J Street - Dangerous for the State of Israel

To those who might consider participating with J Street in any projects, let me issue a word of caution:

J Street is dangerous for Israel and the Jewish people.

They have an Executive Director, Jeremy Ben-Ami, who a) possesses an Israeli-sounding last name (it is), and b) has a father who fought in the War of Independence with Menachem Begin (he does; the elder Ben-Ami also purchased the Altalena). The man's Israel credentials are relatively untouchable. But let's take a closer look at J Street. Are they the mainstream organization they claim to be? Are they really pro-Israel, or are they merely a mouthpiece for liberal-, pro-Palestinian-, and in-actuality-supporters-of-a-discredited-peace-policy people?

1. J Street advocated for an early end to the 2008-2009 Gaza War, instead of supporting Israel's attempts to end the rocket attacks, once and for all, having endured eight years of them. True, they criticized Hamas' firing rockets, but also opposed Israeli military measures to stop those attacks. How would they have ended it? Just impose a ceasefire, during which Hamas can re-arm itself. This is pro-Israel?
2. Stephen Walt, co-author of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, has praised J Street's "Israel advocacy" in a Washington Post opinion piece. J Street was asked about this vote of confidence in a Jerusalem Post article, and responded, "There are plenty of people who talk about J Street that we don't agree with. Just because they mention us in an article doesn't mean that we therefore endorse their analysis. We don't come out with a statement on every person who's spoken about us." Fair enough, but when Stephen Walt praises you, should that not give the rest of us pause? One is known by one's enemies and by one's friends.
3. J Street conducted a rigged opinion poll of American Jews, in which they wrote the questions, conducted the poll, and analyzed the results. Brilliant! And who heads the firm which was "hired" to conduct the poll? A founding vice-president of J Street, Jim Gerstein. Simply incredible.
4. See also Shmuel Rosner's analysis of the J Street "poll," as well as Shmuley Boteach's opinion piece in the Jerusalem Post on J Street's condescension towards ideological opponents.
5. Rabbi Eric Yoffie (Rabbi Eric Yoffie!) wrote a scathing critique of J Street's response to the Gaza operation. When you are a liberal Israel advocacy group, and you have lost Rabbi Yoffie, things are not looking good for you.
6. See J Street's policy makers' comments in a flattering, it-could-almost-have-been-written-by-J Street-itself New York Times Magazine article. If their views on Middle East peace do not frighten you, then I really do not know what more to say.
   
7. Finally, please see my blog posting on, among other issues, J Street's willful misrepresentation (read lying) about a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) report. Referring to page 7 of the document, they claim the NIE estimates Iran having nuclear weapons capability in 2013 (which would allow time for more diplomatic efforts), whereas in fact, the NIE estimates this capability possibly as early as next year, 2010. But then again, this information does not fit with their agenda, so they lie about it. Read the report yourself, and then judge.

I urge all of you to read these articles. Do not be fooled by J Street. I do not believe they are anti-peace, as they accuse those of us on the right of being. I believe they do want peace, but are pursuing it through means which have been discredited time and time again. There is literally nothing that the Palestinians can say or do which will convince J Street, and like-minded people, that the Palestinians have no intention of ever making peace with a Jewish state.

As I wrote to a friend in July 2009, we have had sixteen years of pursuing peace according to the designs of the left. They have failed. It is time to give someone else a chance.