Israel blasts lobby group touted by U.S.
Aaron Kline
Dec. 12, 2009
 J Street member and former Knesset Speaker Avrum Burg |
Israel's ambassador to the U.N., Michael Oren, called J Street "a unique problem in that it not only opposes one policy of one Israeli government, it opposes all policies of all Israeli governments. It's significantly out of the mainstream."
"This is not a matter of settlements here [or] there," said Oren, speaking to a synagogue convention, according to the Jewish newspaper The Forward.
Oren continued: "We understand that there are differences of opinion. But when it comes to the survival of the Jewish state, there should be no differences of opinion. You are fooling around with the lives of 7 million people. This is no joke."
J Street is a lobby group mostly led by left-leaning Israelis that receives funds from Arab and Muslim Americans.
The group brands itself as pro-Israel. It states on its website it seeks to "promote meaningful American leadership to end the Arab-Israeli and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts peacefully and diplomatically."
J Street, however, also supports talks with Hamas, a terrorist group whose charter seeks the destruction of Israel. The group opposes sanctions against Iran and is harshly critical of Israeli offensive anti-terror military actions.
Oren and other Israeli government members refused to attend J Street's annual dinner last month, headlined by James L. Jones, U.S. national security adviser.
J Street members have held a number of high-level meetings with the Obama administration.
A senior Palestinian Authority official recently told WND the Obama administration upholds J Street as an important voice regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The Powerline blog previously documented how far-leftist Israelis are influential in the J Street leadership, including former Knesset Speaker Avrum Burg, who generated controversy when he stated, "To define the state of Israel as a Jewish state is the key to its end."
Another key J Street member, Mideast expert Henry Siegman, has compared Israel to apartheid South Africa.