The White House’s recently-appointed liaison to the United States Jewish community, Matt Nosanchuk, promised to help maintain a “two-way dialogue” between American Jews and the President in a statement released today.
“I am committed to maintaining a robust two-way dialogue, engaging with the community to further the President’s priorities, and ensuring that voices throughout our nation’s proud and diverse Jewish community are heard within the Administration,” he said in a newsletter entitled “Jewish Outreach Update,” which was released by the White House on Friday.
Nosanchuk, a lawyer who has worked in the Obama Administration since 2009, both in the assistant attorney general’s office and in the Justice Department, was named the associate director of Jewish outreach at the White House Office of Public Engagement earlier this month, replacing Zach Kelley, who served as interim Jewish liaison following the departure of Jarrod Bernstein, the last full-time liaison, who resigned in January.
The Jewish Council of Pubic Affairs (JCPA)—which serves “as the representative voice of the organized American-Jewish community,” according to its website—welcomed the appointment.
“We’ll work with [Nosanchuk] to kind of reflect with him on what we’re thinking on, working on, and what our policy positions are, and I think likewise he’ll be reaching out to us to observe and clarify what the White House stance is on political issues,” JCPA Washington Director Jared Feldman told the Journal.
The collaboration between Nosanchuk and American-Jewish organization will likely include a focus on domestic issues. Since 2009, Nosanchuk has proven to be a proponent of gay and civil rights. He “played a key role” on the attorney general office’s Defense of Marriage Act litigation team and in the Justice Department’s implementation of and the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, according to personal biography that was featured in the White House email.
In the letter, Nosanchuk emphasized his desire to continue the White House tradition of reaching out and engaging with a population that has a long history of strong political opinions and clout.
“I look forward to hearing from you and working together to strengthen the strong bonds we already share,” he said.
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.