New Doves On The Block — J Street Boys Receive Early Support, Criticism

CRAWFORD, Texas A new wing of the Israel lobby emerged in Washington last month.

The group J Street took its name from a play on “K Street,” the infamous stretch of road where lobbyists set up shop, and the fact that its founders support the Jewish state of Israel.

The Jewish American contributors to J Street and its political action committee (www.jstreet.org) say that their mission is to challenge the dominance of right-wing, pro-Israel pressure groups like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

Though J Street claims to be pro-peace, its early critics and would-be supporters wonder how it possibly could while still supporting U.S. political candidates who are primarily pro-Israel.

All of J Street’s critics with whom the Iconoclast spoke supported any effort to lend alternative Jewish voices to the debate regarding United States policy in the Middle East.

“It’s always good to have new voices whose focus is on changing U.S. policy away from uncritical support for Israeli occupation. It’s very important when those voices come out of the Jewish community,” said Phyllis Bennis, director of the New International Program at the Institute for Policy Studies.

Bennis said that, being Jewish, she has chosen to work primarily in secular organizations because of her concern with the “problematic view” that says that Jews have more of a right to criticize Israel than non-Jews. She is on the steering community for the U.S. Campaign to End Israeli Occupation, a multi-ethnic multi-faith coalition of 250 organizations formed in 2002.

This coalition has members that support a two-state solution, as well as other solutions; however as a coalition, its overall position is equality, Bennis said.

“We’re not in the business of trying to decide for Israelis and Palestinians whether there should be one state or two states, for instance,” she said. “If there’s one state, it means equality within that state for all, no discrimination against them whether they are or aren’t Jewish. If there’s two states, it means equality in each state and between the states.”

Josh Rubner, a coordinator with the U.S. Campaign to End Israeli Occupation, told the Iconoclast that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands is a concern not only for the citizens of Israel but also Americans whose tax dollars purchase weapons that sustain the occupation.

“It’s really everyone’s concern, not just a particular community,” he said.

Rubner said that he questions J Street’s stance on changing those U.S. policies that contribute and support violations of Palestinian human rights, international law, and U.S. law the Arms Export and Control Act and the Foreign Assistance Act.

“I looked at their website. They are silent, for example, on the issue of U.S. military aid,’ he said of J Street. “The U.S. and Israel signed a memorandum of understanding last year in August to increase military aid to $30 billion over the next decade which is a 25-percent increase over current levels.”<