J Street Backs Effort to Condemn Israel at the UN

Jonathan S. Tobin
Commentary/Contentions
21 January '11

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/tobin/387413

Once again, the left-wing lobby J Street is twisting the definition of “pro-Israel” beyond recognition. With the Palestinians and their allies at the United Nations poised to launch another attempt to brand Israel as a pariah, the group that claims that their allegedly “pro-peace” stand is the true path to being “pro-Israel” has now called upon the Obama administration to find a way to vote for the measure rather than vetoing it.

The measure, which will formally brand Israel as a violator of international law because of its settlement policy, has been endorsed by other so-called “pro-Israel” figures such as Peter Beinart who have claimed that it is the duty of “liberal Zionists” to save Israel from itself (which is to say that they disagree with the verdict of Israel’s voters, who sensibly rejected J Street’s preferred candidates at the ballot box and believe that the result of the last election should be overruled by American fiat).

While their assumption that building Jewish communities in the West Bank and in those parts of Jerusalem that were illegally occupied by Jordan from 1949 to 1967 is utterly false, many Israelis and friends of Israel do not support building throughout the territories. But the point here is not whether it is wise to put down new settlements in areas that would almost certainly be given to the Palestinians in the unlikely event of peace. (And the reason why peace is unlikely has nothing to do with settlements and everything to do with the fact that the Palestinians have refused to accept the legitimacy of a Jewish state no matter where its borders are drawn.) The goal of Palestinian diplomacy is to isolate Israel and to brand it and its policies as the sole obstacle to peace.



Though J Street’s statement tries to draw a distinction between the Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem and the settlements that exist close to the untenable 1949 armistice lines and other bad settlements elsewhere, the point of the resolution is to treat the homes of more than half a million Israeli Jews as “stolen” property that must be given up by Israel if it expects to be allowed to survive. Far from advancing the cause of peace, this resolution will serve to make it even more unlikely, since what would follow its passage would be an international campaign for divestment and boycotting of Israel that would be based on the supposed legal imprimatur of the UN.

That is why anyone who claims to be a friend of Israel must call on the Obama administration to fulfill its obligation as an ally and veto this resolution. An American vote in favor of this measure, no matter how it is worded, or even an abstention, would send a loud signal to the world that Obama has abandoned the Jewish state. This would not only damage Israel; it would also embolden Arab and Islamist rejectionists to dig in their heels and make even the theoretical chance of a peace deal even less plausible. It would also heighten the chances of another round of violence from Hamas and Hezbollah.

That J Street would choose to endorse this resolution, however weasel-worded that endorsement might be, is yet another sign that this George Soros–funded entity is hopelessly out of touch with mainstream pro-Israel sentiment and is, in fact, more likely to side with Israel’s foes in a pinch (as it did when it opposed Israel’s counteroffensive against Hamas terrorists in Gaza in December 2008) than with its friends.

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