Sunday, February 21, 2010

The choice we face‏

Open letters to J Street in response to J Street's comments


To:

Jeremy Ben-Ami, Executive Director

J Street

E-mail: info@jstreet.org

Jeremy,

What I constantly wonder is why an American organization its members do not live in Israel is trying so hard to shake the earth underneath the people they claim to support but do not live among? Israeli organizations do not try to change US policy or its politics the way you, an American organization, is working so destructively to do to Israel.

The five members of Congress delegation you brought to Israel are all known to be anti-Israel on their voting. Why do you even associate with these congressmen? Is that because they represent your anti-Israel views?

I wonder who fills the coffers of J Street’s Education Fund that funded these congressmen's trip? Is it Arab and anti-Israel-anti-Semites' money?

In refusing to meet with you and your delegation what Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon did is make a courageous, long outstanding, public statement: Israel will no longer stand idle, acknowledge or deal with organizations that bash Israel and are out to harm the state in any wy they can under the pretext of being pro-Israel.And indeed J Street is not the pro-Israel it claims to be and it does not deserve the Israeli government’s respect.

Israelis elected THIS government to lead the country. You did not vote for it and have no say in this matter. You also have no right to criticize or bash it, undermine it and work against its policies. This you need to leave to the people who elected it, if so they chose, or elect another government. If you want to make a change and difference in Israel simply go live there and make your vote heard.

All J Street does it cause anger among true Israel's supporters as well as it is aiding and abetting its enemies; it is aiding and abetting all those who cannot sleep well at night until they bring Israel to its knees and see Israel crumble in the hands of the Arabs and anti-Semites.

We, Israel's supporters, will not let you achieve your sinister goal and will fight you with the truth you lack to bring to light.

Israel can take care of itself and it did not ask you for your help. What your organization does it not helping Israel rather its foes!

Your organization J Street is nothing but anti-Semitic and anti-Israel-anti-Zionism entity and it is dangerous not only to Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East, but also to all Jews anywhere in the world; to the entire Jewish Nation!

History attests that way before there was Christianity and the New Testament and Islam and Qur’an there was the Ten Commandments, Judaism and Israel!

History attests that way before there was Muhammad, Allah, Islam and Moslems, Arafat, PLO, Fatah, Hamas, Arabstinians-‘Palestinians’ and Arabstine-Palestine, Islamic Jihad terror, homicide-suicide bomber, the Moslems’ on going call to “kill the Jews”, there was Israeli dynasty of kings with an army, economy, a capital city Jerusalem, court and laws, temple and national holidays, and all else that makes a country function and grow, with the towns Hebron and Efrat, Bethlehem, Beth El, Jerusalem, Shiloh and Shechem nestled in the Judea and Samaria mountains.

I am asking you Jeremy to get out of Israel’s hair and its business or become pro-Israel in the real sense of the word.

Nurit Greenger, California

--------------------

Jeremy Ben-Ami

Executive Director

J Street

Jeremy,

Way before there was Christianity there was Israel! Way before the words, Allah, Muhammad, Islam, Muslims, PLO, Fatah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad there was Israel!

Way before the words terror, terrorists and homicide-suicide bomber there was Israel.

Way before the Moslems became known Israel already existed and it had a dynasty of kings, an army, economy, a capital city Jerusalem, court and laws, temple and national holidays, and all else that makes a country function.

Way before the words Palestine or Palestinians or Arafat, we Jews, had Hebron and Efrat, Bear Sheba, Bethlehem and Beth El, Jerusalem, Shiloh and Shechem and all of Yehuda-Judea and Shomron-Samaria was Israel.

The name Jerusalem is mentioned in the Jewish bible seven hundred and thirty eight (738) times. In the Koran, the Moslem holy book, Jerusalem is mentioned zero times.

The word Yahadut-Judaism came from the word Yehuda-Judea. Judaism started in Hebron about 4400 years ago, 3000 years before Mohammed was born in 570 AD in Arabia.

Jeremy, I do not think you truly care about Israel and/or Judaism and the truth, nor about your J Street.

You sit down to talk with the very same people who not only do not recognize Israel’s right to exist but want to see it vanish. You sit down to talk with the people who devote their lives, their children and families lives and a great deal of resources to destroy our only ancient and historical homeland. Why?

This tiny state Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East. It is the only place in the Middle East were Arabs have human rights, women rights, Gay rights, freedom of speech and live under democratic rule of law. You claim to be ‘pro-Israel’ yet you and your Leftist-Liberal organization have no shame to put this tiny Jewish state through a daily meat grinder around the world. This is nothing but hypocrisy at its best! You are clearly NOT pro Israel or pro peace! In face you instigate divisiveness among Jews as well as angers and embarrass many of us.

Your organization J Street is nothing but anti-Semitic and anti-Israel and is dangerous not only to this tiny democracy Israel but to all the Jews in the world.

Moti Gur

VP Standwithus

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PS Please read the respond from Z Street

Several news stories recently covered what was cast as a diplomatic faux pas by Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon. The implication was that Ayalon should apologize for not meeting with visiting members of congress for what, it was suggested, was an act of hostility towards their host, J Street, an organization whose pro-Israel bona fides he has questioned.

While traveling in Israel, Congressman William Delahunt (D-Mass.), on behalf of himself and four other congressional members, harshly criticized the Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister, Danny Ayalon, who declined to meet with them if they were accompanied by the trip organizers. Delahunt was angered by the Israeli official’s apparent suggestion that the delegation “would even consider traveling to the region with groups” that “[Ayalon] inaccurately described as anti-Israel.”

But it appears that the ones who should apologize are those hosts - the pro-Palestinian group J Street and the overtly anti-Israel Churches for Middle East Peace. They need to apologize to the Israeli government, to all Israelis and to the members of their congressional mission. They need to do that for inviting members of the US congress to sit down and chat with an Arab official who only days before publicly praised an Arab Palestinian terrorist for trying to murder an Israeli, and who congratulated the parents of the attempted murderer on their son becoming a martyr.

They should also be embarrassed by their hysterical response - no doubt instigated and manipulated by J Street - to the fact that they “had” to meet with Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor instead of Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon. The Prime Minister outranks the Foreign Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister outranks the Deputy Foreign Minister. Does it really make sense to complain about meeting with a higher ranking official?

Many people realize that J Street is not, as it claims to be, pro-Israel. But the other group which co-sponsored the trip and with which J Street has a well-established and at times inter-connecting relationship, Churches for Middle East Peace, does not describe itself as pro-Israel -- and with good reason.

Yet CMEP does tout itself, as J Street does also, as “pro-peace.” So guess what CMEP considers evidence of being “pro-peace”? In the 2009 CMEP conference document, all 10 points of their “2009 PRO-PEACE HILL HIGHLIGHTS” have to do with support and aid to the Arab Palestinians. The only mention of a “pro-peace” US government action having to do with Israelis is the “well-coordinated attack” by congressional leaders on Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and his policies.

Stop the settlements, stop Jews from building in parts of Jerusalem, eliminate all checkpoints, open the borders to Gaza, stop destroying the Gazan tunnels systems, say J Street and CMEP, and then the Israelis and all the Middle East terrorists will skip down the yellow brick road to peace.

But there is still another reason J Street should apologize to Israelis, to true lovers of Israel, and to their guest congressional delegation members. The trip itinerary, apparently arranged by J Street, included a visit on Tueday, February 16, with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.

Two days earlier it was revealed that Fayyad visited the parents of Faiz Faraj. Faraj was killed after charging a group of Israelis in Hebron and stabbing one of them.

During his “condolence” visit Fayyad “denounced in extremely harsh terms the actions of the ‘occupation forces,’” which he claimed were part of the “ongoing campaign to suppress the non-violent protests of residents,” according to the official Palestinian newspaper (translation by Palestinian Media Watch).

It is time to recognize that J Street travels in a parallel universe in which they see nothing wrong in having a diplomacy meeting with an Arab official who just described stabbing an Israeli to be an act of non-violence, and to honoring that “non-violent” stabbers’ parents for their wonderful son. In that universe, apparently, it makes sense for J Street to call itself pro-Israel. And in that universe, J Street’s buddy organization which shares the same alternate universe vocabulary - Churches for Middle East Peace - calls itself that with a straight face.



From: Jeremy Ben-Ami, J Street [mailto:info@jstreet.org]
Sent: Friday, February 19, 2010 9:07 AM
To: motigur@ca.rr.com
Subject: The choice we face




moti --

I've just landed in the US following an exhilarating week leading a delegation of five members of Congress to Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority. [1]

The trip, sponsored by the J Street Education Fund, exposed key friends of Israel in Congress to complexity on the ground, to divergent opinions and to first-hand controversy.

The Delegation visited Jerusalem, Ramallah and Amman, meeting with politicians in and out of government. We dined and debated with civil society leaders in Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority. We heard the first-hand powerful narratives of Israeli settlers, families in Sderot, human rights activists, Gilad Shalit's father, and descendants of Palestinian refugees.

With one notable exception - as you may know, we were placed under a so-called "boycott" by Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon. On the heels of telling the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations that J Street should stop calling itself something it's not (i.e., "pro-Israel"), Ayalon leaked to Israeli media word of a boycott of the group, supposedly preventing us from meeting with Israeli officials. [2]

Needless to say, the members of Congress were none-too-pleased, holding a press conference to express their shock and issuing a statement demanding clarification from the Government. [3]

For many - from Israeli political insiders and media to American Jewish leaders and politicians - this incident was just the latest in a series of indications that the Foreign Ministry in this Government is less an open front door to Israel than a checkpoint for ideological purity.

This week's spat between the Ministry and our Delegation deepens concerns about the increasing inability of some in Israel and in the US to distinguish between criticism of or disagreement with Israeli policy and outright hostility to the state itself. [4]

The more supporters of Israel put themselves in a defensive crouch, lashing out at the slightest hint of criticism, the less meaningful their entreaties will be when the threats are real and the enemies truly lethal.

Thankfully, within twenty-four hours, the Government in this case backtracked, apologizing to the Delegation. (See Jerusalem Post and Haaretz coverage of yesterday's apologies). [5, 6]

There is much beyond this controversy to share from the visit. We were struck by the disparity between the fierce urgency felt by many whose lives focus on solving the conflict and the lack of urgency felt by many others whose lives are more removed from day-to-day contact with the conflict.

We heard dramatically varying views on the state of American diplomacy - with some unsatisfied with the tactics, pace and results of the Mitchell effort to date, and others expressing great confidence in Senator Mitchell and highly appreciative of his patience, experience and skills.

We heard from those who believe that only if the threat from Iran is dealt with, can Israel with confidence turn to dealing with the Palestinian conflict - and from those for whom action on resolving Israel's conflict with the Palestinians is a step toward dealing with the Iranian threat.

The diversity of opinions is remarkable; the depth of passion unmistakable.

But I take away from the whole experience a troubling sense that beyond any particular issue of the moment - beyond Iran, Goldstone, Jerusalem, settlements, or Danny Ayalon - there is a fundamental conflict rising up to face the Jewish people as a whole.

There is in our community - and by that I include the whole of world Jewry as one people from Israel to the US and around the globe - a struggle developing between two camps with radically different visions of Jewish expression in the 21st century.

On one side of this struggle are those committed to our vision of time-honored Jewish and democratic values - grounded in respect for "the other," a tolerance for dissent, and a willingness to sacrifice territory for peace.

On the other side are those who seem willing to muffle dissent, view all conflict as zero-sum, and place retaining captured land and territory at the center of its value system.

For a while now, it has been popular to say that for Israel there is a choice ahead between the land, being Jewish, and being democratic. Many leading Israelis have come to see that it's possible only to have two of the three.

I think the choice for world Jewry is similarly profound and stark. As a people - do we line up with those who seek to hang on to all of "Greater Israel" and watch our Jewish and democratic values erode in Israel and in our community, or do we stand up urgently for territorial compromise and for behavior in Israel and in our community that reflects our cherished and long-held values?

More than ever, it's clear to me that we're not fighting simply over Israeli or American foreign policy. We're in a larger and more significant battle over who we are as a people in this new century and how our people are defined collectively for ourselves and for others by the behavior of the country that serves as our national expression.

We'll be in touch,

- Jeremy

Jeremy Ben-Ami
Executive Director
J Street
February 19, 2010

[1] The five members of Congress who traveled with the Congressional Delegation are Reps. Lois Capps (CA-23), William Delahunt (MA-10), Bob Filner (CA-51), Mary Jo Kilroy (OH-15), and Donald Payne (NJ-10).

[2] "Deputy FM Ayalon addresses Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations." Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, February 17, 2010.

[3] "Rep. Delahunt Statement on J Street Education Fund Congressional Delegation," February 17, 2010.

[4] "The Ministry for Isolating Israel," by Haaretz Editorial Board. Haaretz, February 19, 2010.

[5] "Diaspora Affairs: J Street 1: Ayalon 0," by Haviv Rettig Gur. The Jerusalem Post, February 19, 2010.

[6] "J Street: Criticism of Israel does not make us the enemy," by Barak Ravid. Haaretz, February 19, 2010.

Press Release: J Street Education Fund Congressional Mission Leaves for the Middle East, February 12, 2010.

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