Jim Jones has apologized for his joke, see updates below.
Conservative media outlets are trying to stir up controversy around a joke that Obama National Security Advisor Jim Jones told during a speech last week. Speaking before the Washington Institute for Near East Policy -- described by the Israeli paper Ha'aretz as "a well known pro-Israeli forum" -- Jones told a warmly-received joke about a Taliban fighter who insults a Jewish store owner, and then gets tricked by him.
The video was linked from the Drudge Report with the headline, "VIDEO: Obama's National Security Advisor Tells Joke Depicting Jews as Greedy Merchants." Conservative publisher Andrew Breitbart posted the video with a caption saying the joke "borders on anti-Semitic, teaching the crowd that Jews are just greedy merchants in the same vein as Shakespeare's Shylock."
Here's video of the joke, watch for yourself:
At the same event, Jones spoke at length about America's ties with Israel. An excerpt:
America's commitment to Israel will endure. And everyone must know that there is no space--no space--between the United States and Israel when it comes to Israel's security. Our commitment to Israel's security is unshakable. It is as strong as ever. This President and this Administration understands very well the environment--regionally and internationally--in which Israel and the United States must operate. We understand very well that for peace and stability in the Middle East, Israel must be secure. The United States will never waiver in defense of Israel's security.
UPDATE: The Anti-Defamation League whacks Jones over the joke. “It's inappropriate,” Abe Foxman told ABC News' Jake Tapper. “It's stereotypic. Some people believe they need to start a speech with a joke; this was about the worst kind of joke the head of the National Security Council could have told."
UPDATE II: The head of the Washington Institute has come to Jones' defense, Foreign Policy's Josh Rogin reports:
Robert Satloff, the executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), which hosted the event, said that he hasn't gotten any complaints about the joke and called the controversy a "real tempest in a teapot."
"This joke stuff is beneath everybody to be focusing on when there are important issues to be focused on," Satloff told The Cable. "I was the host of the event and nobody registered that sort of complaint to me. There was no shock, no offense."
UPDATE III: Jim Jones has apologized for his joke in a statement: “I wish that I had not made this off the cuff joke at the top of my remarks, and I apologize to anyone who was offended by it. It also distracted from the larger message I carried that day: that the United States commitment to Israel’s security is sacrosanct.”