Israel Matzav

J Street's public enemy # 1

Enemy number one on J Street’s political hit list is Rep. Joe Walsh (R., Ill.), a first-term legislator who has been among Israel’s chief defenders during his two-year tenure in the House.

Walsh attracted J Street’s ire earlier this month when he referred to the two-state solution as a sham and advocated for “one contiguous Israeli state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.”

His call led J Street to issue a red alert to its supporters calling for Walsh’s ouster from Congress this November.

“The policies endorsed by Representative Walsh are not pro-Israel and are not endorsed by the Israeli mainstream,” the group wrote in a press release. “It is time for the American Jewish community to call him out and make clear that he does not speak for us or for Israel’s democratic, Jewish future.”

Walsh bristled at J Street’s attacks in a recent interview with the Free Beacon.

“For a group like J Street who only claims to be pro-Israel to go after me for being pro-Israel makes no sense,” Walsh said. “They hide under the cover of ‘pro-peace, pro-Israel,’ but they’re pro-Palestinian.”

Walsh went on to deem the group politically irrelevant.

“No one from the middle to the right takes them seriously,” he said. “They’re almost a joke. They’re extremely toxic and so loudly in your face to anyone who takes even a little bit of a pro-Israel stance.”

In a video that has since been scrubbed from the Internet, J Street’s vice president for campaigns admitted that the group has a small political constituency and explained that its ultimate goal is to “move Jews” farther to the left in order to place them more in line with J Street’s own views.

In addition to Walsh, J Street has targeted New Hampshire Reps. Charlie Bass (R) and Frank Guinta (R), who both possess stellar pro-Israel credentials.

Labels: J Street, Joe Walsh, pro-Israel

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:22 AM