"Pro Peace" Jews Organize in Washington
National Security Adviser James Jones gladdened the hearts of this city's newest would-be power lobbying group by saying that "the time has come to relaunch negotiations without preconditions" to settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "Nothing is more important" for the United States, he told the group J Street, than to solve the conundrum in the Middle East.
That was just what the new liberal Jewish lobby wanted to hear at its first conference. And while Israel's ambassador didn't show up, Jones told the group, "You can be sure this administration will be represented at all future" gatherings.
That was essentially a vow to give equal time to a group conceived as an alternative to the powerful and right-leaning American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which has long held great sway with high-ranking policymakers. AIPAC has a $130 million endowment and nearly 300 staffers. J Street is tiny in comparison and only 18 months old, but its inaugural gathering attracted 1,500 people, half again as many as expected. The overflow crowd jammed meeting rooms at a downtown hotel and forced organizers to repeat a standing-room-only session after dozens were turned away.
The conference marked "the birth of a movement," said Jeremy Ben-Ami, J Street's founder and executive director. "This is the coming-out party for the pro-Israel, pro-peace community, [which] stands for the proposition that there is more than one way in this country to be pro-Israel."
The group's founding formalized a longtime struggle within the Jewish community for influence over U.S. policy in the Middle East. On one side are mainstream groups like AIPAC that tilt right and have welcomed support from Christian conservatives and hard-line Republicans. On the other are what J Street calls the "silent majority" of American Jews -- Democrats who voted overwhelmingly for Barack Obama last November and who support a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
J Street "fills a vacuum" in the American Israel advocacy community, said Meir Sheetrit, one of several opposition members of Israel's Knesset who attended the conference. He said AIPAC's no-questions-asked support for the current right-leaning government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has turned off younger Jews who are concerned not only about Israel but also about the rights of the Palestinians.
See Chick's SQUATTERS.
That was just what the new liberal Jewish lobby wanted to hear at its first conference. And while Israel's ambassador didn't show up, Jones told the group, "You can be sure this administration will be represented at all future" gatherings.
That was essentially a vow to give equal time to a group conceived as an alternative to the powerful and right-leaning American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which has long held great sway with high-ranking policymakers. AIPAC has a $130 million endowment and nearly 300 staffers. J Street is tiny in comparison and only 18 months old, but its inaugural gathering attracted 1,500 people, half again as many as expected. The overflow crowd jammed meeting rooms at a downtown hotel and forced organizers to repeat a standing-room-only session after dozens were turned away.
The conference marked "the birth of a movement," said Jeremy Ben-Ami, J Street's founder and executive director. "This is the coming-out party for the pro-Israel, pro-peace community, [which] stands for the proposition that there is more than one way in this country to be pro-Israel."
The group's founding formalized a longtime struggle within the Jewish community for influence over U.S. policy in the Middle East. On one side are mainstream groups like AIPAC that tilt right and have welcomed support from Christian conservatives and hard-line Republicans. On the other are what J Street calls the "silent majority" of American Jews -- Democrats who voted overwhelmingly for Barack Obama last November and who support a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
J Street "fills a vacuum" in the American Israel advocacy community, said Meir Sheetrit, one of several opposition members of Israel's Knesset who attended the conference. He said AIPAC's no-questions-asked support for the current right-leaning government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has turned off younger Jews who are concerned not only about Israel but also about the rights of the Palestinians.
See Chick's SQUATTERS.
posted by chickcomics | 7:42 AM
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