The self-styled “pro-Israel, pro-peace” lobbying group is now in its tenth year; during most of this time it has benefitted from having a White House supportive of its goals. Indeed, its director stated that he and his colleagues saw themselves as the president’s teammates. Yet, writes Gregg Roman, J Street has precious little to show, especially since peace between Israel and its neighbors, let alone Palestinian statehood, seems as far off as ever:
J Street’s continued criticism of the Israeli government created a pseudo-Zionist political shield on the Jewish community’s left flank that the Obama administration used to blame Israel for actions largely caused by Palestinian obstinacy.
For eight years J Street supported President Obama’s destructive policies toward Israel, like the unilateral settlement freeze, nuclear détente with Iran, and his allowance for international condemnation of Israeli communities in the West. . . . At the end of 2008, when Israel decided to defend itself against incessant rocket attacks from the terrorist organization Hamas in the Gaza Strip, J Street attacked Israel’s defensive actions. . . .
J Street also placed itself out of mainstream pro-Israel circles when it invited prominent activists in the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement to its conferences and claimed that George Soros had not funded the organization until it became a matter of public record that he had in fact provided significant donations, especially during its formative years. All of these hits have left J Street and its combative but rarely reflective president Jeremy Ben-Ami’s reputation battered and bruised.
However, the latest election results have delivered the knock-out punch. If perhaps the only selling point J Street could point to for its potential donors in recent years has been largely unfettered access to the White House, even without any tangible results, this will now be completely removed from the equation by a victory for Donald Trump and Republican control of both houses of Congress. . . .
J Street has now become an organization vilified by former friends, distanced from the left in Israel, and distrusted by many more as a result of the mishandling of its own reputation. There is no doubt that J Street will try to reconstitute itself under the new political constellation, but it will probably turn into a sad Don Quixote-type figure, dreaming of moments of grandeur while parrying against imaginary enemies.
Read more on The Hill: http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/international-affairs/315404-j-streets-dead-end