More than 300 Jewish leaders from around the country, including nine from the Philadelphia area, converged on Washington, D.C., last week as part of the National Jewish Leadership Advocacy Day on Iran.
The day seemed to signal a new phase of Jewish efforts to isolate Iran internationally, now that news reports suggest that the country may be on the verge of nuclear capability.
While tougher sanctions have long been on the agenda, many Jewish groups have been reticent to push the issue too hard out of a fear that it could be viewed specifically as a Jewish issue.
“This day was very much about advocating sanctions and bringing the issue to the forefront of the U.S. policy agenda. I think it was very successful in doing that,” said Michael Bronstein, a Philadelphia-based political consultant and pro-Israel activist who attended the program put together by the the Inter-Agency Task Force on Iran, which is led by several national Jewish groups.
