|
Local 'J Street' advisor on D.C.'s new Israel PAC
By Michele Alperin
April 25, 2008
A broad swath of prominent Jewish liberals have formed a new Israel lobby, J Street, and an associated political action committee. The executive director for both is Jeremy Ben-Ami, a former domestic policy adviser in the Clinton White House.
"J Street was established in order to promote the idea that the single-most important step to be taken to ensure Israel's security is to reach a resolution to the conflict with the Palestinians and the broader Arab world," said Ben-Ami.
J Street claims to represent the mainstream views of the American Jewish community that politicians have not been hearing. "Most of our community favors trying to work toward a solution that would have security and self-determination for Israelis and Palestinians," said Ed Witten, professor of physics at the Institute for Advanced Study, resident of Princeton, and member of J Street's large advisory committee.
"Most America Jews and most Americans from all backgrounds strongly support our government working for a two-state solution," said Witten, "but often that is not the message that our elected officials hear." The goal of J Street is, in his opinion, "to ensure that a wider spectrum of opinion is heard by elected officials in Washington."
Witten was concerned that too often politicians are hearing from segments of the community that support the idea of a Greater Israel and are against negotiations. He offers as examples John Hagee, founder and pastor of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Tex., and Mort Klein, national president of the Zionist Organization of America -- neither of whom support a two-state solution.
Hagee, who is regarded as a prominent supporter of Israel, said Witten, "wants Israel to be strong and keep the occupied territories and be attacked by a Russo-Arab alliance, thus hastening the end of time." Witten wondered whether this kind of theological support is really in Israel's long-term interest.
What has happened in the United States when negotiations are at hand, said Witten, is that these supposedly pro-Israel groups push riders and legislative initiatives that complicate the president's hand. "The opposite never happens," said Witten. "They are never pushing elected officials to strongly back negotiations with the aim of coming to a solution of the problem."
Although Witten acknowledged fears about Israel's security that have prevented people from supporting negotiations, he added, "I don't think they are serious about what it means for Israel's future to keep the occupied territory, realistically what it will look like in 30 years if Israel keeps them."
Witten explained that in Israel the right has split in the last five years, and he quoted Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as having said, in essence, "Israel is done for if it doesn't get out of the occupied territories" -- Olmert himself having supported the creation of settlements for the previous quarter century.
Witten referred to an article by Gershom Gorenberg about J Street, posted on the liberal "American Prospect" Web site. Gorenberg's piece included a link to an article in Haaretz from April 4, 2008, by Yossi Verter, that quoted Ehud Olmert's speech to the Judea Brigade of the Israel Defense Forces Central Command. Olmert said, "I value your mission and your part in building up national strength. Judea and Samaria are strategically and historically important, but in my view, in the end we will have to leave most of the territories. I'm saying this with a profound sense of pain. I am a Jew who was raised all his life to believe that this is the Land of Israel, and I haven't changed my mind.
But the situation is difficult, and we have to decide. In my opinion, in its heart the nation has already decided."
Olmert also asked the officers to show compassion for the nation they were occupying. "You have to understand that a very large population of Palestinians lives here, and we have to find the smartest and most determined means so that until it [the withdrawal] happens, we will have maximum security, but will not create rifts [with them] that will cast a shadow over our lives here in the coming generations," he said.
Verter's article also alluded to changes on the Israeli political landscape, on the part of Olmert and others, that have created a "strange gap between Israeli political debate and political discussion about Israel in the United States. In Israel, mainstream politicians talk about giving up pieces of East Jerusalem; ex-generals and diplomats urge negotiating peace with Damascus and with Hamas."
Verter hoped that J Street might serve as a way to overcome that gap and thereby allow politicians in the United States to address issues like these, with the knowledge that they will be backed by constituents and donors.
Witten is hopeful that J Street will create a voice for American Jews who support negotiations and will be their conduit to American politicians who would like to take serious steps in that direction.
"Our Congress thinks being vocally identified with a two-state solution is a pure political loser," said Witten. "They think all who care are on the other side, because the majority hasn't been organized and made sure its voice was heard."
According to Witten, Former President George H. W. Bush paid a political price for the negotiations that started in 1991, as did Bill Clinton. "One reason the current Bush didn't do too much is because he saw that his father and others paid a political price," he said.
But J Street will be there to support a president who tries a more constructive approach, and Witten believed that we would be at a different place now if J Street had been started two decades ago.
"There are many issues like this in American politics, for example, gun control," said Witten. "Most Americans favor stronger gun control laws but that's not what the politicians hear, the minority that is opposed to the regulation of guns is the organized group. We're in a similar situation in policy toward Israel."
"I think pro-Israel policies that are pro-peace are better for America and for Israel," he added. "I don't think policies based on eternal warfare are good for either country."
J Street's PAC will be endorsing candidates who are going to promote diplomacy and a two-state solution, and J Street will be fundraising, building an online community, and lobbying in Congress.
"We don't feel anyone is actively promoting the peace process," said Ben-Ami, pointing out that when the Annapolis meeting took place, there were no full-page ads in newspapers lauding the idea or congratulating Bush and Olmert. "Where there may be rhetorical support," he concluded, "there isn't deep will. The support is not wholehearted, and that's why we are forming J Street."
|