I agree with some of the points Phil Giraldi makes here, (and have been receiving some mail today on the question of what are the American interests in the whole deal). But I think J Street is a big and dynamic enough phenomenon that it could well burst whatever boundaries its most conservative backers hope to keep it in. I’ve posted something on mondoweiss that gives another reason why I think it’s very good for all of us. Shorter version: since much of American establishment culture is Judeo-Christian, J Street’s effort to excise the hypocritical from the Jewish social justice narrative is something that ought to benefit all Americans.
More J Street
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5 Responses to More J Street
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Scott McConnell says:
Aaron,
The US is now involved in two major wars in the Mideast, and is contemplating another one. It seems to me much wiser to address the core underlying issues diplomatically (and Israel’s displacement of the Palestinians is certainly a major, probably the major one,) than to keep fighting the wars, which will bankrupt us. That was pretty clear to all of us when we started TAC. -
Good post at Mondoweiss. Questions from your short post here:
Who are J Street’s most conservative backers?
What boundaries are they hoping to keep it within? -
Norweigian shooter,
The boundaries would be roughly those delineated by the Israeli Labor Party, which would mean no willingness to engage Hamas, a great fear of things like the Goldstone Report (not shared by a lot of people at the conference) and a reluctance to engage with people –Palestinians mostly but not only them– who might hope for a realistic and just peace, but don’t necessarily have to preface everything they say with “I love Israel”. Also a reluctance to countenance American diplomatic pressure on Israel, (diminishing of aid, UN vetos, etc) that is the only way anything is going to happen.
Conservative perhaps an inapt word , but I meant close to AIPAC like status quo, in the defining the limits of how America should deal with the region. J Street faces the contradiction between wanting change and peace and being unwilling to back the kinds of things (a re-evaluation of American support for Israel) that might bring it about, for fear of losing its pro-Israel bona fides. I sympathize with the difficulties of the choices. The only one I strongly object to is the throwing of Steve Walt and John Mearsheimer off the bus. -
Thanks for responding. I’m trying to wade through an awful lot of commentary on the conference, but I’ve at least seen the Goldberg pre-conference interview, so I’ll so that to respond.
I agree that Ben-Ami has a very fuzzy notion of how the U.S. should hold our fire until final status negotiations and then strongly encourage Israel to relent. And I disagree with him on Walt/Mearsheimer. But J Street isn’t a top-down organization. I don’t thing they operate with a hope of containing anything. In fact, their express goal is to open debate on I/P issues. Ben-Ami:
“Well, I think that the biggest problem that J Street has actually been created to solve is the political atmosphere on Capitol Hill. Our mission is to change the dynamics of American politics when it comes to Israel and the Middle East.”
“One of the goals of J Street is to open up debate and discussion on these issues, to be able to talk about some very difficult things openly, that there are a lot of people who would prefer you not to talk openly.”
“I hope that we have a very strong left flank that attacks us, that Jewish Voice for Peace and other groups that are consistently upset with us for backing Howard Berman’s sanctions plan and for refusing to embrace the Goldstone report and for standing up for the right of Israel to defend itself or for its military aid — I hope we get attacked from the left because I would characterize J Street as the mainstream of the American Jewish community.”
I read the Mondoweiss post. Let’s have another global crusade for social justice, this time for the little Palestinian children. Worldwide social justice – that’s what TAC was established for, right?