J Street
J Street is an interest group intending to encourage a U.S. role in ending the Arab-Israeli and Israel-Palestine Conflicts. While it describes itself as composed of "Americans, primarily but not exclusively Jewish, who support Israel and its desire for security as the Jewish homeland, peacefully and diplomatically", it also supports a two-state solution with a sovereign Palestinian state. Its policies differ from many held by the State of Israel's government and other U.S. Zionist organizations. [1]
Its name is something of a Washington pun, as while Washington, D.C. streets are alphabetical and K Street NW is associated with the highest density of lobbyists, for reasons never explained, the original city design skipped the letter J; there is no physical J Street.
Brit Tzedek v'Shalom will merge, as of October 2009, its estimated 50,000 grass-roots members and 1,000 rabbis with J Street. [2]
Positioning
The organization is fairly new, having been founded in 2008. It is positioned as a liberal alternative to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee; David Kimche, former Mossad officer and director-general of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, said "AIPAC has become more militant than the Israeli government. Its messages reflect more the oppositionist Likud doctrine than the moderate stance of Prime Minister Olmert. Moreover, whereas … some 80 percent of the Jewish voters traditionally cast their votes for the Democrats, AIPAC is geared to an extreme-right-wing agenda, often more in line with the Jewish neo-cons than with the majority of American Jews.” [3] While FrontPage Magazine, the publication of the David Horowitz Freedom Center, claims that the organization was founded and funded by George Soros,[4] the organization denies his involvement, says he is welcome to contribute, and its financial disclosure statement reveals no contributions from him. [5]
October 2009 conference
For its October 2009 conference, the keynote speaker was James L. Jones, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs in the Obama Administration. Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren, however, declined to appear, saying that J Street's policies "could impair Israel's interests." [6] J Street, however, did not invite Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) to the conference, because JVP does not assume a two-state solution.[7]
Gaza sanctions
J Street and Americans for Peace Now cosponsored a letter from 54 House Democrats to President Obama, calling for lifting sanctions on Gaza. The lead authors were Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Washington) and Keith Ellison (D-Minnesota)[8] Gaza is under the control of Hamas. The letter was critical of Israeli positions. Hadar Susskind, Director of Policy and Strategy at J Street, on February 21, 201, coauthored an op-ed in The Jerusalem Post, commenting on the response to the letter.[9]
Not a single major Jewish communal organization opposed the letter during the six weeks it was open for signatures. There is a good reason no groups opposed the letter, because there is nothing in it that would justify such opposition.
Yet now, the Republican Jewish Coalition (not a Jewish communal organization but rather a partisan organization that targets the Jewish community), for its own narrow political reasons, is attacking members of Congress who signed the letter, grossly mischaracterizing its content and the focus of its message.
Rep. Eliot Engel (D-New York), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who supports the State of Israel policy, said J Street takes “positions in Washington I have difficulty with.”[10] According to Engel, J Street overemphasizes Israeli imperfections and refuses to put "the blame squarely where I think it belongs – the Palestinian attitude of denying Israel the right to exist as a Jewish state.”
References
- ↑ About Us, J Street
- ↑ 50,000 Brit Tzedek Activists, Rabbinic Cabinet to Ally with J Street’s National Grassroots Program, Brit Tzedek v’Shalom
- ↑ Michael Brendan Dougherty (19 May 2008), Turning on to J Street: A new lobby re-examines the special relationship
- ↑ John Perazzo (12 January 2009), "A Street Named Surrender", Frontpage Magazine
- ↑ J Street: Myths and Facts, J Street
- ↑ Dan Eggen (24 October 2009), "Tense debate on U.S.-Israel foreign relations begins ahead of J Street Conference", Washington Post
- ↑ Richard Silverstein (6 September 2009), "American Jewish Left in Transition", Tikun Olam
- ↑ Natasha Mozgovaya (26 January 2010), "U.S. lawmakers to Obama: Press Israel to ease Gaza siege", Haaretz
- ↑ Hadar Susskind; Lara Friedman (February 21, 2010). Enough is enough. Jerusalem Post. Retrieved on 2010-02-22.
- ↑ Herb Keinon (February 22, 2010). ‘New US envoy to Syria a mistake’. The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved on 2010-02-22.