[Peace-discuss] J-Street

Fri Mar 4 16:52:42 CST 2011

I have long ago cast J-Street from my interest in organizations truly helpful for most Palestinians (not Abbas and his corruted cronies). It have been apologetic of Israel and its policies, but for an Israel-light, somewhat less oppressive, but still the oppressor. Any organization that has Dennis Ross as a speaker on the issues of the middle east is not one that should be supported by those looking for real justice there. Has JStreet condemned the Gaza invasion? How about the Lebanan attack? How about removing the colonial outposts in the West Bank? 

Jewish Voice for Peace is far better in representing justice for the Palestinians. The most effective and principled one from my perspective is End the Occupation…. In short, JStreet is too in love  (in bed with) with a Jewish Israel. 

To get a whiff of J-Street, here is a statement from their web page: What is omitted here tells the story.

Southern Israel and the Gaza Strip

J Street condemns the continuing rocket attacks on southern Israel from the Gaza Strip. J Street urges Egypt and the international community to take strong, responsible, and concerted action to prevent weapons smuggling into Gaza.

J Street is also deeply concerned for the welfare of Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit who was abducted by Hamas and remains in its captivity. J Street
calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Shalit and his safe return to his family.

More than eighteen months following Operation Cast Lead, Israel’s military response to rocket fire into southern Israel, Gaza remains a huge concern.
Hamas is still in control, the humanitarian conditions in Gaza worsened under the blockade of the territory, and rockets still land in southern Israel. As we seek security, stability, and long-term peace, Gaza poses some of the toughest challenges.

J Street supports internationally mediated efforts to bring Hamas and its supporters into a political process based on non-violence and acceptance of
a negotiated peace outcome. We don’t believe this requires direct US negotiations with Hamas, and we unequivocally reject Hamas’ use of violence
and terror and its anti-Semitic rhetoric.

J Street urges Israel and the United States to continue to address the humanitarian situation in Gaza, including fully implementing its stated policy of easing the blockade to allow a greater variety and volume of civilian necessities, including unrestricted amounts of all foods, to enter the territory. J Street urges Israel to continually review the maintenance of restrictions on goods essential to civilian life — such as fertilizers, water disinfectors and construction materials — to ensure that they remain only to the extent necessary to meet its legitimate security concerns.

Before it was eased, the blockade helped create an underground economy based on smuggling tunnels through which weapons, as well as basic necessities,
found their way into the Strip. Controlled by Hamas, the tunnel economy financially benefited Hamas and increased its strong hold on the Gaza Strip. We agree with Prime Minister Netanyahu’s assessment that easing the blockade so that non-military goods can pass into Gaza through aboveground, regulated border crossings will ease the humanitarian crisis while enhancing Israel’s security. It will also assist the aid community in its efforts and facilitate the reemergence of a private sector and business community in Gaza.

J Street urges Israel to lift the export ban on goods from Gaza, to allow the territory’s people to rebuild the commercial enterprises that will reduce their dependence on foreign aid and Hamas’ patronage.
J Street urges Israel to ease restrictions on freedom of movement from the Gaza Strip and between Gaza and the West Bank for those individuals who pose no security risk, most urgently those requiring medical treatment not available in Gaza. J Street also urges Israel to end restriction on students from Gaza attending universities in the West Bank and overseas. What better way to fight extremism in Gaza than to help young Palestinians obtain a better education?

J Street believes in advocating for justice for all people everywhere, especially those who are living in extreme poverty or distress. The civilians in Gaza who have committed no crime against Israel deserve opportunity, security, and education, just as all people do.

--mkb

On Mar 4, 2011, at 3:15 PM, David Green wrote:

> Notwithstanding my distaste for JStreet rhetoric, I'm open to a diverse movement, of course. My sense is that J Street wants to be its own movement, and shuns practical connections with those on the left that might conceivably be promising. Having one JVP speaker on an anti-BDS panel doesn't change that. I'm not interested in the left being bad cops to JStreet's Jewish good cop. If J Street is serious, instead of inviting Dennis Ross and posturing barely to the left of him, invite a real leftist for some serious discourse about the movement's strategy and tactics. But they're not willing to have their feet put to the fire. Watching Ross and the follow-up, it's just intolerable. The egos fill up the room to bursting. I can't imagine being in that room and not feeling physically ill. There's nothing whatsoever that speaks to reality and my concerns. Yet, the audience sounds raucous and enraptured.
> 
> 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 12:50:56 PM
> Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] J-Street
> 
> 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?"
> >>>
> >>> _______________________________________________
> >>> Peace-discuss mailing list
> >>> Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
> >>> http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> Robert Naiman
> >> Policy Director
> >> Just Foreign Policy
> >> www.justforeignpolicy.org
> >> naiman at justforeignpolicy.org
> >>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Peace-discuss mailing list
> >> Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
> >> http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Robert Naiman
> > Policy Director
> > Just Foreign Policy
> > www.justforeignpolicy.org
> > naiman at justforeignpolicy.org
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Peace-discuss mailing list
> > Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
> > http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss
> >
> >
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Robert Naiman
> Policy Director
> Just Foreign Policy
> www.justforeignpolicy.org
> naiman at justforeignpolicy.org
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Peace-discuss mailing list
> Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
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