New Jewish Lobby to Redefine Israel
WA****NTON, April 16 (Antiwar) - A new group of prominent U.S. Jews who
believe that the so-called "Israel Lobby" has been dominated for too long
by
neoconservatives and other Likud-oriented hawks has launched a new
organization to help fund political candidates who favor a two-state
solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and a stronger U.S. role in
achieving it.
Almost two years in the making, the J Street project plans to spend some
$1.5 million - about half of which has been pledged to date - in its first
year of operation, a ****tion of which will go to sup****ting half a dozen
congressional campaigns for candidates who share its pro-peace and
pro-Israel views.
"For too long, the loudest American voices on Israel have come from the
far
Right," noted Jeremy Ben-Ami, a founder and director of both J Street and
its political-action affiliate, JStreetPac.
"Those voices have claimed that the only way to be pro-Israel is to
sup****t
military responses to political problems, to refuse to engage the
Palestinians in dialogue and to put off the day of reckoning when hard
compromises will be required to achieve a peaceful and secure future for
Israel and the entire Middle East," he told re****ters via teleconference
Tuesday.
"These are not the kind of smart, tough views that serve the long-term
interests of the state of Israel, of the United States - or frankly, the
American Jewish community," he added.
The new project has been endorsed by some two dozen prominent Israelis,
including three former directors of Israel's foreign ministry, a former
chief of the Israel Defense Forces General Staff, a former commander of
the
Israeli air force, and several other top former top military and
intelligence officers.
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