Virginia congressman Jim Moran, known for repeatedly clashing with pro-Israel and Jewish groups, is retiring.

Moran, 68, who was first elected to Congress in 1990, announced Wednesday that he would not seek reelection since his Northern Virginia seat is heavily Democratic and is unlikely to be competitive in November. President Barack Obama won 68 percent of the vote in both 2012 and 2008, and Moran coasted with 65 percent of the vote in 2012.

His district includes one of the fastest-growing Jewish populations in the Washington area, and in the 2002 election he solicited a letter from Jewish lawmakers praising his support for Israel.

Only a year later, Rep. Moran clashed with pro-Israel groups and with Jewish members of his Democratic caucus over claims he made in 2003 that without Jewish support, the United States would not have launched the war with Iraq.

“If it were not for the strong support of the Jewish community for this war with Iraq, we would not be doing this,” Moran said in 2003, according to the Reston Connection newspaper. “The leaders of the Jewish community are influential enough that they could change the direction of where this is going, and I think they should.”

Faced with criticism, Moran issued an apology Monday for the comments. “I should not have singled out the Jewish community and regret giving any impression that its members are somehow responsible for the course of action being pursued by the administration, or are somehow behind an impending war,” Moran said.

But in 2007, he reused his initial charge that the “extraordinarily powerful” pro-Israel lobby played a strong role promoting the war in Iraq.

In an interview with Tikkun, a California-based Jewish magazine, Moran said the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is “the most powerful lobby and has pushed this war from the beginning. I don’t think they represent the mainstream of American Jewish thinking at all, but because they are so well organized, and their members are extraordinarily powerful — most of them are quite wealthy — they have been able to exert power.”

Moran was condemned by the ADL and other calls for him to step down. But in an interview with The Washington Post, Moran said, “It’s unhealthy for the American political process for any group within our society to be able to decide who should and who shouldn’t represent a constituency.”

“I would like to have a reasonable, objective discussion about AIPAC’s foreign policy agenda. But it’s difficult to do that because any time you question their motives, you are accused of being anti-Semitic,” he added.

Back in 2001, Moran said in an appearance before the American Muslim Council that then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was coming to Washington “probably seeking a warrant from President Bush to kill at will with weapons we have paid for.”

Moran’s retirement at the end of the year is likely to attract several Democrats competing in a primary over his seat.

(Jacob Kornbluh – YWN)