Listening to the speech given to the United Nations, by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, reminded me of an article I was trying to write a month ago about a lobbying group not readily known. This organization touts itself as a Pro Israel group promoting peace and diplomatic stability in the Middle Eastern region. The groups name is J Street. I discovered the existence of this organization while reading the blog American Thinker. At first, I could not believe that Israel would have to take this avenue for our attention since we regard this Middle Eastern Nation our closest ally next to Great Britain. As a Nation, with our Christian beliefs, Israel is an extension of us, in an area of the world which can become extremely volatile in a heartbeat. But, in our society, politics plays a major role in what makes the world go around. It is because of these politics, lobbying for legislative support, becomes imperative. Such lobbying is in full swing today as the threat of a Nuclear Armed Iran, threatens the security of Israel and all of the Middle East.
The following is a statement from the J Street website; http://www.jstreet.org/about/about-usJ Street is the political arm of the pro-Israel, pro-peace movement.
J Street was founded to promote meaningful American leadership to end the Arab-Israeli and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts peacefully and diplomatically. We support a new direction for American policy in the Middle East and a broad public and policy debate about the U.S. role in the region. J Street represents Americans, primarily but not exclusively Jewish, who support Israel and its desire for security as the Jewish homeland, as well as the right of the Palestinians to a sovereign state of their own - two states living side-by-side in peace and security. We believe ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is in the best interests of Israel, the United States, the Palestinians, and the region as a whole.J Street supports diplomatic solutions over military ones, including in Iran; multilateral over unilateral approaches to conflict resolution; and dialogue over confrontation with a wide range of countries and actors when conflicts do arise. For more on our policy positions, click here.J Street will advocate forcefully in the policy process, in Congress, in the media, and in the Jewish community to make sure public officials and community leaders clearly see the depth and breadth of support for our views on Middle East policy among voters and supporters in their states and districts. We seek to complement the work of existing organizations and individuals that share our agenda. In our lobbying and advocacy efforts, we will enlist individual supporters of other efforts as partners. J Street is itself a 501(c)(4) organization and is part of the J Street family of organizations, which includes an independent, legally unconnected Political Action Committee, JStreetPAC.
The following is a Policy Statement from J Street;
http://www.jstreet.org/page/policy
Policy
J Street advocates for American policies that, in our view, advance the national interests of the United States, as well as the long-term interests and security of the state of Israel.
With hundreds of thousands of troops on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan, instability in nuclear-armed Pakistan, an economy deeply dependent on Middle Eastern energy imports, and the possible development of nuclear weapons by Iran or others, the United States clearly has serious national, security and economic interests at stake in the Middle East.
The following links lead to J Street policy positions in nine different areas related to the Middle East – each outlining our key positions and principles.
J Street believes the policies it endorses improve the chances that America can promote a more stable and secure Middle East, an outcome that would serve the U.S. national interest, as well as Israel’s.
Our policy platform is based on the view that American interests require robust and strong diplomatic engagement to promote the interests of our allies and potential allies, and to check and try to alter the unhelpful actions of our adversaries. We firmly believe that engaging with problematic leaders and states is the basis of a smart and tough foreign policy that promotes American interests, deploys a full diplomatic tool-box, and avoids precipitous and unnecessary military conflagrations. We favor - where possible - diplomatic solutions over military ones and multilateral over unilateral action.
Central to our approach is a negotiated end to the Arab-Israeli conflict, which we believe must be an American foreign policy priority and can lead to a much-needed new regional security architecture.
Now, like all organizations, there is opposition to J Street and their beliefs. The following is an article from Commentary Magazine written by Noah Pollak. Feel free to click on his name to view his continuing commentary on this group and American Israeli relations. (Interesting reading);
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/pollak/48751
J Street: An Anti-Israel Group
Noah Pollak - 01.02.2009 - 9:49 AM
Rabbi Eric Yoffie is president of the Union for Reform Judaism, and is a very liberal fellow. Yet even for him, J Street’s campaign to undermine and discredit Israeli self-defense has gone too far. Taking J Street out to the woodshed over its statements on Gaza, Yoffie says that the group
could find no moral difference between the actions of Hamas and other Palestinian militants, who have launched more than 5,000 rockets and mortar shells at Israeli civilians in the past three years, and the long-delayed response of Israel, which finally lost patience and responded to the pleas of its battered citizens in the south. “Neither Israelis nor Palestinians have a monopoly on right or wrong,” it said, and it suggested that there was no reason and no way to judge between them: “While there is nothing ‘right’ in raining rockets on Israeli families or dispatching suicide bombers, there is nothing ‘right’ in punishing a million and a half already-suffering Gazans for the actions of the extremists among them.”
These words are deeply distressing because they are morally deficient, profoundly out of touch with Jewish sentiment and also appallingly naïve. A cease-fire instituted by Hamas would be welcome, and Israel would be quick to respond. A cease-fire imposed on Israel would allow Hamas to escape the consequences of its actions yet again and would lead in short order to the renewal of its campaign of terror. Hamas, it should be noted, is not a government; it is a terrorist gang. And as long as the thugs of Hamas can act with impunity, no Israeli government of the right or the left will agree to a two-state solution or any other kind of peace. Doves take note: To be a dove of influence, you must be a realist, firm in your principles but shorn of all illusions.
J Street’s appalling missive concludes: “This is our moment to show that there is real political support for shedding a narrow us-versus-them approach to the Middle East.” What if you shed an us-versus-them approach to Hamas, but Hamas doesn’t shed its us-versus-them approach to you?
J Street in the past has been unrealistic, silly, and dishonest. But its treatment of the Gaza crisis is simply contemptible. Are there any limits to the group’s capacity for self-delusion about the nature of Hamas? May we now conclude that J Street is incapable of recognizing when it is staring genocidal fanatics in the face?
It is time that thinking people started calling J Street what it actually is — an anti-Israel group.
In previous articles I have written about K Street and C Street lobbying groups. I can now add J Street to a list I am sure will continue to grow as I study and write about politics, government and just about anything else that I wish to give an opinion on with this blog. I do believe Israel is, and should always remain, as staunch an ally as Great Britain and all other nations of practicing Christian beliefs. Though I do believe in diplomacy, I hope the Administration of President Obama, does not handcuff Israel if, that nation feels it needs, to exert force to protect itself and the interests of the free world. The development of Nuclear Weapons that could end up in the wrong hands needs to be addressed aggressively and with finality. I believe Prime Minister Netanyahu sees and believes the same. I support whatever force Israel needs to use to eliminate any and all threats in their region. Are you listening Iran?
That’s How I See It.
Websites of reference;
http://www.americanthinker.com/
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/08/j_streets_arab_and_muslim_dono.html
http://www.jstreet.org/
http://www.jstreet.org/about/about-us
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/they-re-doing-the-j-street-jive-15103?search=1
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2008/12/sorosinfluenced_groups_make_in.html
http://www.americanthinker.com/static/about_us.html
http://www.jstreetpac.org/pac/about_the_pac
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/pollak/48751
http://www.jstreet.org/page/policy
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