Z Street
Lori Lowenthal Marcus
Here I am at the J Street Conference – it is now midday and although my head is spinning and there is so much to weave together, I’ll give you just some of the highlights:
Impressions from opening night:
- This new alliance of progressive Jewish Americans are here to tell you that they are the annointed ones who will bring peace to the Holy Land if only the world will shut up and let them work their magic. Never mind that the magic is never defined beyond “two states for two people,” and that the goal is to “remold Israel into a state of social justice, a state where people do right” and where everyone will ”model core Jewish values” of “peace and outstretched arms to our neighbors.” Hmmm. Well, those are core humanist values, perhaps core progressive values, and values that many Jews hold dear, but those are not the core Jewish values. And that’s the biggest problem with this whole J Street charade of representing the “New Jewish” response to the conflict in the Middle East. Unless New Jewish means “not Jewish” in the same way that some people refer to the New Israel Fund as the “No Israel Fund.” There is nothing inherently and solely Jewish about the J Street approach. A perfect example of this was offered by Daniel Sokatch who is, not coincidentally, the new president of the New Israel Fund, a pea in the pod along J Street.
Here’s the shorthand for the issue, and later I will go into detail about how this theme plays out over and over again at this gathering.
Perhaps the best known biblical quotation, at least amongst non-observant Jews, and the one focused on by Sokatch, is “Justice, Justice Shalt Thou Pursue.” Deut. 16:20. This is the very core of Judaism, he explained to those gathered in the Washington D.C. Grand Hyatt at the kick-off of the J Street conference. But, perhaps unknown to Sokatch (maybe because all the lithographs and needlepoints only include these words), the phrase continues “so that you shall inherit the land.” Yes, that really is a core value of Judaism, and the land is Israel.
The ultimate inability to differentiate between what these New Jews want to call Jewish values and what are actually the core values of Judaism, is offensive. To say the least.
A few little tidbits from today’s sessions:
Hamas and Hezbollah must be included in the so-called Arab Peace Plan – a comprehensive regional plan that Israel must have forced on it by the wise Americans united under the Community Organizer in Chief. And what will Israel get out of committing itself to a peace process not only with the Arab Palestinians, but one that also includes all of the other Arab countries in the region? Yes, you heard it here (well, actually I heard it here, but I’m telling you), what Israel has to gain is: ‘THE FULL AND COMPLETE ACCEPTANCE OF ISRAEL IN THE MIDDLE EAST.” Alvaro de Soto, the Former Chief Middle East Envoy for the United Nations.
From grotesque to repulsive: In a panel on How Jews, Christians and Muslims Can Work Together For Peace, the moderator, Ron Young (co-founder National Interreligious Leadership Initiative for Peace) made two simply astounding comments. First, in his opening anecdote (they all start with anecdotes, not a bad strategy, except when it is a bad anecdote) Young said that he had just seen a film at Theater J called “Pangs of the Messiah.” He told us he wants to make a follow-up film called, “Please Messiah, Stay Home.” No joke. Just a few moments later Young mentioned evangelical Christians, specifically Rev. Hagee , who Young said, “leads a group called ‘Christians United to Take Israel to Hell.’” This panel couldn’t quite keep straight whether religion should be used to lead to a peaceful resolution or if it is religion that is the problem. Interesting panel. Actually, not really.
On to more sessions: Maybe “Iran: Is Diplomacy Working?” or “Palestinian Economic Development: Path to Peace or Diversion? ” No joke. They’re trying to fool the Arab Palestinians into forgetting about their oppression through the wicked wiles of economic development. I think I’ll have to check that out.
Daily Bread Oct. 22 – Iran just says NO.”
List is updated as legislators (wisely) remove their names. AND A GROWING # ARE DOING SO! !
URGENT:
Please send a fax or make a phone call (or, last choice, send an email) to your elected official if on the list below. The members of congress on this list are endorsing the J Street conference by lending their good name to an organization which claims to be “pro-peace and pro-Israel,” but is nothing of the kind.
Here is my letter. Please produce your own version – it can be as few as 3 – 5 lines long.
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Sen/Rep. ______,
The relatively new organization J Street, is currently using what it boasts is your endorsement to promote itself as a mainstream vehicle for positive change in the Middle East. But the policies being promoted by J Street are not, as it claims, “pro-peace and, pro-Israel.” In fact, the J Street conference with which your name is linked features a speaker who blamed Israel for 9/11, and a “poet” who equates the US with the Nazi regime.
Here are details of the conference J Street claims you support.
Muslim Public Affairs Council leader Salam al-Marayati will deliver a lecture at the J Street conference being held October 25 – 28th. Al-Marayati publicly claimed that Israel attacked the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, and he has also publicly praised Hezbollah, a group on the official U.S. terrorist list. Is this a “pro-peace” or “pro-Israel” organization?
The J Street conference will also feature Josh Healey, whose “poetry” equates the US with Hitler and his Final Solution plans. He says “Guantanamo is Aushwitz,” and he also compared what happened to Anne Frank to the tragedy of Matthew Shepard. Anne Frank died because of official Nazi government policy; Shepard died at the hands of malevolent individuals who were prosecuted by the US government.
J Street seeks effectively endless “negotiations” over Iran’s development of nuclear weapons, and refuses to identify a time when that tactic should be replaced with, as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called for, “crippling sanctions.” Iran poses a direct and immediate threat to Israel and only later, but most assuredly, one to the US.
J Street also wants Jews banned from living in certain parts of Jerusalem, a policy that would be in flagrant violation of the Civil Rights laws if imposed in the United States.
Over the past week nearly a dozen US elected officials*, when provided with the information above, have removed their names from the list of those endorsing J Street and its October conference.
Your good name is your most important asset; don’t let that be damaged by an association with J Street’s wrong-headed policies.
Sincerely…………
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