Adam Kredo reviews J Street's likes and dislikes in the US Congress. Guess whom they consider Public Enemy # 1. Yup, you guessed it, Representative Joe Walsh (R-Il).
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.
FOR HIS unstinting support for Israel, Walsh has been subject to an unbridled assault by leftist American Jews. Ron Kampeas from JTA, for instance, attacked Walsh, accusing him of being no different than Israel's enemies who seek to destroy Israel by ending its ability to define itself as a Jewish state through what they refer to as the "one-state solution."
Kampeas blasted Walsh for suggesting that Palestinians unwilling to live under Israeli rule could move to Jordan which, with its 75-percent Palestinian majority, is effectively the Palestinian state. To back up his condemnation, Kampeas quoted Robert Wright's excoriation of Walsh in The Atlantic.
There Wright wrote, "Offhand, I don't recall a member of Congress in my lifetime saying anything so grotesquely at odds with American ideals about ethnic relations and for that matter basic human rights."
Caroline Glick writes that Walsh is right. I agree.
First, it is important to consider the claim that Walsh went against the grain of American ideals by suggesting, "Those Palestinians who wish to may leave their Fatah- and Hamas-created slums and move to the original Palestinian state: Jordan. The British Mandate for Palestine created Jordan as the country for the Palestinians. That is the only justification for its creation. Even now, 75% of its population is of Palestinian descent."
The fact of the matter is that the two-state paradigm rests on the assumption that the Palestinian state will be ethnically cleansed of Jews before it is established. Whereas Walsh somehow stands in opposition to American ideals for suggesting that the Palestinians may voluntarily immigrate to Jordan, Kampeas, Ben- Ami and their cohorts have no problem with the concept of a Jew-free Palestine and the forcible expulsion of up to 675,000 Jews from their homes in Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem simply because they are Jewish.
Aside from their pernicious hypocrisy and moral blindness, what stands out in their assaults on Walsh is that they cannot tell the difference between Israel's enemies that seek its destruction through the so-called one-state solution, and Israel's friends, who want it to defeat its enemies and live with security and peace. For the likes of Kampeas and Ben-Ami, there is no difference between Walsh and Israel's worst enemies.
PART OF this problem is their apparent unquestioning acceptance of the myth of a demographic time bomb. They seem not to have noticed that the Palestinian claim that by 2015 there will be an Arab majority west of the Jordan River is a complete fabrication.
The truth is that if Israel applied its laws to Judea and Samaria tomorrow and all the Palestinians in those areas received Israeli citizenship, Israel would still retain a two-thirds Jewish majority. Moreover, all the demographic trends for Israel, including increasing birthrates and positive immigration rates, are positive. And all the demographic trends for the Palestinians, including decreasing birthrates and negative immigration rates, are negative. According to Israeli demographic researcher Yoram Ettinger, by 2030, Jewish will likely comprise 80% of the population of Israel, Judea and Samaria.
So Ben-Ami's argument that Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria means the end of Israeli democracy is simply incorrect.
Israel has repeatedly said that it is waiting for a “willing partner” to return to substantive negotiations, and that a crucial step would be for Mr. Abbas to recognize it as a Jewish state. But Mr. Abbas said Saturday that such recognition was not his responsibility, suggesting that Mr. Netanyahu instead “go to the United Nations and change the name.” “Why he asks me? Why should I do it?” Mr. Abbas said. “I do not object. I do not reject. I’m telling you to go in the proper way to change your name. I am not the address.”
J-Street quickly issued a statement:
Mahmud Abbas's statement in a New York Times news article Friday dismissing the idea of a Jewish state is nothing short of a call for an end to Israel as the democratic home of the Jewish people. While Abbas’s views are extreme, they can no longer be dismissed as marginal and inconsequential as he is the leader of the people Israel is negotiating with for peace. Left unchallenged, his efforts run the risk of eroding the international consensus of what is necessary for the Palestinians to do for Israel for the last sixty four years.
Well, they didn't really. It wasn't Abbas's continued refusal to accept the idea that Israel is a Jewish state that they condemned. They condemned Representative Joe Walsh.
Rep. Joe Walsh’s (R-IL) call in a Washington Times op-ed Friday endorsing a “one-state solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – a “contiguous Israeli state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea” – is nothing short of a call for an end to Israel as the democratic home of the Jewish people.1 While Walsh’s views are extreme, they can no longer be dismissed as marginal and inconsequential. Left unchallenged, his efforts run the risk of eroding the bipartisan consensus that has governed this country’s policy on Israel for the last two decades.
Even though Rep. Walsh introduced a bill in the House in support of his view, in terms of the Middle East, how important is he? On the other hand Mahmoud Abbas leads the Palestinians and he is responsible for leading his people to peace. Abbas's continued rejection of accepting Israel as a Jewish state. Regarding Middle East peacemaking Rep. Walsh is marginal; but President Abbas is one of the principals.
Not everything Rep. Walsh wrote here is controversial. In Myth of a Two State solution he wrote:
Ever since the Palestinians and Arab countries refused to accept the Mandate for Palestine in the 1920s, the original two-state solution, the international community has been catering to Palestinian and Arab demands for a divided Israel. The Palestinians and Arabs, however, repeatedly have rejected those proposals, including the 1947 U.N. Partition Plan, which they are using to justify their demands for a divided Israel. Enough is enough. Why is the international community continuing to kowtow to these demands when, for 64 years, the Palestinians and Arabs have worked against peace? Israel is the only country in the region that has shown that it wants and will work toward peace. Since 1947, the Palestinians and Arab countries have fought more than five wars against Israel over territory, and at each opportunity, a victorious Israel has returned land it acquired in exchange for peace. The Palestinians have broken their word again and again. They continue to fire rockets directly at innocent Israeli families and children, and they have betrayed the fundamental tenet of the two-state solution they tout by cutting Israel out of negotiations and going directly to the United Nations. Moreover, the Palestinian Authority (PA) continues to incite violence against Israelis. It pays the salaries of imprisoned terrorists convicted of killing Israelis and glorifies suicide bombers at public events. The PA’s magazine Zayzafuna recently presented Hitler as a role model for Palestinian youth because of all the Jews he killed.
Everything is those two paragraphs appears to be accurate and should be of concern for anyone who claims to be pro-Israel and pro-peace.
2) The Hamas elections
If you've been following the mainstream media you would think that the most important recent stories about the Palestinians and Israel have been the formation of a new governing coalition in Israel and the hunger strike of Palestinian prisoners. But there's another story that you would have missed; unless you read Challah Hu Akbar - the Hamas elections.
The nature of the regime created by Hamas in Gaza, and its strength and durability, has received insufficient attention in the West. This may have a political root: Western governments feel the need to keep alive the fiction of the long-dead peace process between Israelis and Palestinians. One of the necessary components of this is pretending that the historic split between nationalists and Islamists among the Palestinians has not really happened, or that it is a temporary glitch that will soon be reconciled. This fiction is necessary for peace process believers, because it enables them to continue to treat the West Bank Palestinian Authority of Mahmoud Abbas as the sole representative of the Palestinians. But fiction it is. An Islamist one-party quasi-state has been built in Gaza over the last half-decade. The prospects for this enclave and its importance in the period ahead have been immeasurably strengthened by the advances made by Hamas’ fellow Muslim Brotherhood branches in Egypt and elsewhere in the region. Hamas has created a unique, Sunni Islamist form of authoritarian government in the Gaza Strip. It has successfully crushed all political opposition. It has created a security system in which a movement militia, the Qassam Brigades, exists alongside supposedly non-political security forces which are themselves answerable to Hamas-controlled ministries. It has imposed the will of the Hamas government on the formerly PA-controlled judiciary, and has simultaneously created a parallel system of Islamic courts.
3) The Valley of fear-mongering
I really wanted to ignore this story. It is that vile. Do not follow the links unless you wish to be offended and disturbed.
Valley is the cartoonist at The Forward, a Jewish left wing weekly newspaper and website. As of yet the Forward has not issued any statement about Valley's despicable cartoon. The left wing and liberal Jewish organizations who have no trouble finding (or manufacturing) antisemitic and anti-Israel inferences made by Republicans have been silent. Abe Foxman of the ADL to his credit has criticized Valley. The NIF which provides some funding for 972, has been silent too.
By its silence The Forward underscores how irrelevant it has become. What's more troubling is the silence of mainstream Jewish organizations of the really ugly sentiments expressed by Valley.
Congressman Joe Walsh (R-Il) writes that there is no more 'two-state solution.'
It reminds me of that definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. By that definition, everyone who continues to cling to the delusion of a two-state solution is insane. There is no such thing as a two-state solution. It cannot work, it has not worked, and it will not work.
The only viable solution for the Middle East is a one-state solution: one, contiguous Israeli state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. There will not and cannot be lasting peace in the Middle East until then.
Ever since the Palestinians and Arab countries refused to accept the Mandate for Palestine, the original two-state solution, the international community has been catering to Palestinian and Arab demands for a divided Israel. The Palestinians and Arabs, however, have repeatedly rejected these proposals, including the 1947 United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine, which they now are using to justify their demands for a divided Israel. Enough is enough.
Democrats in the US House of Representatives may soon have to choose between loyalty to Israel and loyalty to Obama. That's because Representative Joe Walsh (R-Il) is introducing a resolution expressing Congressional support for annexation by Israel of Jewish cities and towns in Judea and Samaria.
“We’ve got what I consider to be a potential slap in the face coming up with the vote in the U.N., which is absolutely outrageous,” Walsh told POLITICO. “It’s clear that the United States needs to make a very strong statement. I would argue that the president should make this statement, but he’s not capable of making it. So, the House needs to make this statement, if the [Palestinian Authority] continues down this road of trying to get recognition of statehood, the U.S. will not stand for it. And we will respect Israel’s right to annex Judea and Samaria.”
...
Walsh is moving forward with his resolution after meeting last month in Israel with Danny Danon, a deputy speaker of the Knesset and Likud Party member known for criticizing Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu from the right. Earlier this year, Danon introduced a bill that would annex all of “Area C,” a large portion of the West Bank that includes Jewish settlements and rural lands but would spare the largest Palestinian cities. Danon’s now leading a campaign to pressure Netanyahu to move forward with the unilateral annexation.
Walsh, who said he’d been considering a similar measure before arriving in Israel in August, confirmed that he and Danon “bounced some ideas off each other” on the resolution.
...
“This is perfect timing for us and the right decision for us, not just from ideological perspective but security perspective as well,” said Jonny Daniels, a senior adviser to Danon, who said he also worked with conservative commentator Glenn Beck when he was in the country last month for his pro-Israel “Restoring Courage” rallies.
Walsh says he plans to spend the rest of the week gathering cosponsors.
Maybe someone should ask the Democratic candidate in NY-9 how he would vote on this.
House Ethics Committee says members not allowed to attend Beck rally
The House Ethics Committee has barred members of the US House from attending Glenn Beck's Restoring Courage rally in Jerusalem on Wednesday saying that it is a 'political event.'
Glenn Beck let loose on Speaker John Boehner on Thursday after he was informed that the House Ethics Committee barred members of Congress from attending the radio host’s upcoming Restoring Courage rally in Israel.
“Speaker Boehner, you should be ashamed of yourself. The Republican Party should be ashamed of themselves. They don’t have to attend my event. Let them come to our biggest ally and only friend we still have in the Middle East in their hour of need,” Beck said after Rep. Joe Walsh (R.-Ill) told him the news on his show.
Walsh said he was told that Beck’s Aug. 24 rally in Jerusalem “had the appearance of a political event” and therefore Congress members “were rejected” from attending the rally, which is framed by Beck’s website as “an opportunity to demonstrate to the world that Israel does not stand alone.”
I don't understand this and I'm a lawyer. Why is Obama traveling around the US at taxpayer expense to raise money for his re-election okay, but letting a group of Representatives come to Israel on a fact-finding mission is not? And the Representatives were going to pay out of their own pockets! I think that's absurd.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
Adam Kredo reviews J Street's likes and dislikes in the US Congress. Guess whom they consider Public Enemy # 1. Yup, you guessed it, Representative Joe Walsh (R-Il). 
