02 October '10
It’s been reported that plans are afoot to set to up a British organisation comparable to J Street, involving such leftwing Jews as Guardian journalist Jonathan Freeland (and presumably, though this is just speculation, with assistance from the New Israel Fund). I look on such a development with a jaundiced gaze; there are enough Israel-demonising groups in Britain today without adding to their number with a (yet another leftist) Jewish communal initiative. J Street’s plausible dishonesty has duped many well-meaning people into assuming that it has Israel’s welfare uppermost in its heart, and can achieve that aim more readily than AIPAC.
It’s hard to dispute Alan Dershowitz’s contention, made last March during its conference in Washington when he buttonholed one of its officials giving a press interview, that J Street has sown discord within the American Jewish community; it is a divisive force and damaging to Israel. "I reject J Street because it spends more time criticizing Israel than supporting it," Dershowitz declared. "They shouldn't call themselves pro-Israel.” He added that although he too opposes settlements, he makes “the 80 percent case for Israel”. The fact that J Street invited former U.S. Secretary of State Zbigniew Brzezinski – no great fan of Israel – to its March conference was an indication, he maintained, that J Street is “not pro-Israel". J Street has supported the odious slur on Israel that comprises the Goldstone Report, which prompted Colette Avital MK to quit as J Street’s conduit in Israel.
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