J Street launches campaign in support of tough U.S. stand on Israel

Haaretz ^ | March 17, 2010 | Natasha Mozgovaya

[La Lydia]

J Street has launched a campaign in support of Washington's firm stance on Israel's latest approved building plan in East Jerusalem, the dovish U.S. pro-Israel lobby announced on Tuesday. Israel's announcement of plans to build 1,600 housing units in East Jerusalem strained ties with the U.S., which has said it regarded last week's decision - made public while Vice President Joe Biden was in Israel - as an insult.

Recent U.S.-Israel tensions were used by "hawkish pro-Israel activists," according to the announcement posted on J Street's website, "to attack the Obama Administration over Israel, urging the Administration to slow down and back off."

In response, the left-leaning lobby said, "the pro-Israel, pro-peace movement is stepping up strong. Earlier this week, J Street leadership delivered over 18,000 signatures to White House demonstrating that large numbers of pro-Israel, pro-peace Americans agree with (Biden) when he says 'sometimes only a friend can deliver the hardest truth,' and urging the Administration to turn this crisis into an opportunity for progress on two states," the announcement said.

The statement added "the Obama Administration can turn this crisis into an opportunity to tackle a core issue at the heart of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians - the need to establish a border between Israel and the future Palestinian state."

"We cannot let any single provocative Israeli announcement of construction in East Jerusalem delay progress towards a two-state solution. Bold American leadership is needed now to turn this crisis into a real opportunity to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."

On Monday, the leftist pro-Israel group released a statement Monday supporting the Obama administration's statements in the wake of Israel's approval of 1,600 new East Jerusalem housing units...

[La Lydia]

J Street is NOT a pro-Israel lobby. J Street, almost uniquely among American Jewish organizations, receives part of its funding from Arab and Muslim donors, along with at least two State Department officials with Saudi and Egyptian connections and a lawyer who once represented the Saudi embassy in Washington. The Arab and Muslim contributors include members of J Street’s own finance committee as well as Muslim student groups; the latter in particular are not known to be enthusiasts of Israel’s cause. Lenny Ben-David, a former Israeli diplomat and currently an AIPAC staffer, said it “raises questions as to their banner that they’re a pro-Israel organization."

...an exposé on American Thinker by Matthew M. Hausman highlighted the presence on J Street’s advisory council of people with anti- rather than pro-Israel credentials. They include the founder and the president of another American Jewish group, Brit Tzedek v’Shalom, which collaborates with anti-Zionist groups — including the radically anti-Israel International Solidarity Movement — and “refuses to identify itself as pro-Zionist”; the board chair and the CEO of the New Israel Fund, known for funding Israeli Arab groups like Adala, Mossawa, and the Arab Human Rights Association that seek Israel’s destruction as a Jewish state; and, perhaps most egregiously, Robert Malley, who among much else is a known Hamas and Hezbollah apologist and in a recent New York Times op-ed insinuated that Israel’s dissolution as a Jewish state is the only “solution.”

[rhombus]

Why is it again that Israel is supposed to not allow construction in this locale? Jews need not apply?

[DoughtyOne]

All you’ve got to do today is look at what is taking place in the Middle-East this morning, to realize how much peace this administration is going to establish between Israel and the Palestinians.

They’ve now stired up a new call for intifada. Just swell.

Biden/Obama are such sages...

[rockvillem]

Amen - calling J Street “pro-Israel” is a complete joke. It’s like saying that Obama has been “pro United States” for his adult life.

[bert]

I can’t find J Street on the map.

[rhombus]

I can’t find J Street on the map.

Can anyone buy property there or do you have to get Obama's permission?

[nolongerademocrat]

JINOs

[Aliska]

Something I'm seeing on a major US news site about this matter, is that the tide is turning against Israel and more sympathy for the Palestinians, like Israel is totally the bad guy. Lots of complaining about AIPAC, the money we give in aid, Netanyahu is too right wing, etc., and on a US board you won't see some worse things that are elsewhere.

Most of the comments there are usually a more even mix, saw only one or two in a long string that said anything in favor of Israel, like every bit of it is Israel's fault.

I know there are two sides to everything, but I also know what Israel has had to concede and put up with, how we put them on a leash. It seems that maybe they are beginning to see that world opinion is turning against them and might be preparing to act accordingly.

[SJackson]

Middle East and terrorism, occasional political and Jewish issues Ping List. High Volume

If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.

..................

Thank you George Soros

[dennisw]

J Street is Soros funded scum. The worst Jews in America work there. They are going to hell