today will be filing an official complaint with the Committee seeking an injunction against V15, Likud sources said.

Reacting to the developments, Uri Wollman, V15′s spokesman, told WND his organization will not stop its campaign to ensure a center-left coalition forms the next government in Israel.

Wollman accused Netanyahu and the Likud of “fabricating” a relationship between V15 and the Obama administration.

“We have no relation to any U.S. political party, the White House or the State Department,” Wollman told WND.

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2015/02/netanyahu-fires-back-at-ex-obama-team-plotting-his-defeat/#7kW4qjoaWZGcpXEs.99

link http://www.wnd.com/2015/02/netanyahu-fires-back-at-ex-obama-team-plotting-his-defeat/#KQAPzJPFRiCCTmSL.99

State Department ties
V15′s headquarters is actually the offices of a U.S.-U.K. group calling itself OneVoice.
OneVoice bills itself as an “international grassroots movement that amplifies the voice of mainstream Israelis and Palestinians.” It has a clearly leftist tone.
OneVoice is reportedly sponsored by scores of nonprofits and received two grants in the past year from the U.S. State Department.
The State Department is also listed as a partner of OneVoice on the group’s website.

Haaretz reported Bird has arrived in Tel Aviv with a team of four consultants “that will try to channel the energies of V15 into an organized methodology.”

Part of the strategy includes a door-knocking campaign as well as a social media blitz.

While the conservative blogosphere focused largely on Bird’s role, WND has found that his firm, which was hired for the V15 campaign, is composed of scores of former Obama campaign employees.

270 Strategies’ team of 45 staffers includes 16 who worked directly for Obama’s campaigns.

Most of the former Obama staffers comprise the senior posts at the firm. Others worked for the Democratic Party, the Democratic National Committee or grassroots groups involved in progressive efforts, including a group to enroll Americans in Obamacare.

Besides Bird, the 270 Strategies team includes the following former Obama staffers:
•Mitch Steward, a 270 Strategies founding partner who helped the Obama campaign build what the U.K. Guardian called “a historic ground operation that will provide the model for political campaigns in America and around the world for years to come.”
•Mark Beatty, a founding partner who served as deputy battleground states director for the Obama campaign. He had primary responsibility for Obama’s election plans for the battleground states.
•Marlon Marshall, a founding partner at 270 Strategies who joins the team after holding several key positions in national Democratic politics, most recently as deputy national field director for the 2012 Obama campaign.
•Betsy Hoover, a founding partner who served as director of digital organizing on the Obama campaign.
•Meg Ansara, who served as national regional director for Obama for America where she was responsible for overseeing the 2012 programs in the Midwest and southern states.
•Bridget Halligan, who served as the dngagement program manager on the digital team of the 2012 Obama campaign.
•Kate Catherall, who served as Florida deputy field director for Obama’s re-election campaign.
•Alex Lofton, who most recently served as the GOTV director of Cleveland, Ohio, for the 2012 Obama campaign.
•Martha Patzer, the firm’s vice president who served as deputy email director at Obama for America.
•Jesse Boateng, who served as the Florida voter registration director for Obama’s re-election campaign.
•Ashley Bryant, who served most recently as the Ohio digital director for the 2012 Obama campaign.
•Max Clermont, who formerly served as a regional field director in Florida for Obama’s re-election campaign.
•Max Wood, who served as a deputy data director in Florida for the 2012 Obama campaign.

Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Congressman Lee Zeldin (R-NY-1) teamed up on a strong letter sent to Secretary of State John Kerry on January 29. It demanded a thorough investigation into the details behind news reports that U.S. taxpayer dollars are being used to oust Prime Minister Netanyahu in the upcoming Israeli election.

“Has President Obama launched a political campaign against Prime Minister Netanyahu and his representatives?” Cruz asked in a press statement.

http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2015/01/30/cruz-and-zeldin-demand-state-department-investigation-over-israeli-election-interference/

 

GOP Lawmakers Ask State Department to Explain Funding for Group Working on Israeli Election

OneVoice Received $233,500 Last Year, Spokeswoman Says

http://forward.com/articles/213895/gop-lawmakers-ask-state-department-to-explain-fund/

 And if this disgusting mis-use of American Tax payer funds was not enough …