Free Republic

For six years, President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have been on a collision course over how to halt Iran's nuclear ambitions, a high-stakes endeavor both men see as a centerpiece of their legacies. The coming weeks will put the relationship between their countries, which otherwise remain stalwart allies, to one of its toughest tests. Netanyahu is bound for Washington for an address to Congress on Tuesday aimed squarely at derailing Obama's cherished bid for a diplomatic deal with Tehran. At the same time, Secretary of State John Kerry and other international negotiators will be in Switzerland...

Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of J Street, released a statement where he sought to clarify his comments in a Washington Post article reporting on accusations that staffers from the Center for American Progress used anti-Semitic and anti-Israel language to attack pro-Israel activists. In The Washington Post article, Ben-Ami was quoted saying that he had "no problem" with the term "Israel-Firster" and emphasized that it is "a legitimate question" if an individual was "putting the interests of another country before the interests of the United States." In his new statement, Ben-Ami said that "the use of the term 'Israel Firster' is a...

In the face of mounting charges of anti-Semitism at Occupy sites nationwide, several so-called Jewish groups have been attempting to spin the protest movement as Jew-friendly, as even representing Jewish ideals. Most prominent among those groups is the Jewish Funds for Justice, or JFFJ, which is funded by billionaire George Soros. A slew of other Soros-funded progressive groups are also behind the drive to deny Occupy contains significant anti-Semitic elements. KleinOnline found JFFJ is led by individuals associated with communist and socialist groups; the children of Soviet spies; and a U.S. socialist organization that seeks to infiltrate the Democratic Party....

The Knesset’s Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs Committee held a special discussion on Wednesday on the subject of J Street, the supposedly pro-Israel organization which in fact is sympathetic towards terror groups such as Hamas. “The committee’s conclusion is very loud and clear,” committee chair MK Danny Danon told Israel National News. “You cannot be pro-Israel if you work against the interests of the State of Israel.” Danon noted that “J Street is pro-Palestinian. It’s not a pro-Israeli organization. We told the people who came to the discussion, especially those who came from Washington, that they have to be Zionist...

J Street, the liberal Middle East policy advocacy organization, on Sunday issued a statement acknowledging what the group had earlier denied: J Street received financial support from billionaire George Soros. "I accept responsibility personally for being less than clear about Mr. Soros' support once he did become a donor," Jeremy Ben Ami, J Street's executive director, said in a note to supporters on the group's website. The Washington Times first disclosed Friday that J Street, a group that portrays itself as a progressive alternative to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), had received $750,000 from Mr. Soros and his...

Revelation about funding sources prompts distancing from J StreetThe White House appears to be distancing itself from the liberal advocacy group J Street that it once embraced as its envoy to the U.S. Jewish community after disclosures that nearly half the group's funding for 2008 came from a single Hong Kong donor. White House spokesman Thomas Vietor declined to comment when asked on Monday if the White House would continue its past practice of inviting J Street's leaders to take part in conference calls with senior White House officials and to other White House events, and whether senior Obama administration...

A year ago J Street — the putatively progressive fledgling counter to the Israel lobbying group AIPAC — was riding high. They had just received a write up in the New York Times Magazine that was somewhere between a press release and a love poem and, with a complaisant Obama in the White House, the tiny organization seemed poised to be a significant player in the Middle East discussion. My, as grandma said, have times changed. For starters, J Street’s director, Jeremy Ben-Ami, has shown himself to be a Junior Beltway Pinocchio, serially denying his organization had the financial backing...

When Eli Lake's story regarding J Street's donor list was published the role of George Soros created controversy. Soros has a long history of funding anti-Israel activism so his role at J Street was deliberately hidden by the group for years. Now more revelations have started to leak. I did a bit of further research (hat tip: Cheryl Lewin) about another donor and supporter of J Street: Gail Furman. She sits on its advisory council and is a donor listed on its Form 990  . She is also a member of the board of the Soros-created Democracy Alliance - a...

Armaros wrote, "This is it. As the evidence grew about Iran building bombs and warheads, Obama's team must have shown divisions. Thus he removes the eyes who saw, Ross, (who is a Clintonian) and replaces him with an Iran regime lobbyist. The Iran lobby, the NIAC, is a regime presence within the USA. Led by a famous Brzezinski-endorsed Iranian antisemite who blames Israel for Iran-US tensions and denies Ahmadinejad said "wipe off the map". Basically Obama has handed over the Iran negotiations to an Iranian regime agency. This is grotesque and shows Obama's determination to avoid confronting Iran at all...

In July, President Obama met for 45 minutes with leaders of American Jewish organizations. All presidents meet with Israel’s advocates. Obama, however, had taken his time, and powerhouse figures of the Jewish community were grumbling; Obama’s coolness seemed to be of a piece with his willingness to publicly pressure Israel to freeze the growth of its settlements and with what was deemed his excessive solicitude toward the plight of the Palestinians. During the July meeting, held in the Roosevelt Room, Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, told Obama that “public disharmony...