President Obama’s obvious displeasure with the electoral victory of Israeli prime minister Netanyahu may be in part based on frustration that his own efforts to defeat Bibi went to naught.  Now, John McLaughlin, the American pollster hired by the Netanyahu campaign, has charged that those efforts were far larger than previously reported.  Jesse Byrnes of The Hill reports:

"What was not well reported in the American media is that President Obama and his allies were playing in the election to defeat Prime Minister Netanyahu," John McLaughlin, a Republican strategist, said in an interview on John Catsimatidis's "The Cats Roundtable" radio show broadcast Sunday on AM 970 in New York.

"There was money moving that included taxpayer U.S. dollars, through non-profit organizations. And there were various liberal groups in the United States that were raising millions to fund a campaign called V15 against Prime Minister Netanyahu," McLaughlin said.

He noted an effort to oust Netanyahu was guided by former Obama political operative Jeremy Bird and that V15, or Victory 15, ads hurt Netanyahu in the polls. McLaughlin said the Israeli leader rebounded after delivering a speech to Congress early this month, prompting more critical ads.

As has been previously reported, V15’s parent organization, OneVoice, has received taxpayer funding, which ended in November, before the election.  But of course, money is fungible, and a Senate committee is investigating the funding.

If a foreign country attempted to influence an American presidential election in the way Obama allies have attempted to do in Israel, there would be a huge outcry.  Imagine if Israelis did to Obama’s re-election campaign what has been attempted in Israel.