[Peace-discuss] J-Street

[David Green]

That's fine, but J-Street has opposed BDS:

"J Street was slammed by Palestine solidarity activists–including Israelis–for 
actively working with organizations such as the right-wing David Project, Stand 
With Us and the Jewish National Fund against the landmark divestment effort at 
the University of California, Berkeley.  After that episode, Jeremy Ben-Ami, J 
Street’s executive director, said that “J Street will not be signing on to 
letters with organizations like that in group settings again,” apparently 
conceding that J Street was wrong to do so.  And last June, during a Jewish 
debate on the BDS movement, J Street board member Kathleen Peratis said she 
would support the boycotting of settlement products (although this is clearly 
not J Street’s position).
But in a just-published interview with Hadassah Magazine, Ben-Ami says that 
“this very afternoon I have a meeting with people from Israel’s Foreign Ministry 
on how to address the BDS [Boycott Divestment Sanctions] movement.”
 
What exactly is J Street doing meeting with the Israeli Foreign Ministry over 
how to “address” BDS?
 
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/12/what%E2%80%99s-j-street-doing-meeting-with-israeli-officials-on-bds.html

 
But in the final analysis, it's not about inclusiveness (although I'm not at all 
impressed with the speakers list, and the only Palestinian there was Abueleish), 
but about their approach. It's an insider approach, an elitist approach, and I 
don't see why Palestinians would find it helpful or credible.
 
DG




________________________________
From: Robert Naiman <naiman at justforeignpolicy.org>
To: David Green <davegreen84 at yahoo.com>
Cc: Peace Discuss <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
Sent: Fri, March 4, 2011 11:36:04 AM
Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] J-Street

Lots of good people were at the J Street conference. There was a panel
at the conference on BDS. Here is the presentation made at the panel
by Rebecca Vilkomerson, Executive Director of Jewish Voice for Peace:
http://jewishvoiceforpeace.org/blog/remarks-at-j-streets-bds-panel


On Fri, Mar 4, 2011 at 11:31 AM, David Green <davegreen84 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Granted that Weiss is erratic, and often says the right thing for the wrong
> reasons.
>
> Last evening I got most of the way through a 90 minute J-Street panel which
> included an arrogant talk by Dennis Ross, and follow-up comments by Daniel
> Levy and Bernard Avishai after Ross left (also Roger Cohen). Ross treated
> the crowd like it was AIPAC, and got tepid applause (but applause
> nonetheless) for reassuring them about the "unbreakable bond" or some such
> thing. Are such people (I mean the audience) a constituency for a just peace
> for the Palestinians?
>
> The whole thing strikes me as insider politics, which is why I find it
> repulsive. The Palestinians need a revolution, and there will be no
> revolution from the top down. There isn't a Palestinian whose views and work
> I respect who would be in that crowd, I don't think. It's all based on a
> denial--especially noticable with Avishai--of the revolt against
> neoliberalism. That has to happen on the streets, not in such conferences,
> in any of the countries involved.
>
> DG
>
> ________________________________
> From: Robert Naiman <naiman at justforeignpolicy.org>
> To: David Green <davegreen84 at yahoo.com>
> Cc: Peace Discuss <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
> Sent: Fri, March 4, 2011 10:47:47 AM
> Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] J-Street
>
> Phil Weiss praises J Street:
>
> J Street is liberating Jews from Zionism. So far so good
>http://mondoweiss.net/2011/03/j-street-is-liberating-jews-from-zionism-so-far-so-good.html
>l
>
> On Thu, Mar 3, 2011 at 9:30 AM, David Green <davegreen84 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>>
>> Phil Weiss, no leftist, turns against J-Street.
>>
>>
>>http://mondoweiss.net/2011/03/ignoring-the-arab-spring-j-st-lobbies-for-more-money-for-a-govt-thats-cracked-down-on-protesters.html
>>l
>>
>>
>> "So the best J Street could do in lobbying was to push for aid to the PA
>> for a force that will crack down on Palestinian demonstrators -- in the
>> midst of revolutions against such forces all over the Middle East?"
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>
>
>
> --
> Robert Naiman
> Policy Director
> Just Foreign Policy
> www.justforeignpolicy.org
> naiman at justforeignpolicy.org
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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>
>



-- 
Robert Naiman
Policy Director
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org



      
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