Give J Street its voice
To the Editor:
I have read several accounts of the J Street convention and what I'm finding on the JTA is another attempt to delegitimize J Street. In a world where anything to the left of Ghengis Khan is "left wing," J Street is declared by the PR steamroller as anti-Israeli and anti-Zionist, which is a canard of the first degree.
Years ago, when I disagreed with the policies of Yitzchak Shamir's government policies, I was told by others in the Zionist discussion that I should not express any opinion that might be used by "Israel's enemies." I listened and I obeyed because I love Israel -- it is on my mind daily. I only want to see it succeed and prosper.
Then Yitzchak Rabin became prime minister and he changed the policies, so I was happier with his government. But the same sources that told me not to oppose policies of the Israeli government were vehement in their opposition to him and the government's policies. You know what happened to Rabin.
Aside from this greatest tragedy committed by a person who would probably approve of the current government's policies, I learned firsthand the meaning of that expression "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."
And now they are using the same tactics on J Street. Disagreement with the Netanyahu government's policies is "anti-Zionist." The articles are part of the often sincere dislocation of perspective in the community about what is going on in the seats of the Israeli government. Many Israelis acknowledge that Netanyahu's actions do not match his talk, and when it comes to peace he is only talk.
So it is easier to point out the most radical participants of the J Street audience than to understand how important J Street's voice is at this time. AIPAC is a giant of an organization compared to J Street, but J Street is too big for the sycophants of the current Israeli government. Give J Street its place in the Jewish community without making it sound like it is off the charts. Those who believe that J Street is off the charts have lost their compass.
Jerry Blaz
Tarzana, Calif.
Share
4 Comments
AIPAC,
J Street,
JTA,
Netanyahu,
netanyahu,
Yitzchak Rabin,
Yitzchak Shamir
Comments RSS Feed Reader Comments
Thankyou, Mr. Perlmuter, for your excellent rejoinder to Jerry Blaz’s letter.
Allow me to just add that we should bear in mind that a major funder of J Street has now been revealed to be George Soros. Mr. Soros is many things, but he has never been a supporter of Israel. Quite the contrary.
Irmgard Gesund
Abbas was quoted as saying that it was Obama’s idea to get a moratorium on settlement building before there were any peace discussions. This position has been a disaster for the peace process. If true, and it was Obama’s idea, then I wonder if he got it from J Street to whom he is supposed to be attached.
The problem I have with J Street is that I haven’t seen a single thing that they’ve done for Israel, either in suggestions or activities. Public relations wise, Israel is at her lowest ebb. If J Street has anything to offer that will improve Israel (or her own situation) why don’t they trot it out?
Leave a Comment
To leave a comment, you must first be logged in to JTA. If you are not registered, please click here.
Isaac Perelmuter
03/08/11 11:23 PM
Unfortunately Mr. Blaz believes J Street propaganda that it is a “pro Israel” lobby organization. He should look at its actions and not be “fooled” yet again as he says he was by certain governments in Israel.
In reality J Street blames Israel solely for the breakdown in negotiations and places no demands on the Arabs.
It claims to support Israel’s right to self-defense. However, has opposed every action Israel has taken to defend its people.
For example, it is against the security barrier which has effectively almost eliminated suicide bombers.
It opposed military action to stop Hamas’s rockets being fired at Jewish communities in the Negev.
It took the Turkish side during flotilla incident.
It has aligned itself with organizations that promote and support boycotting Israel. It also aligned itself with the extremely anti-Zionist U.S. Council of Churches.
In summary, if this is “pro-Israel”, I wish they would declare themselves pro-Palestinians (or Arab) - The state of Israel would be much better off.
Finally - to all those Jews in the US who are so “pro Israel” and align themselves with J Street because they do not like Israeli government policies, please move there and vote them out of office.