J-Street is holding its first ever-national policy conference.
On Sunday evening at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in downtown Washington, D.C., J-Street opened its first ever-national policy conference. Officially founded over a year ago, the self-proclaimed “pro-Israel, pro-peace” lobby was birthed amid controversy. While J-Street positioned itself as the voice of mainstream American Jewish opinion on Israel, critics (myself included) argued it was a left-wing front far from the mainstream.
J-Street’s Executive Director Jeremy Ben-Ami opened the proceedings on Sunday by saying that among the 1000 or so attendees to the conference there were “doubtless 1000 opinions” with “1000 stories.” While surveying over a dozen of those opinions right before the conference officially began, one quickly comes to the conclusion that J-Street’s critics might have a point.
Said to be involved in “peace activism” for over 40 years, Barbara Taft came to the conference from Arizona. She sees J-Street “as the antidote to [the American Israel Public Affairs Committee],” the effective pro-Israel lobby which boasts wide support among Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill. Taft believes the whole Israeli-Palestinian problem stems all the way back to the way Israel was established by the international community in 1948. Asked whether she thinks Israel committed war crimes in the recent Gaza war, Taft said that “she has seen coverage from overseas which indicates that definitely much of what Israel did was in the category of war crimes.” As for whether Israeli leaders like former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Secretary Ehud Barack should face trial, Taft said yes, stating “I think the people who gave the orders that led to harming civilians probably should be [put on trial].”
As for dealing with Hamas, Taft sees the terrorist organization as broad ideologically as the democratic Jewish state.
“Hamas is made up of a fairly broad range of people like the state of Israel is,” she said of an organization whose charter calls not only for the destruction of Israel, but the killing of Jews generally. “There are people who can be dealt with and people who will refuse to talk. I think it is important to keep lines of communication open.”
Debra Hirshberg of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, said in an interview that in addition to both sides being plagued with weak leadership, settlements were a big hindrance to peace in the region. “The settlements should not only stop expanding but be dismantled,” she said.
While she believes both sides have committed war crimes in the recent Gaza war, Hirshberg doesn’t think there should be international war crimes trials since U.S. leaders aren’t subject to such trials. “I think the U.S. is open to the same kind of charges,” she said, adding, “Would I like to see Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld put up for war crimes? Yes, of course I would.”
Asked whether she sees one side in the conflict more to blame than the other, Hirshberg said no.
“No. I don’t think that there is one side more to blame,” she explained. “I think each side has a narrative that is very believable and that you just have to look at it from each perspective.”
Hirshberg also feels that Israel should accept the 20-year truce that she says Hamas has offered it. “They [Hamas] have offered a 20 year ceasefire…I think that should be accepted by Israel as a starting point.”
Dr. Warren Spielberg of Brooklyn, New York, said he has been working toward peace in the Middle East since 1973 through Americans for Peace Now, a partner organization to J-Street. Asked whether he thought the Goldstone report accusing both Israel and Hamas of committing war crimes in the Gaza War was fair, Spielberg said “it was more than fair.” He continued, “I think that Israel as a state with more power has more responsibility and more culpability. I mean, with more power comes more responsibility. Israel was an aggressor in the war.”
As to whether their should be war crime trials for Israeli officials, Spielberg said that “failing an internal investigation being done, yea, I think the UN should push it.”
Alan Sagner is a major contributor to J-Street and a member of its advisory council. He was emphatic in his belief that American Jews should “back our President” and “not tell him what to do.” His restraint with interfering in presidential decision-making didn’t extend to presidents who supported things he disagreed with, like President George W. Bush’s war in Iraq. Sagner also believes it is important for American Jews to intervene to save Israel from what he sees as its infantile actions.
“As American Jews, we have the same responsibility that a responsible parent has,” he said. “If you see that one of your dependents is doing something that is not in their best interest or in the families best interests, it behooves you to tell them that.”
Like so many at the J-Street conference, Sagner said he strongly supports President Obama in his push to stop Israeli settlement expansion.
ADVERTISEMENT
SPONSORED LINKS
A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?
digitalis| 10.27.09 @ 7:04AM
Well...now we are into the "they will eat their own" part of the debate. And people wondered why Jews were killed in the Holocaust? Gullible and too trusting are two words which come to mind. These "progressive" (PROGRESS?) Jews who follow the black sheep Obama will not wake up in time before he leads them off the cliff. What is hilarious is he might be able to pull it off since they are also of a mind that his color makes hime eminently qualified to "lead". In fact, it's long overdue! According to them. Madness has its own rewards.
Kn (Old Texican)| 10.27.09 @ 5:05PM
Digitalis,
Excellent comment...except, (sigh), I find I must correct your metaphor "leads them off the cliff..."
NO!
The correct metaphor is: "as Kapos leading them to the gas chambers and the ovens".
bluecollarbytes| 10.27.09 @ 9:14AM
Heavens forbid anyone 'telling' or even suggesting things to the messiah. It's our duty to shut up and back him.
One of these attendees hit the root of the real problem, Israel's founding. The very existence of Israel has no 'solution' but extermination in the minds and hearts of her enemies.
Cohini| 10.27.09 @ 9:26AM
Ms Taft (and many J-Streeters) seem to have short memories. How can you call it war crimes if Isreal is defending itself. The terrorists continually attack Jews; no agreement is possible because the Arabs lie, cheat, don't honor promises, or agreements. It is an honorable Arabic behavior pattern so long as they get their way. They won't make peace, they only want the entire middle ease without a living JEW. Iran's to blame also. Such a shame.
Eric Damon| 10.27.09 @ 9:36AM
These attitudes are the very epitome of the term "self-hating Jew". That Jewish people could actually accept and embrace the idea that Hamas is a broad based coalition of people, or that those defending Israel should be tried for war crimes goes to show how self hating many liberal Jews are.
Maybe it is a lack of connection to their religious roots, because I have a feeling that most progressive/liberal Jews are not practicing Jews, but are ethnic Jews. By that I mean they are not Jewish in practice, but are Jewish only by the accident of their parentage. Those Jews are a real danger to Israel, as they will actively work against the needs of the Israeli state in order to win favor with their liberal friends. That is just so disturbing and sad, to see people who understand neither the true history of their people, nor the danger that they remain in today in Israel.
Pingback| 10.27.09 @ 9:45AM
Twitter Trackbacks for The American Spectator : Obama's Jewish Lobby [spectator.org] links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
hoads| 10.27.09 @ 10:00AM
Another left winged front group attempting to subvert support for Israel. I attended a Jewish Policy Group panel discussion this week in Atlanta featuring Michael Medved, Douglas Feith, Michael Ledeen and Cliff May discussing radical Islam and American Israel policy.
Jews are getting the message about JStreet and are recognizing its threat. There was much frustration expressed at the obliviousness of fellow Jews (I am not Jewish) in their blind support of groups such as JStreet. I see hopeful signs that Jews are awakening from their slumber.
Pingback| 10.27.09 @ 10:10AM
The American Spectator : Obama's Jewish Lobby : PlanetTalk.net - Learn the truth , n links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
S.L. Toddard| 10.27.09 @ 10:14AM
As I've noted before, George Washington (our greatest Founding Father) presciently warned us that “nothing is more essential” than that “passionate attachments” for “particular nations… should be excluded,” because “the nation which indulges towards another a… habitual fondness is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to… its affection… which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest”.
Washington goes on to warn that “a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter without adequate inducement or justification. It leads also to concessions to the favorite nation of privileges denied to others which is apt doubly to injure the nation making the concessions; by unnecessarily parting with what ought to have been retained, and by exciting jealousy, ill-will, and a disposition to retaliate, in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld. And it gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens (who devote themselves to the favorite nation), facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own country, without odium, sometimes even with popularity; gilding, with the appearances of a virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable deference for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the base or foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation.”
Nothing could be more relevant to our relationship with Israel today. It’s almost as if Washington saw into the future and spoke directly to it. Alas, one finds little reverence for the ideals of the Fathers these days on either Left or Right.
S.L. Toddard| 10.27.09 @ 10:25AM
"There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism. When I refer to hyphenated Americans, I do not refer to naturalized Americans. Some of the very best Americans I have ever known were naturalized Americans, Americans born abroad. But a hyphenated American is not an American at all. This is just as true of the man who puts "native" before the hyphen as of the man who puts German or Irish or English or French before the hyphen. Americanism is a matter of the spirit and of the soul. Our allegiance must be purely to the United States. We must unsparingly condemn any man who holds any other allegiance."
- President Theodore Roosevelt, October 12, 1915, in an address to the Knights of Columbus, Carnegie Hall, NYC.
Serge from Wellington| 10.27.09 @ 3:12PM
To SLT:
So what the two of your posts above have to do with J-Street? The buggers don't call themselves Jewish-American but "American Jews". No hyphen, see? Are you happy now?
Pingback| 10.27.09 @ 10:37AM
The American Spectator : Obama's Jewish Lobby links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Bob Miller| 10.27.09 @ 11:01AM
I remind William R that the well-documented Arab concept is to remove all Jews from Israel. Whatever the Arabs say or so with respect to Israel has that goal in mind. Jews who fail to recognize that, or who do recognize that and support the Arab side, are ignoring obvious facts in favor of a twisted ideology.
Bob Miller| 10.27.09 @ 11:03AM
Above, s/b "or do", not "or so".
William R| 10.27.09 @ 12:27PM
Hard to believe but the American Spectator is censoring very reasonable posts on its blog.
Lu Dumak| 10.27.09 @ 1:13PM
The people that need to be removed are the Muslims, back to the sand piles where they came from. There never has been a Palestinian people, it is a made up name. There never has been a country called Palistine.
Ken (Old Texican)| 10.27.09 @ 5:14PM
Lu Dumak
Heh...there never have been "Palestinians" but there darned sure have been "Phillistines" for at least four thousand years.
You remember...the idolators Samson liked whacking? Heh.
William R| 10.27.09 @ 1:48PM
"If I were an Arab leader , I would never sign an agreement with Israel. It is normal, we have taken their country. It is true God promised it to us, but how could that interest them? Our God is not theirs. There has been anti-Semitism, Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault? They see but one thing: we have come and we have stolen their country. Why would they accept that?"
- David Ben-Gurion
1st Prime Minister of Israel
Doorgunner| 10.27.09 @ 2:46PM
Hooray for you, S.L. Tarded, you contemptible anti-semitic, leftist totalitarian-worshipping slug in libertarian drag: you've got a new friend, William R.
Tarded, perhaps sometime you and Billy could get together and give us all a lesson on the Grand Mufti, Haj Muhammed Amin al-Husseini and his time in the Balkans during WW II.
Serge from Wellington| 10.27.09 @ 3:06PM
William R citing Ben-Gurion: "They see but one thing: we have come and we have stolen their country. Why would they accept that?"
The answer to this question exists since time immemorial: they should accept it because they can do nothing about it. There is no nation not dwelling in the place of a previous one; any tribe takes it's hunting fields by force from the one who already occupies them. Isn't it so for Britain? France? the US? Russia? Spain? Germany? any Arab country?
So, Billy R, your favourite quatation may soud wise and peacelovin' but is really pointless.
As to the J-Street members, they're a dense mix of opportunistic scoundrels and plain fools with a strong self-hating leaven.
William R| 10.27.09 @ 4:55PM
Israel has three options.
1. Two state solution.
2. Ethnically cleans the Palestinians
3. One state solution. One person one vote.
Demographics are not in Israels favor. Our CIA thinks Israel could vanish within twenty years.
We should follow Reagan's advice when he wrote in his memoirs that the United States should be neutral in the region.
Pingback| 10.27.09 @ 4:05PM
Mark Olmsted: The New Epidemic: Entitlitus | Legal-Sleaze.com links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
DanH| 10.27.09 @ 4:30PM
All evil meets thrice daily at Jew Hate Junction.
William R| 10.27.09 @ 4:56PM
I see a few Sharptons and Jacksons around here.
sestamibi| 10.27.09 @ 6:00PM
Does Chava Gal-Or have a sister named . . . oh, never mind.
PCP Smoker| 10.27.09 @ 6:38PM
"While J-Street positioned itself as the voice of mainstream American Jewish opinion on Israel..."
Since most American jews are left wingers and socialists, would not J Street be, in fact, representative of the "mainstream American Jewish opinion on Israel"?
Pingback| 10.27.09 @ 8:23PM
The American Spectator : Obama's Jewish Lobby | Israel Today links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Steve-O| 10.27.09 @ 8:52PM
These snivelling, little self-hating Jews make me hurl. Obama will string them along by telling them they are oh so important to his Presidency and stroke their sad, confused egos until he can institute his dreamy "Civilian-Defense-Force"....which will then imprison all American Jews for being puppets of the facist Zionist State of Israel. My Uncle Yechiel, a survivor of Nazi labor camps... insists that this isn't a Hollywood absurdity.
Dan| 10.27.09 @ 9:35PM
Obama has surrounded himself with self hating Jews and and the liberal far left Jewish community. What am I talking about, they are the same. In reality they speak for very few Jews. However Jews, as a group, can't stop voting Democratic since Franklin Roosevelt, who wouldn't bomb the death camps to save lives. For a smart people, we are stupid.
Richard Baker| 10.28.09 @ 7:56PM
Would these clowns have had a dialogue with Heinrich Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich just to keep options open? Jewish liberals are the "most" mystifying segment of Judaism.
Adheeb| 10.29.09 @ 12:25PM
Being a non-Jew I was astounded when I learned that 78% of Jewish voters, voted for Obama. It was clear to me the Obama was not a friend of the Jewish state. On the other hand, evangelical Christians who are probably the best friend Israel has outside the Jews themselves, voted against Obama seeing him for what he really is. Well, now I see why. Obviously 78% of American Jewish voters are simply stupid liberals. Why did it take me so long to see it?
Anti-Israel-Socialist | 10.29.09 @ 5:28PM
THE ZIONIST-CAPITALIST-JEWISH MIND CONTROL OF ALL AMERICANS - A CASE STUDY
http://www.realzionistnews.com/?p=457
CONTROLLING THE PUBLIC MIND through the major and minor media is a prime component of Zionist Jewry’s (and their willing non-jew accomplices) quest for cultural dominance in America, a province once held by white Christian Americans.
Mass mind control is now an advanced and exact science having been perfected over the past century with the advent of radio and the following deluge of electronic media led by Jewish-dominated television and film, the most devastating mediums of propaganda and mental, cultural conditioning in history.
For the past several decades, the centerpiece of the Zionist’s control over general Western public opinion is their use of “Holocaust Remembrance” propaganda (see also Prof Norman Finkelstein’s The Holocaust Industry) to instill guilt for ‘Jewish victimization’ in the white Gentile masses, whose independent interests, open inquiry and unfettered voice, media-dominant American Jewry has successfully suppressed.
Extremist Jews have the means at their disposal through the press, screen, infiltration of public school curriculae, and sheer political muscle (AIPAC being the most obvious example) to engineer their particular narration of guilt-ridden history in order to form attitudes and actions that define for the non-Jew what a “righteous Gentile” is. View ADL’S Mind Control Of Gentile Children Here & Here.
The movie Schindler’s List, produced by the powerhouse Hollywood Jew, Steven Spielberg, is an example of Judeocentric determinism and socialization, if not downright re-education, of the non-Jew.
For the hero of Schindler’s List, German-born Oskar Schindler, is crowned a “righteous Gentile” who gets a free ticket to Jew Heaven for protecting Jews from the Nazis during WWII. In other words, “protect and defend Jews,” regardless of how immoral some of them may be, and one’s salvation is guaranteed.
That’s the ultimate message in ‘List,’ but make no mistake, for a non-Jew to feel instant ‘guilt’ even when the word ‘Jew’ is mentioned is the ultimate goal of Zionism and it’s Holocaust theme.
Recently, a Hollywood establishment member was asked if the Holocaust is not finally wearing a little thin as a film theme. He instantly retorted, paraphrasing, ‘No way! The Holocaust is the greatest story line in human history!”
A CASE STUDY
IN ZIONIST JEWISH MIND CONTROL
THE NOW LEGENDARY RADIO HOST and journalist, Jeff Rense, of Rense.com, has something on the order of 40-50 guests a month on his Radio Show representing an unprecedented diverse panorama of news, information and opinion. If someone has thought it, it has probably been mentioned in the 16 years the program has been on the air.
As a favor to a fellow journalist, Rense recently extended an invitation to an ex-attorney, Leo Donofrio, who has been chasing the spectre of Obama’s true birth place on the Internet and in court.
However, just over ten minutes before Donofrio was to present his work on the Rense program, he emailed the host and canceled his guest visit on October 8, 2009, scheduled for 9 PM Pacific Time. Fortunately Mr. Rense happened to glance at his computer screen and saw the email. In any case, Donofrio stated in his email to the show host and on his Blog, that he was canceling his appearance due to his “Holocaust” sensitivities. Here is part of that posted announcement and email:
I Have Canceled My Appearance On The Jeff Rense Radio Program
“I just went to the Rense.com site to get the feed for the show. At the site, sprawled on the front page is a huge picture of Holocaust denial advocate Ernst Zundel. While I do believe in free speech for all, I cannot risk being associated with anyone who denies one of the most horrific moments in history. The Holocaust was real and we can never forget the atrocity.” View Entire Announcement Here.
This was a strange and unusual thing to do to any host, most especially because the program had nothing whatever to do with the Holocaust. Jeff Rense responded to Donofrio via email with the following remarks:
“This is a tough position for you to put me in. If you are that afraid, you could certainly voice a disclaimer. The site Rense.com is not the Radio Show, although it is advertised there. As for David Dees’ art, it is one of a thousand opinions I present every month which is utterly crucial if we are going to sustain the First Amendment.
‘If we don’t believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don’t believe in it at all,’ said the renowned Jewish author, Noam Chomsky.
The text you allude to does not cross any boundaries and urges something World Zionism will never allow: An honest, REAL investigation of what truly happened in WW2.
What you don’t know and most don’t, is that Zionists DIRECTLY CAUSED the Holocaust. Read the works of a man who was there: The heroic Rabbi Michael Dov Weissmandl. Here’s one to start with: Ten Questions To The Zionists. It’s short and I trust you’ll read it. Also, Prof Norman Finkelstein’s book, The Holocaust Industry, would be very instructive for you.
Unless we support the rights of ALL, we support the rights of NONE.
I do not agree with all the material on my site, but I DO agree with the authors’ rights to be heard—just as I do you and YOUR valiant work…which has been suppressed by the controllers and the Zionist owned media with great energy.
How do you think Obama was installed as president? You might start studying Zionism to find out. All good wishes…Jeff Rense.” By Permission Of Jeff Rense @ Rense.com Here.
EXAMINING THE EVIDENCE
THE LAST-MINUTE VANISHED RADIO GUEST was apparently frightened off by a single piece of political art which appeared on the Rense News Site that described the plight of Zionist political thought prisoner Ernst Zundel and his wife Ingrid. Zundel has had seven YEARS of his life stolen because he asks questions about the true dimensions of the Holocaust. The art, by the world respected and brilliant David Dees, in a brief text addendum, alluded to the need of a full and open investigation of WWII and the Holocaust which Mr. Zundel has advocated for decades.
For the record, there are over 300,000 news stories on the Rense News Site…stories about Mr. Donofrio’s own AMERICAN government’s crime, fraud, theft, murder, pedophilia, prostitution, drugs, wars, mass genocide, financial gangsterism, environmental slaughter and catastrophe, and all manner of US horror. Apparently to most, these are acceptable as subject matter, including Mr. Donofrio, (as it appears), who expresses no fear at all of the ‘risk of being associated with’ these PROVEN and documented inhuman crimes and treasons perpetrated by his own government.
However, if a journalist on a net site presents even a few words challenging the politically-correct Zionist view of WWII, things change instantly, and any such questioning, however minute, must be avoided under the greatest of bone-shaking fear as possibly being perceived by Zionist special interest groups as somehow supporting views counter to their prevailing politically-correct mind control and history-shaping paradigms.
One may question and mock God, the Republic, the planet, but one dare not EVER question the Zionist version of WWII…a version so full of holes and contradictions it is literally screaming for an honest, forensic, academic investigation. History is written and created by the winners and the first casualty is always the truth. And no investigations are to be allowed.
Donofrio did not have the courtesy to reply to Mr. Rense’s return email (Rense had to scramble to fill the suddenly empty hour) and reportedly began censuring and erasing the comments Free Speech defenders tried to post on his Blog. At least one person tried to post a free speech comment on the Donofrio Blog only to have it erased each time. When Mr. Rense found out about this censorship, he felt compelled to send Donofrio a second email - asking him to please post his (Rense’s) remarks and feelings in the Comments Section of his, Donofrio’s Blog - to at least be fair and balanced:
“May I remind you dear Leo, that Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press must be kept at all costs. I did not in any way, shape or form ‘put you’ in anything. My site contains stories of the American genocide of 4 million Iraqi men, women and children since between Bush 41 and Bush 43.
It also contains full coverage of the 2 million Afghanis whom America has annihilated and displaced in the past eight years. That’s a genuine, documented 2 million as verified by the Red Cross and the United Nations.
You seem to have no problem with the US government denying that Holocaust. You are just another mind-conditioned victim who thinks those who suffered and perished in WWII are more important than those your government has slaughtered.
And what about the Palestinians who have been liquidated in Gaza in the last six months and sixty years? You can’t have it both ways, my friend. God’s ‘chosen’ are no better than any other group on the planet.
I expect you will be honorable enough to add my reply, in full, to your site under your statement. Respectfully, Jeff Rense.” By Permission Of Jeff Rense @ Rense.com Here.
Donofrio ignored Jeff Rense’s correct, polite request for fairness and to have his reply posted, and apparently continued editing out negative replies to his Blog to show unanimity for his bailout of the Rense program…over the tiny text of just one of the mass of news stories that runs through Rense.com around the clock.
All the more ironic is that Mr. Donofrio has been demanding a full and open investigation and disclosure of Barack Obama’s birth history, but a political artist/journalist (David Dees) calling for a full and open investigation of an aspect of WWII history as it has been shaped by the victors is poison…is to be avoided at all costs.
To this reporter, who grew up a 100% Jew, it is always sad to see anyone so conditioned, mind-controlled and fear-oriented as to be afraid to even *remotely* be connected with a version of history that has a growing mountain of questions about it and is crying out for a full investigation.
The Jews who died in the horror of World War II deserve nothing less. It is sad that some choose not to honor their memory by supporting (or at least staying neutral) the calls for a first, full and open scientific and forensic examination of the War and in particular what truly happened in the ‘Holocaust’ to Europe’s Jews, and of the clear and complicit role of World Jewish Zionism in their fate. The dead deserve nothing less. In the meantime, it is hoped that Mr. Donofrio is successful in his efforts in the Obama ‘birther’ controversy…and might choose a more enlightened path and wider world view in the future.
And thus, another American Gentile appears to have fallen
before the image of the Zionist beast and its dominance of history.
Why no investigation? What are they afraid might be found out?
Trackback| 12.24.09 @ 4:33AM
ny credit repair, on ny credit repair, links to this page. Here’s an excerpt: