Admit J-Street? May as well let in PLO and Fatah

On these pages, Rabbi Rick Jacobs, the president of the Union for Reform Judaism, advocates for admitting J Street to membership in the umbrella organization of American Jews, the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations. He is actively supported by Jane Eisner, editor of The Forward. The argument they make, appealing on the surface, is that the Conference is a tent big enough to accommodate different points of view.

It already does. And they are very wrong.

Conference members span the ideological spectrum from American Friends of Likud to Americans for Peace Now.

They may as well be advocating be the admission of Fatah and the PLO. All claim to want peace and are dedicated to the destruction of Israel. J Street is a front organization for the apostate George Soros. Differentiating among them is making a distinction without a difference.

Leftist Jeremy Ben-Ami is executive director of J Street, an organization that styles itself as a liberal advocacy organization. It is actively funded by the apostate George Soros, but covertly, giving Ben-Ami deniability. Ben-Ami, in the past, supported John Mearsheimer and claims to articulate a philosophy and an agenda of pro-Zionist, and pro-peace Judaism based on religious and humanist values.

He argues for a two-state solution and for U.S. efforts to promote it.

His professed love for Israel is a sham. Sadly, it appeals to some leftists who haven’t done their homework.

Ben-Ami has been called a Judas as well as “appallingly naïve” by many in the mainstream Jewish community.

J-Street has recently tried to mute its more strident and extreme views as it seeks to become respectable, by applying for membership in the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, the preeminent forum where 59 organizations, representing diverse segments of the Jewish community come together in mutual respect to deliberate vital national and international issues.

Official rhetoric of tolerance notwithstanding, a top J Street leader at Brandeis University harassed a pro-Israel student activist early Saturday morning, calling the student a “s–t bag” and telling him that “Jews hate you,” according to those who witnessed the incident.

According to Adam Kredo, writing in the Washington Free Beacon, “The incident is reminiscent of outbursts by pro-Palestinian activists on the University of Michigan’s campus who have reportedly called pro-Israel students ‘dirty Jew” and “kike.’”

Far from condemning their representative’s hateful, if naive and immature actions, J Street doubled down.

To increase J Street’s fundraising, Ben-Ami has tried to drum up more centrist support. He gave an interview to Jeffrey Goldberg a national correspondent for The Atlantic. He is staunchly Zionist but left-leaning. Ben-Ami (in Goldberg’s words) “declared himself a Zionist; condemned [John Mearsheimer’s and Stephen Walt’s 2007 book], The Israel Lobby [and U.S. Foreign Policy]; called America’s military aid package to Israel untouchable; and told me he hopes his group angers the non-Zionist left by staking out mainstream Jewish positions on Israel and the peace process.”

Ben-Ami denies support from Soros.

He lies.

Tax forms obtained by The Washington Times reveal that Mr. Soros and his two children, Jonathan and Andrea Soros, contributed a total $245,000 to J Street from one Manhattan address in New York during the fiscal year from July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2009.

The contributions represent a third of the group’s revenue from U.S. sources during the period. Nearly half of J Street’s revenue during the timeframe — a total of $811,697. Even more came from a single donor in Happy Valley, Hong Kong named Consolacion Esdicul, who also has been linked to Soros.

Ben-Ami himself claims that J Street is “not anti-AIPAC or anti-anything and willing to work with any organization that shares its overriding goal of a two-state solution.”

Soros, with a fortune valued at $7 billion, is unabashedly anti-Zionist.

I can only assume [J Street officials] have concluded that associating George Soros with an allegedly quote-unquote ‘pro-Israel organization’ may not be convincing to many who have followed George Soros and his views on the Middle East.”

David Harris, executive director of the American Jewish Committee

Soros himself does not deny his support of J-Street!

As disclosed by The Washington Times, Michael Vachon, a spokesman for Mr. Soros, said the billionaire “has made no secret of his support for” J Street.”

“Mr. Soros believes that J Street makes an important contribution to the debate on Mideast policy. While he is a financial supporter, he does not play an operational role in the organization nor influence its policy positions,” Mr. Vachon said.

Alexander H. Joffe, PhD, published a booklet entitled The Philanthropy of George Soros and the Arab-Israeli Conflict: How Soros-funded Groups Increase Tensions in a Troubled Region. It details how Soros funds anti-Zionist and anti-Jewish groups. His new book, written with Asaf Romirowsky and published by Palgrave Macmillan, Religion, Politics, and the Origins of Palestine Refugee Relief documents the history of Palestinian refugee relief from its inception. The refugee problem is what fuels the Arab-Israeli conflict and the leading obstacle to peace. Romirowsky and Joffe illustrate how the problem began, the international community’s first responses, the successes and failures, and offer concrete recommendations on how to deal with the issue going forward. Mainly, they expose the endless lies, falsehood and corruption that are orchestrated by Arab potentates to keep their grip on power.

Efraim Karsh, Professor of Middle East and Mediterranean Studies, King’s College London, UK, author of Palestine Betrayed endorsed the book and states,

Drawing on a wealth of recently declassified documents, this groundbreaking book tells the little-known story of the creation of the United Nations Relief and Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). A must read for anyone seeking to understand how the international community helped transform a secondary post-World War II humanitarian predicament into the world’s most enduring refugee problem and the foremost obstacle to Arab-Israeli peace.”

Soros is getting more overt in his anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism. As reported by The Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Soros says Jews and Israel cause Anti-Semitism.

Soros’ comments were called “absolutely obscene” by Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League.

Let’s understand things clearly: Anti-Semitism is not caused by Jews; it’s caused by anti-Semites,” said Elan Steinberg, senior advisor at the World Jewish Congress. “One can certainly be critical of Bush policy or Sharon policy, but any deviation from the understanding of the real cause of anti-Semitism is not merely a disservice, but a historic lie.”

We can’t be too surprised. Soros, an old Nazi collaborator, is on record as saying that he never had as much fun as in his Nazi days. Under subsequent criticism, Soros justified his actions at the time, excusing himself by saying he was only 14 years old. By collaborating with the Nazis, he says, he survived the Holocaust, conveniently ignoring that he turned on other Jews to spare himself.

The basic facts are undeniable. In his 1995 autobiography, Soros on Soros, Soros himself describes how as a teenager, he helped cart off the possessions of Hungarian Jews after they were sent to concentration camps. He acknowledged that this never bothered him, even though his father was Jewish and he grew up in a Jewish home. To this day, he says, he has no regrets for his actions. He excused himself saying,

Somebody would have done it.”

I rest my case.

David E Y Sarna is a writer and former entrepreneur. He has eight published books including his latest, Evernote For Dummies, V2. He has nearly completed his first novel about the Mossad and the Jewish treasures in the Vatican’s secret archives. He is hard at work on a book about the Talmud for general readers.