Dem-aligned think tank blasted for Blinken appointment to board

A human rights organization is demanding answers about why the Center for American Progress — an influential center left think tank — awarded a board seat to former Secretary of State Antony Blinken despite his alleged complicity in war crimes in Gaza, according to an open letter shared exclusively with Responsible Statecraft.

The letter, drafted by DAWN, accuses Blinken of providing Israel with “essential military, political and public support to ensure it could continue its atrocities” in Gaza. “We believe that Mr. Blinken is not an appropriate choice to serve as a board member of an organization that aims to ‘promote peace and shared global prosperity’ in light of his well-documented role in aiding and abetting Israeli war crimes,” the letter says.

Raed Jarrar, DAWN’s advocacy director, said Blinken’s appointment “damages the reputation” of the Center for American Progress (CAP). “It's truly shocking for a non-profit in Washington DC to place someone like Blinken, with his shameful record, on their board of directors,” Jarrar told Responsible Statecraft.

CAP has yet to respond to the letter, which DAWN sent last Monday. CAP did not respond to a request for comment from Responsible Statecraft.

The letter comes a month after the organization quietly added Blinken to its board, sparking anger on the left. The battle over Blinken’s appointment — and CAP’s decision to make the appointment without any sort of public statement — highlights the deep divide among Democratic elites about how to move forward from the Biden administration’s role in Israel’s war in Gaza.

Some former Biden administration officials have attempted to distance themselves from the pro-Israel policies advanced during their tenure in government. Just this week, Jon Finer and Philip Gordon, both of whom held senior national security positions under President Biden, called on President Trump to restrict weapons transfers to Israel. “Maintaining unconditional U.S. military support while Israel pursues the unachievable goal of ‘total victory’ is simply a recipe for further conflict and suffering,” Finer and Gordon wrote.

But Blinken has stood by Biden’s approach to the war in Gaza. In fact, he’s even chided pro-ceasefire activists for focusing their frustrations toward Israel. “I wish that those who, understandably, have been moved and motivated by everything that’s happened since October 7, if they’d spent maybe just 10% of their time [...] demanding Hamas put down its arms, give up the hostages, stop what it’s doing, maybe if the world had done that, we’d be in a different place,” Blinken said in July.

Blinken’s appointment accompanies an apparent shift in priorities at CAP. Last year, CAP President Patrick Gaspard slammed Blinken’s decision to certify that Israel was complying with U.S. law surrounding weapons transfers. “It’s hard to believe that the administration sees what’s happening in Gaza yet fails to conclude that Israel has violated the terms for use of American weapons,” Gaspard said. “There is overwhelming evidence that Israeli forces have violated international law through indiscriminate bombing that has killed thousands of civilians.”

But Gaspard has since been replaced by Neera Tanden, a long-time Democratic operative who directed Biden’s domestic policy council. In a prior stint as president of CAP, Tanden faced criticism for working closely with pro-Israel lobbying groups like AIPAC. She also prevented staffers at ThinkProgress, CAP’s influential news and analysis website, from criticizing Israel or even mentioning Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to former ThinkProgress staffers. TP subsequently shut down during Tanden’s first tenure as CAP president in 2019. (Note: Ben Armbruster, a former ThinkProgress editor who has publicly criticized Tanden, is the managing editor of Responsible Statecraft.)

It remains to be seen whether Tanden will impose similar restrictions in her second stint as CAP president. So far, CAP staffers have continued to criticize Israel and oppose escalation with Iran. But Blinken’s appointment would seem to indicate that such points of view will lose favor in the influential Democratic-aligned think tank.