[Peace-discuss] J-Street

[Robert Naiman]

So it has. I am not against any criticism of J Street over specific
issues. I'm against a sectarian, totalizing, ultra-left
Spartacist-style rhetoric against J Street that portrays it as an evil
cabal that is worse than AIPAC, and that claims that a broad assault
on J Street ought to be at the center of left critique.

In your last note, you implied that there was something wrong with
anyone who went to the J Street conference. I pointed out that Rebecca
Vilkomerson, Executive Director of Jewish Voice for Peace, was at the
J Street conference, where she gave a presentation on BDS. Doesn't
this fact imply that there is something wrong with the idea that there
is something wrong with anyone who was at the J Street conference?

Previously, you posted approvingly a note trashing a speaker at the
conference. I pointed out that the same source claims that J Street is
worse than AIPAC. Don't you think that claim is relevant to whether
that is a trustworthy source?

On Fri, Mar 4, 2011 at 12:18 PM, David Green <davegreen84 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> 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
>>
>> 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
>>>
>>>
>>> "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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>
>



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