Ackerman's J Street cutoff is a step in the right direction
In an earlier post, I reported that Congressman Gary Ackerman has cut his ties with J Street, the Liz Berney was the only true Republican to contest Ackerman's seat this past November. Some of you may recall that she was defeated in the Republican primary by a Democrat who was an Ackerman stalking horse. I emailed Liz to get her reaction to Ackerman's announcement. Here's what she wrote back.
This IS good news! I'm very pleased to see that Congressman Gary Ackerman is finally ending his relationship with the anti-Israel J-Street (which raised funds to re-elect Ackerman and endorsed Ackerman's position of pushing for further dangerous Israeli concessions). Congressman Ackerman's relationship with J-Street outraged people throughout our Congressional District.I hope Liz will run again in 2012 - and win.
However, several aspects of Congressman Ackerman's accompanying cut-off statement are of concern. First, we do NOT need any more so-called "aggressive pro-peace pro-Israel" organizations, as Ackerman states. J-Street is not the only culprit, and it is very troubling that Ackerman says that we need more organizations of the same ilk as J-Street. All of these leftist organizations (e.g., Peace Now, Brit Zedek v'Shalom, Israel Policy Forum, etc.) have a history of supporting policies that endanger our ally Israel’s security and continued existence. For instance, Brit Zedek recently defended Palestinian school textbooks, which preach hatred of Jews, Israel and America. These textbooks incite a new generation of Palestinians to continue violent attacks on Israel. The leftist organizations also continue to pursue the flawed "land and more and more concessions for empty promises of peace" model which has been proven time and time again to damage Israel's ability to defend herself (e.g. the Gaza withdrawal resulted in thousands of rocket attacks on southern Israel).
Second, when Ackerman calls Israel's unilateral lifting of hundreds of West Bank security checkpoints and 10-month settlement freeze "gestures of good faith," he misses the point that these "gestures" should never have been made, and were only made as the result of pressure from Obama and his administration (and perhaps due to Ackerman's own comments in Congress criticizing Israel and Israel's much-needed checkpoints). The lifting of checkpoints resulted in Palestinians murdering and injuring Israelis at locations which were previously protected by the checkpoints. The one-sided settlement freeze made life miserable for Israelis (while Palestinians continued to build thousands of homes in the West Bank) and gave the wrong impression that settlements are an obstacle to peace. The real obstacle to peace is continued Palestinian intransigence, terrorism, and determination to destroy Israel.
In addition to cutting ties with J-Street, Congressman Ackerman should also consider donating the money that J-Street raised for his re-election campaign to an organization that assists American and Israeli victims of Palestinian terrorism.
In any event, thank you, Congressman Ackerman for taking a step in the right direction.
Elizabeth (Liz) Berney, Esq.
Republican Committeewoman and attorney Liz Berney ran against Ackerman in 2008 and 2010.
Labels: Gary Ackerman, J Street, Liz Berney, Politics, US Politics
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:22 PM
2 Comments:
Liz Berney made some great points. Two jump out immediately:
1. That Gary Ackerman still wants to support "pro-peace" type of organizations. This is very disturbing to me but it's certainly not surprising. The type of organizations that would gladly surrender Judea and Samaria and the Golan Heights ( possibly even much of Jerusalem ) if it meant getting a " peace " agreement. Empty promises ( and a weakened defense ) are indeed a good description of what Israel would get in return. That certainly has been the case in the past with these horrific " peace" agreement. The bottom line from my perspective is that Ackerman would support the type of agreement that would greatly endanger Israel. In essence, with the country being divided into 2 pieces. There's no question that Mahmoud Abbas and Fatah/ PA in general are waiting for the opportunity to attempt to destroy Israel. Abbas would then have plenty of help from MANY Muslim Countries.
2. The damage that Gary Ackerman likely already caused by his comments in Congress that criticized Israel. In my opinion, that contributed to the family of 4 being murdered this past August, around Hebron. If not for the actions of Ackerman, including his support for Barack Hussein Obama, that family of 4 probably would still be alive. Not surprisingly, the murderer was already released because of Mahmoud Abbas, someone Ackerman has a track record of wanting to support. The fact that Gary Ackerman proudly admitted at the Manhasset League of Women voters candidates Forum back on Oct. 13, 2010 that he's an Obama Democrat still has me greatly disturbed. Basically, Ackerman told the audience and the world that night that Obama is more important to him than Israel. Unfortunately, Ackerman is far from being the exception to the rule. Yet, because of the perception that he's Pro-Israel and his status in the U.S. Congress (including on key committees ), the situation with Ackerman is more pronounced than it is with the vast majority of others. Even with the Republicans now having the majority in the House of Representatives, Ackerman is still a major player involving Israel and National Security.
Ackerman severing his ties with J Street is no different than Obama severing his ties with Rev Wright. Both were done for political expediency, not because of any change in outlook and policy.
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