Two left-leaning Washington organizations are facing heated criticism for their Israel-related coverage and commentary after throwing around the disparaging term “Israel firster” and accusing the Simon Wiesenthal Center — a group dedicated to tolerance — of being a “far-right” outfit.

The comments by writers for the Center for American Progress, a think tank, and Media Matters, a media advocacy group, have received increasing attention over the past week, in particular for their criticism of American supporters of Israel and for their repeated downplaying of the threat posed by a nuclear Iran. The CAP also was reproached for its criticism of the Simon Wiesenthal Center as a partisan outfit.

The Wiesenthal Center responded this week with a lengthy statement that condemned the remarks and suggested that the organizations are trying to make it difficult for others “to take a position sympathetic to the Jewish state.”

At issue is a litany of blogs, stories and tweets over the past year from the CAP and Media Matters, whose founder has committed to launching a “war” on Fox News.

Of particular concern was the repeated use of the term “Israel firster” by MJ Rosenberg, senior foreign policy fellow for Media Matters, and by another blogger for ThinkProgress, a CAP website.

The term is used to describe lawmakers and others who voice unwavering support for Israel, but it also implies that their loyalties are to Israel first, and to America after that.

One Democratic congressional aide likened using the term to “questioning one’s patriotism” and called it “outside the mainstream” of acceptable discourse.

“What you’re saying is that they put Israel’s interests above all else … over the national security of the United States and our troops abroad,” the aide said, requesting anonymity so as not to imply the office in which the aide works was officially responding to bloggers.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center had a similar assessment.

“When it comes to the charges of being ‘Israel Firsters’ and having ‘dual loyalty,’ we not only plead innocent but also counter-charge that these sponsored bloggers are guilty of dangerous political libels resonating with historic and toxic anti-Jewish prejudices,” the center said in a statement first distributed to The Washington Post.

The center described the accusation as the kind of “odious charges” that have been around since before World War II.

Other writings by the two groups have also come under scrutiny.

Think Progress claimed in August that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a pro-Israel lobby, was banging the war drums on Iran.

“It would appear that AIPAC is now using the same escalating measures against Iran that were used before the invasion of Iraq,” the article read, citing an AIPAC letter in support of congressional calls to sanction Iran’s Central Bank.

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