Rosenberg moves to Media Matters (UPDATED)

MJ Rosenberg is leaving the Israel Policy Forum for Media Matters Action Network. Rosenberg, who spent 11 years at IPF as the group’s director of policy analysis, will join the liberal media analysis group as a senior fellow on foreign policy.

Rosenberg, who wrote the IPF Friday column and has been blogging on Israel and other topics for a while at the Talking Points Memo Web site, says in announcing the move on his Facebook page that "the battle moves even further from the sidelines to front and center" — apparently meaning that the Middle East conflict, and the battle over the U.S. role in solving that conflict, will take on increased prominence on the popular Media Matters site, which deals with a range of political issues.

Rosenberg worked at AIPAC in the 1980s and also served as a Capitol Hill staffer before joining the left-wing pro-Israel group in 1998.

IPF announced the move in a press release. "All of us at Israel Policy Forum offer MJ our appreciation for his eleven years of forceful pro-Israel advocacy with us on behalf of sustained American engagement in the Israel-Arab arena and of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," said IPF executive director Nick Bunzl.

"On the one hand, MJ’s passion and creativity will certainly be missed by IPF; but on the other, we couldn’t be happier for him," he said. "In recent years he has become a natural blogger, and in his new role he will have the chance to focus his energies there."

UPDATE: Media Matters, in a press release, said the hiring of Rosenberg gives the organization an "increased capacity to correct misinformation surrounding complex foreign policy
issues" and "combat the wrongheaded assessments" of "conservative" Middle East groups "in order to facilitate a lasting peace throughout the region and the world."

"This is a real turning point for us. Adding M.J. to our team will allow us to venture into multifaceted international issues in a way we haven’t thus far," said Media Matters Action Network Managing Director Ari Rabin-Havt. "His experience and knowledge on these issues will allow Media Matters Action Network to engage in policy debates with decision makers over various issues surrounding Afghanistan, Israel, Iran and the entire Middle East."

The full press release from IPF and Media Matters are after the jump:[[READMORE]]

First, IPF:

All of us at Israel Policy Forum offer MJ our appreciation for his eleven years of forceful pro-Israel advocacy with us on behalf of sustained American engagement in the Israel-Arab arena and of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

MJ has played a key role in helping IPF keep these issues before three successive US administrations, the Congress, the American Jewish community and the public.  For the past decade, IPF Friday, MJ’s weekly opinion column, has become one of the most widely read pieces on the Arab-Israeli conflict. Often controversial, always provocative, MJ developed a signature style that pushed the envelope in a way that drove much needed discussion and debate on the issue, particularly online.

On the one hand, MJ’s passion and creativity will certainly be missed by IPF; but on the other, we couldn’t be happier for him.  In recent years he has become a natural blogger, and in his new role he will have the chance to focus his energies there.

We offer him our thanks, and wish him the best of luck.

And Media Matters:

Media Matters Action Network announced that M.J. Rosenberg will serve as a Senior Fellow.  Focusing on foreign policy and Middle Eastern affairs, Rosenberg will give the organization an increased capacity to correct misinformation surrounding complex foreign policy issues.

Washington has dozens of organizations championing a conservative approach to Israel, the Middle East and broader foreign policy issues. Media Matters Action Network will combat their wrongheaded assessments in order to facilitate a lasting peace throughout the region and the world.

"This is a real turning point for us. Adding M.J. to our team will allow us to venture into multifaceted international issues in a way we haven’t thus far," said Media Matters Action Network Managing Director Ari Rabin-Havt. "His experience and knowledge on these issues will allow Media Matters Action Network to engage in policy debates with decision makers over various issues surrounding Afghanistan, Israel, Iran and the entire Middle East."

"I’ve been fortunate to spend my career surrounded by people I admire while working on issues I care deeply about," said Rosenberg. "As a Senior Fellow at Media Matters Action Network, I look forward to contributing to, and commenting on, the intense policy debates surrounding Israel and the entire Middle East."

Rosenberg joins Media Matters Action Network as policy battles loom over the United States’ role in Iran, Israel and Afghanistan.

Brief biography:

M.J. Rosenberg served as the Director of Policy Analysis for Israel Policy Forum (IPF), a position he held since the spring of 1998.

Previously, M.J. spent eighteen years within the United States government, fourteen on Capitol Hill as an aide to Representatives Jonathan Bingham (D-New York), Edward Feighan (D-Ohio), Nita Lowey (D-New York) and Senator Carl Levin (D-Michigan).  Immediately prior to joining IPF, he served as Chief of Staff to the head of the Eastern Europe/NIS Bureau of USAID.

From 1982 to 1986, M.J. was editor of Near East Report, the American Israel Public Affair Committee’s (AIPAC’s) biweekly publication on Middle East Policy.