J Street

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J Street
logo
legal form Non-profit organization according to § 501 (c) (4)
founding 2008
founder Jeremy Ben-Ami
Seat Washington, DC
main emphasis Arab-Israeli conflict, Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Action space Israel, United States
Chair Morton H. Halperin
Managing directors Jeremy Ben-Ami
Employees 15th
Website jstreet.org

J Street is a Jewish-American lobby organization that is assigned to the liberal or left-wing liberal spectrum. It was founded in April 2008 and is described as an alternative or counterpart to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which is classified as conservative and is closely related to the Israeli party alliance Likud . According to its mission statement, it advocates a leading role for the USA in a peaceful and diplomatic settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict and the Palestine conflict . The organization stands for “a new direction in American politics in the Middle East: diplomatic solutions before military”, “multilateral versus bilateral approaches to conflict resolution” and “dialogue before confrontation”. But she also sees herself as pro-Israel and speaks out in favor of Israel's right to military self-defense.

In addition to the non-profit association according to § 501 (c) (4) IRC , the Political Action Committee ("Political Action Committee") J Street Political Action Committee (J Street PAC; own spelling: J Street PAC ) was set up as a formally independent partner organization , that can also make campaign donations.

Meaning of the name

The name "J Street" is a play on words and refers to K Street , which runs near the Capitol , the traditional seat of important lobby organizations, including the most influential pro-Israel and conservative lobby group AIPAC , and therefore a synonym for the Washington lobby establishment . However, there is no “J” street. The "J" stands for "Jew" or "Jewish". The name is intended to symbolize the desire of the founders and supporters of J Street, a new Jewish movement in Washington, mostly close to the Democratic Party, which has been missing so far, similar to the street "J" on the city map.

A European partner organization with similar goals is JCall .

Political goals

According to its website, the organization is trying to "change the direction of US policy in the Middle East" and wants to become the "political arm of the pro-Israel peace movement."

J Street supports Israel and its need for security for a Jewish homeland as well as the right of the Palestinians to a sovereign state of their own. According to its chairman, Jeremy Ben-Ami , J Street is neither for nor against individual organizations or other pro-Israel gathering movements such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). He said J Street was proud of the AIPAC's numerous achievements and made it clear that the two groups would differ more in their priorities than their views.

Regarding the need for a new interest and lobby group, Ben-Ami stated:

“J Street, however, was formed because there was insufficient verbal and political support for the standpoint that Israeli interests would be best served if the United States made it a top foreign policy priority to help Israel achieve real and lasting peace not just with the Palestinians, but with all of its neighbors. "

Alan Solomont, a founder of J Street, a former federal treasurer of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and later fundraiser of the Democratic Party , has expressed the need of J Street:

"We have heard the voices of neoconservatives , center-right Jewish leaders, and Christian evangelicals , and the majority views of the American Jewish community have not been heard."

J Street's official political positions as of August 2009 were:

  • on Iran : J Street supports the efforts of US President Barack Obama to involve Iran diplomatically. J Street is not in principle against further sanctions against Iran as part of US policy with the aim of preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. J Street points to a US intelligence report that it is likely that Iran will not become a nuclear power before 2014.
  • on the conflict with the Palestinians: J Street believes that a permanent two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is both in the fundamental American interest and essential for the survival and security of Israel as a democracy and safe home for the Jewish people.
  • on the status of Jerusalem: The final status and borders of Jerusalem should be negotiated and resolved as part of an agreement between official Israeli and Palestinian governments and recognized by both peoples. J Street supports a two-state solution in which Jewish residential areas would fall under Israeli and Arab residential areas and Palestinian sovereignty. The organization considers Jerusalem to be the capital of Israel and believes that the city would be internationally recognized as such in the course of a two-state solution.
  • On Israeli settlement policy: J Street believes that Jewish settlements in the occupied territories have been an obstacle to peace for more than 41 years. The settlements have drained Israel's economy, military and democracy and eroded the country's ability to uphold the rule of law.
  • on the conflict with Syria : J Street believes that an Israeli-Syrian peace treaty would make a significant contribution to the stability and security of the region and wants the US to encourage Israel and Syria to negotiate accordingly, taking into account previous talks between Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin , Benjamin Netanyahu , Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert should be linked.
  • Regarding the relationship with the Arab world : The organization supports the USA actively mediating both in a reconciliation between Israel and the Arab world and in establishing diplomatic relations and granting relevant security guarantees in connection with a comprehensive peace solution. J Street sees the Arab peace initiative proposed by King Abdullah ibn Abd al-Aziz as a possible framework for an Arab-Israeli peace.

construction

The organization was composed of Jewish members when it was founded, but is open to both Jewish and non-Jewish members. J Street and J Street PAC were founded in April 2008 and are legally independent organizations with different political functions.

  • J Street is a not-for-profit group that is recognized as a charitable group under Section 501 (c) (4) of the Internal Revenue Code . The stated aim is to promote “support for a strong US leadership role in the settlement of the Arab-Israeli and Palestinian-Israeli conflicts through peaceful and diplomatic channels”. As a nonprofit, J Street is prohibited from sponsoring candidates for political office under the US Campaign Expenses Act.
  • J Street PAC, on the other hand, is a Political Action Committee that is allowed to make direct campaign donations. J Street PAC provides political and financial support to candidates seeking election or re-election who share J Street's goals.

management

The executive director and founder is Jeremy Ben-Ami, a former domestic policy advisor to the US administration under Bill Clinton . Ben-Ami's family made victims in the Holocaust , and his grandparents and parents were citizens of Israel, where Ben-Ami himself lived and witnessed Palestinian attacks. Ben-Ami was active for many years in Jewish peace groups such as the Center for Middle East Peace and the Geneva Initiative-North America .

Former members of the government, political experts, association officials and scientists sit on the advisory board. They include the former member of the Israeli government Daniel Levy , who played a leading role in the Geneva initiative , Franklin Fisher and Debra DeLee from the Americans for Peace Now group , Marcia Freedman from the Brit Tzedek v'Shalom group , the Middle East policy expert Democratic Party Robert Malley , former Israeli Foreign Minister Schlomo Ben Ami , former United States Ambassador to Israel Samuel W. Lewis and former US Senator Lincoln Chafee .

activities

The organization works in the areas of political fundraising and lobbying on Capitol Hill in Washington.

Fundraising

J Street PAC, as the Political Action Committee, raises funds to support a number of candidates in Senate and Congress elections.

For the 2008 congressional election, J Street PAC planned to raise approximately $ 300,000 to give to candidates in 3 to 5 controversial counties.

Eventually, the organization raised $ 600,000 and said 33 out of 41 supported candidates won their seats.

The vast majority of donors are US Jews, according to J Street. Annual donations by the Jewish philanthropist George Soros and his family amounted to around seven percent of the total budget, according to the NGO in 2010. Federal Election Commission records show that dozens of Arab, US Muslim and Iranian interest groups donated tens of thousands of dollars to J Street, a small percentage of the group's donation income. Among the donors was the Lebanese-American businessman, board member of Amideast and former board member of the Arab-American Institute Richard Abdoo and Genevieve Lynch, who is also a member of the board of the National Iranian American Council .

Lobbying

J Street seeks to influence bills and laws related to Israel at the headquarters of the Congress and Senate on Capitol Hill in Washington.

The budget for the first year of 2009 was $ 1.5 million, compared to AIPAC's more than $ 100 million. The founders of J Street hope to generate high income through online donations, following the example of the Move On campaign and Barack Obama's election campaign.

In April 2009 the Washington Post rated J Street as the leading pro-Israel Political Action Committee . J Street had impressive success in fundraising and voting in its first year, including the entry into Congress of 33 of the candidates it supported .

Public reactions

After the founding was announced in mid-April 2008, political commentators were divided on J Street's prospects for success. While Israeli-American writer and political analyst Gershom Gorenberg suggested that J Street could "change not only the political map of Washington but the real map of the Middle East," Noah Pollak suggested in Commentary Magazine that J Street's attempt would fail and show that no "large battalions of American Jewish pigeons are languishing in speechlessness."

Ken Wald, a political scientist at the University of Florida, predicted that the group would be attacked by the "Jewish right" and accused of being anti-Israeli, and that much would depend on the version of J Street's arguments.

James Kirchick called it "ridiculous" that J Street classed AIPAC as "right-wing". According to Kirchick, AIPAC was the first American Jewish organization to support the Oslo peace process and a two-state solution. In addition, Kirchik believes that several of J Street's positions, such as support for negotiations with Hamas, are not shared by most US Jews. Kirchik later also criticized J Street for having approved of Caryl Churchill's play Seven Jewish Children about the Gaza War , which was widely criticized as anti-Israel and anti-Semitic . He accuses the organization: "For J Street, the piece is worth performing precisely because of its outrageous message."

Rabbi and President of the Union for Reform Judaism , Eric Yoffie , called J Street's response to the war in Gaza at the turn of 2008-09 "morally deficient, completely unrelated to Jewish sentiments, and also repulsively naive." The organization replied Yoffie's comment that if her views are naive and morally flawed, it is also the views of many Israeli journalists, security professionals, distinguished writers and retired Israeli Forces officers for asking the same questions as J Street about the attack in Gaza.

According to Caroline Glick, editor of the Jerusalem Post , J Street is anything but pro-Israel. She accuses J Street and her allies of having made it clear through their actions that a weakening of Israel is in the interests of their organizations. Their goal is to damage Israel's position in Washington and to weaken the influence of the middle of the American Jewish community that supports Israel.

Lenny Ben-David, a former Israeli diplomat and now AIPAC lobbyist, questions J Street's pro-Israel stance. Ben-David questions why people known to be non-pro-Israel would donate to this organization.

Prominent supporters (selection)

Israelis

Weblinks (English)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Young, Jewish, "J Street" , Deutschlandfunk, September 26, 2009.
  2. ^ Rita Schwarzer: The doves of "J Street" - About the liberal Jewish community in the USA. In: Journal Panorama , Ö1 , February 24, 2011.
  3. ^ Dan Eggen: Year-Old Liberal Jewish Lobby Has Quickly Made Its Mark. In: Washington Post , April 17, 2009.
  4. ^ About J Street , J Street , accessed April 29, 2008.
  5. ↑ J Street supports Israel's right to self-defense ( memento of the original from July 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , J Street homepage.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / jstreet.org
  6. ↑ a b About the J Street PAC ( Memento of the original from April 25, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , J Street PAC , accessed April 20, 2008.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.jstreetpac.org
  7. ↑ No 'J' Street in Washington, DC , Snopes , May 25, 2007, accessed April 30, 2008.
  8. ↑ a b c d James Besser: New PAC To Offer Pols A Dovish Mideast View ( Memento of the original from April 3, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , The Jewish Week , March 26, 2008, accessed April 29, 2008. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.thejewishweek.com
  9. Jump up ↑ Search followers, stand up , Jüdische Allgemeine, June 12, 2008.
  10. ^ "J Street is the political arm of the pro-Israel, pro-peace movement. (...) We support a new direction for American policy in the Middle East. " About J Street, J Street , accessed April 29, 2008.
  11. ^ About J Street, J Street , accessed April 29, 2008.
  12. ↑ Shmuel Rosner: Jeremy Ben-Ami, Executive Director of the new pro-Israel dovish lobby, J Street, will answer questions ( Memento of the original dated May 30, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked . Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Interview with Jeremy Ben-Ami, Haaretz , May 29, 2008. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.haaretz.com
  13. ^ A b Michael Abramowitz: Jewish Liberals to Launch A Counterpoint to AIPAC , The Washington Post , April 14, 2008, accessed April 29, 2008.
  14. ↑ a b c "J Street has been started, however, because there has not been sufficient vocal and political advocacy on behalf of the view that Israel's interests will be best served when the United States makes it a major foreign policy priority to help Israel achieve." a real and lasting peace not only with the Palestinians but with all its neighbors. ", Gary Kamiya: Taking Back the Debate Over Israel on Salon.com, April 29, 2008, accessed April 30, 2008.
  15. ↑ "We have heard the voices of neocons, and right-of-center Jewish leaders and Christian evangelicals, and the mainstream views of the American Jewish community have not been heard", Alan Solomont after: M. Abramowitz: Jewish Liberals to Launch A Counterpoint to AIPAC. In: The Washington Post. dated April 14, 2008, accessed April 29, 2008.
  16. ↑ [1]
  17. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original dated May 6, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / jstreet.org
  18. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original dated May 6, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / jstreet.org
  19. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from November 21, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / jstreet.org
  20. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from October 19, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.jstreet.org
  21. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from September 18, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.jstreet.org
  22. ^ "Support strong American leadership to end the Arab-Israeli and Palestinian-Israeli conflicts peacefully and diplomatically.", About J Street, J Street , accessed April 29, 2008.
  23. ^ A b c d Max Deveson: Jewish lobby gains new voice , BBC News , April 16, 2008, accessed April 26, 2008.
  24. ↑ The J Street Advisory Council ( Memento of the original from April 20, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , J Street , accessed April 29, 2008.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.jstreet.org
  25. ^ Richard Silverstein: J Street, New Israel Peace Lobby, Launches , www.richardsilverstein.com, April 17, 2008, accessed May 5, 2008.
  26. ^ US Jewish lobby challenged by 'pro-peace' rival , The Daily Telegraph , April 18, 2009.
  27. ↑ J Street receives no funding from any foreign government or agent ( Memento des Originals dated December 16, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , J Street Blog.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / jstreet.org
  28. ↑ J Street Says George Soros Is a Major Donor. In: Forward from September 24, 2010, accessed on March 20, 2018
  29. ↑ a b Hilary Leila Krieger, Muslims, Arabs among J Street donors , The Jerusalem Post , August 14, 2009, accessed August 15, 2009.
  30. ↑ Washington Post , April 16, 2009.
  31. ^ "Might change not only the political map in Washington but the actual map in the middle east", Gershom Gorenberg: J Street on the Map , American Prospect , April 15, 2008, accessed April 30, 2008.
  32. ^ "Great battalions of American Jewish doves languishing in voicelessness.", Noah Pollak: Taking It to the (J) Street ( Memento of the original from April 20, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Commentary of April 15, 2008, accessed May 2, 2008. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.commentarymagazine.com
  33. ↑ Street Cred? Who does the new Israel lobby really represent?
  34. ^ "To J Street, the inflammatory message of Seven Jewish Children is precisely what makes it worthy of production", James Kirchik, Self-loathing on J Street In: Jerusalem Post , April 12, 2009.
  35. ↑ "morally deficient, profoundly out of touch with Jewish sentiment and so appallingly naïve" Eric Yoffie: On Gaza, scythe, and centrism In: The Forward .
  36. ↑ Statement in Response to Rabbi Eric Yoffie's Comments in the Forward ( Memento of the original from January 18, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , J Street .  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.jstreet.org
  37. ↑ Caroline Glick: The Lonely Israeli Left , Jerusalem Post , July 30, 2009.
  38. ^ Israeli Supporters. J Street website, accessed March 20, 2018