Yasser Arafat sought peace with Israel, Jeremiah was a bullfrog, the Brooklyn Bridge is for sale, Brutus was an honorable man, and J Street is a “pro-Israel” organization. Not.
As a long-time student of American politics and the U.S.-Israel relationship, I am fascinated by the “J Street” phenomenon and grateful for the Jerusalem Post’srecent exposé “Muslims, Arabs among J Street donors“ by Hilary Leila Krieger.
The Post’s revelation raises additional questions about the group: How can J Street call itself “pro-Israel” while advocating positions that are at odds with the traditional “pro-Israel” agenda? Who stands behind the organization? Who makes policy and decisions? Why hasn’t the organization drawn the attention of investigative reporters, or is the press reluctant to challenge an organization that has emerged as Obama’s “toy Jews?” How did an upstart organization get an invitation to a White House meeting with the President just one year after its founding?
Research leads to serious questions about the true mission and direction of the lobby.
As the Post story made clear, one aspect of the lobby’s fundraising is open to public scrutiny: the 
U.S. Federal Election Commission’s list of the J Street Political Action Committee donors. It appears that the majority of J Street PAC’s contributors are liberal American Jews, but, according to the Internet-accessible FEC lists and the Post story, the PAC donors also include the Saudi Embassy’s lawyer, Arab American leaders, several employees of Islamic Centers around the U.S., board members of the de facto Iranian lobby in the U.S., Arabist American foreign service officers, a board member of the anti-Israel and discredited Human Rights Watch, and many other individuals known for their anti-Israel opinions and activities. Among the organization’s advisory council are former U.S. diplomats and public officials who later became foreign agents in the pay of the Saudis, Egyptians and Tunisians.
There are many cases of such subterfuge, and here are but a few:
- J Street lists on its FEC forms a contributor, Zahi Khouri of Orlando Fl
orida (pictured). The Jerusalem Post’s exposé revealed that he is a very prominent Palestinian entrepreneur and investor in Palestinian companies and funds. But the obfuscation gets worse. The J Street contribution forms filed with the FEC actually list Khouri’s occupation as “not employed.” Khouri’s supposed unemployment hasn’t hindered him from excoriating Israel in Op-Ed columns in U.S. newspapers. - Mary El-Khatib is listed as a “teacher” in the J Street PAC’s list of contributors. That doesn’t reveal that she also writes for the virulently anti-Israel Muslim Link and that she was also a founder of an Islamic school in Virginia where she teaches and involves her students in “civic activities” such as saving Palestinian schools from Israeli “demolition.”
- J Street’s director recently complained that critics of his PAC went looking for Arab surnames, but that’s not the case with PAC contributor James Vitarello. While Vitarello is listed by J Street PAC as a “housing specialist,” he is not identified as the national co-chairman of Middle East Network of United Methodists. He is highly critical of Israel and the author of a published ditty, “Palestine fought the battle of Gaza, Gaza, Gaza. Palestine fought the battle of Gaza. And the walls came tumbling down. Israel caged them in with impunity, Cut off gas and water, electricity, All with U.S. complicity, So the walls came tumbling down.”
J Street’s director must take the Post’s readers for fools when he claims "I think it is a terrific thing for Israel for us to be able to expand the tent of people who are willing to be considered pro-Israel.”
J Street proclaims on its Web site that (out of $850,000 raised) it contributed $575,000 to candidates in the latest election cycle, “more than any other pro-Israel PAC in the country!” Do these well-known detractors of Israel in J Street’s PAC know they are giving to an organization that advertises itself as “pro-Israel?” Or do the Arab-American and pro-Iranian donors give precisely because they perceive that the goals of J Street match their own: to weaken the State of Israel and undermine the U.S.-Israel relationship?
In the classic chicken-and-the-egg question: Does J Street set its policies to attract their donations, or do the contributors set J Street policies?
At the same time, do the well-meaning progressive and true friends of Israel know who else is filling the coffers at J Street and its PAC? They should look up the records on the FEC website and enter J Street PAC’s ID number C00441949.
(Continue)
Related: Exposing The J Street Fraud by Barry Rubin
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