WASHINGTON When the new Congress convenes in January, it will be missing several longtime pillars of support for Israel on Capitol Hill.
Gone from the House of Representatives will be veteran Jewish Reps. Howard Berman (D-Calif.), the ranking member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee; Gary Ackerman (D-NY), the ranking member on the committees Middle East and South Asia Subcommittee; and Steve Rothman (D-NJ), a point person on funding Israels missile defense efforts.
Absent from the Senate will be Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.).
Jewish politics watchers agree that the departures represent a loss of pro-Israel brainpower of a scope not seen for years.
People like Berman and Ackerman, both Congress and the pro-Israel community will miss having people of that seniority who know issues inside and out, said Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of the dovish Israel policy group J Street, referring to the top senior Democrats on the Foreign Affairs Committee, each of whom served in Congress for 30 years.
Martin Frost, a Jewish Democrat who represented Texas in Congress from 1979 to 2005, said that Bermans departure is a a real loss. But he expressed confidence that support for Israel would remain strong in Congress.
You always hate to lose anyone, but I think were in good shape, Frost said.
The reasons for the departures vary: Berman and Rothman were defeated in intra-party battles sparked by redistricting, while Ackerman and Lieberman are retiring.
Other notable departures of Jewish pro-Israel lawmakers include Reps. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), a leading liberal who is retiring, and Rep. Shelly Berkley (D-Nev.), a hawkish voice on Israel who was defeated in her bid for a Senate seat.
A STAFFER for a House Democrat said the loss of veteran Jewish lawmakers is significant in that their colleagues looked to them for guidance on Israel-related issues.
They connect the dots, they look at the big board and see how a leader on a particular issue votes, said the staffer, who asked not to be identified, citing Capitol Hill protocol. There are a lot fewer data points now for them to work with.
Multiple sources cited as a particular blow the loss of Berman, whose long congressional career is coming to an end following his defeat by fellow Jewish incumbent Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) in a bitterly contested race.
Howard Berman had the ability to work across the aisle, said Douglas Bloomfield, an opinion columnist for Jewish media outlets who in the 1980s was the legislative director of AIPAC.
He was a legislator as well as a policy person. He was a respected voice, people took him seriously.
Berman was seen as critical to brokering the deal that achieved overwhelming congressional backing for enhanced Iran sanctions in 2010.
Also on the Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), who is considered a strong ally of Israel, is relinquishing her post as the committees chairwoman.
EVEN with the loss of so many veteran pro-Israel voices, observers stress that there are still devoted friends of Israel in key congressional positions.
They include Jewish pro-Israel stalwarts such as Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) and Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY).
Engel at times has taken a more critical stance than Berman toward the Obama administrations approach to Israel.
Newer members also may find themselves taking more of a leadership role on Israel issues. Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.), elected in 2010, already is a leader on Iran sanctions issues, and Rep.-elect Brad Schneider (D-Ill.) has strong ties to Chicago-area chapters of pro-Israel groups.
YOUNGER Democrats, he said, do not naturally come by the sympathies Israel accrued when it was under attack in its earlier decades.
The generation thats leaving grew up in the formative years of Israel and understand what the struggle was, Bloomfield said.
They are being replaced by a post-1967 generation who know not a threatened Israel, a vulnerable Israel who know a muscular Israel.
Steve Rosen, formerly with AIPAC, said the Democratic Partys rank and file is likelier to question Israel than before.
Whats striking is how many of the shtarkers of the Democratic Party are leaving, he said, using the Yiddish term for big shot, and people coming in have weaker ties and have been subject to a propaganda effort by the Jewish left which has introduced idease outside of the Israeli mainstream.
Even among veteran pro-Israel members of Congress, there has been strong criticism of the Israeli government recently over its approach to relations with both the Palestinians and the Obama administration.
Still, Jewish representatives will no doubt unify around Israel.
The longer Ive been in Congress, themore I see that Congress is a living body, Engel told JTA. We lose some good people and we gain some good people.
