Israel Matzav

The enemy within

Once upon a time, Jews the world over supported whatever Israeli government was in power pretty much without question. This was particularly true of the United States, which was and is our number one (and often exclusive) supporter in the international community.

Over the years, the hard left eroded that support to the point where many Jews in the United States - including (according to surveys) most young Jews in the United States - no longer what goes on in Israel and no longer identify with the State of Israel. The left decided to respond to this phenomenon by creating organizations that were "pro-Israel and pro-peace." To that end, organizations like J-Street were founded.

The current IDF action is the first serious military action that Israel has undertaken since J-Street was founded. And that gives the new organization and some others like it a problem. You see, they're not "pro-Israel and pro-peace," but "pro-peace and pro-Israel." If having a State of Israel whose citizens can live, work, eat and sleep in safety means that we have to fight for it, these American and Israeli moonbats aren't interested in it. So regardless of the more than 3000 rockets that have been fired on Israel's Negev over the last seven years, these people will not agree that Israel has a right of self-defense. After all, self-defense is not peaceful, and is not in keeping with the Christian rule to which they aspire of turning the other cheek.

Do you think I'm exaggerating? Have a look at this (Hat Tip: Red Tulips).

And the might of the new progressive American Jewish infrastructure that emerged in 2008 — unapologetically pro-peace and pro-Israel — is undergoing its own test as well: How to effectively argue that an Israeli war is counterproductive to Israel’s long-term security while the bombs are falling.

“Absolutely,” said Jeremy Ben-Ami, executive director of J Street, a new liberal Jewish lobby group. “This is a real testing moment for those of us who honestly believe you can be supportive of Israel but questioning of steps its government takes.”

M.J. Rosenberg, director of policy analysis for the Israel Policy Forum, another progressive Jewish organization, was similarly blunt. “It’s put-up-or-shut-up time,” he said. “For a two-state solution, for the U.S. to be an honest broker — if all of us just sit back and say, ‘Israel had no choice [to bomb Gaza], then we’re just a bunch of phonies. But I don’t see that happening.”

Let's stop right there for a minute. These people never even entertain the notion that an Israeli war might help Israel's long-term security or that Israel really has no choice but to bomb Gaza. That just can't exist in their worldview. It can't be because they can't accept it. They can't face reality as it is so they bend and twist it into something it isn't.

Usually, when Israel finds itself at war, “our side gets cowed into silence,” Ben-Ami, a former domestic policy aide to President Bill Clinton, told the Washington Independent in April. So Gaza is the first test for whether that silence can be broken, and the expected pro-bombing statements made by U.S. politicians and media commentators demonstrates its uphill struggle.

Maybe because the US politicians (even including the likes of Nancy Pelosi!) got it right and the nouveau diplomats at J-Street got it wrong?

I'd be willing to dismiss J-Street and its ilk as a bunch of irrelevant raving moonbats, except that unfortunately there are a lot of Jews out there who have replaced Judaism with liberalism, and are willing to sign on to J-Street's creed.

On Sunday afternoon, J Street emailed supporters and asked them to endorse a statement: “I support immediate and strong U.S.-led diplomatic efforts to urgently reinstate a meaningful ceasefire that ends all military operations, stops the rockets aimed at Israel and lifts the blockade of Gaza. This is in the best interests of Israel, the Palestinian people and the United States.”

The appeal was accompanied by an anguished email written by online director Isaac Luria. “At this moment of extreme crisis, J Street wants to demonstrate that, among those who care about Israel and its security, there is a constituency for sanity and moderation,” Luria wrote. “There are many who recognize elements of truth on both sides of this gaping divide and who know that closing it requires strong American engagement and leadership.”

By 5 p.m. Monday, the organization said it had collected 11,870 signatures. Ben Ami said he would present the petition to the Obama transition team, with which the organization is in talks about appointments to Middle-East policy positions.

Oy vey! That's exactly what Jewish voters in Israel feared from an Obama administration: More Dennis Ross's and Aaron Millers and Dan Kurtzers in policy positions in an administration that's not quite so sympathetic to or knowledgable about Israel in the first place. And for those of you who think "the Clintons" are going to save us because Hillary is going to be Secretary of State, Hillary has had close ties to American Friends for Peace Now since before her husband became President! The kiss to Suha Arafat didn't come out of nowhere! But 11,870 people signed up to support them in about 24 hours. That's even more readers than I had on this blog yesterday!

But it gets even worse. Instead of coordinating with the government of Israel, as Jewish lobbying groups in the US have always done, these 'Jewish' groups want to coordinate with the 'Palestinians.'

Rosenberg anticipated forming a coalition with organizations like J Street and Americans for Peace Now, another progressive Jewish lobby group, as well as progressive Arab-American organizations like the American Task Force on Palestine — which has also called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza — to coordinate messaging and lobbying.

While coordinated efforts have not yet coalesced, some in the progressive Jewish community think that the “message is getting out there,” as Ori Nir, spokesman for Americans For Peace Now, put it. “It’s getting reported by Jewish and general media, getting it out to our base,” Nir said. “We sent out yesterday our statement and today an action alert calling on activists to send letters to President Bush urging what the press statement urged, and to President-elect Obama.”

In the statement, Americans For Peace Now’s president, Debra DeLee said, “While we hold – as we always have – that Israel has the right and the obligation to protect its citizens from attack and threats, we know that military power alone will not provide real, long term remedy for the threat that the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip poses to Israel. Israel needs stability on its border with Gaza. Such stability can only be achieved through a political process,” a sentiment echoed by organizations like J Street and the Israel Policy Forum.

Hussein Ibish, a senior fellow with the American Task Force on Palestine, urged progressive Jewish organizations to “be very clear with their Israeli friends that there isn’t going to be a military solution [to the conflict], just as we are with our Palestinian and Arab friends.”

They want to negotiate with Hamas over Israel's 'right to exist.' They actually believe that Hamas will keep to an agreement. Have they never read the Koran? Do they not know that no agreement is abided for more than ten years and that Muslims are permitted under Islamic law to abrogate agreements sooner if they find themselves in a position of strength?

These people are bad news.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:14 PM