2012 J Street gala attended by democrat congresspersons, US military members (Ret.), Valerie Jarrett

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3/28/12, "Pro-Israel J Street Group Faces Growing Pains At Annual Convention," Huffington Post, Joshua Hersh

"At one cathartic panel on Monday, several members of Congress -- all Democrats -- described the group with the breathlessness of a religious revival.

"J Street is like an organization I've been looking for for 25 years," said Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas).

"We have a huge stake in not letting Israel and the Middle East become a political wedge issue," added Rep. David Price (D-N.C.). "I think the alternative voice that J Street has empowered -- speaking up for a point of view that often has not been received as the dominant point of view in this debate -- I think that's extremely valuable."

In this, and just about everything that took place through the weekend, Jeremy Ben-Ami, J Street's energetic executive director, took heart....

He'd love to have Republicans join the group, he said, and he'd loved to have the president address them: "At one point he will come. Maybe this president, or maybe another one, but we're sure it will happen eventually.""...Obama aid Valerie Jarrett and Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif. attended the J Street convention, as did members of the US military, retired, pictured below.

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At J Street convention, 3/25/12, Major Gen. (Ret.) Paul D. Eaton, Brigadier Gen. (Ret.) John H. Johns, Col. (Ret.) Lawrence Wilkerson, photo by jstreetdotorg



Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif. at J Street convention, 3/26/12, photo by jstreetdotorg

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"Unlike most Jewish organizations which were birthed with grassroots support, J Street came to American communities already packaged with a board, a statement of purpose, and funding. "...

3/13/11, "J Street: A dead end," American Thinker, Adrienne A. Price

"J Street's race for mainstream legitimacy will have long-term divisive effects on the American Jewish community.

Funded by mysterious donors who may be neither Jewish nor American, J Street has become the home for progressive rabbis, Jews who see Israel as the roadblock for peace, and dreamers who believe that jihadis just need to be understood...

J Street was the exception to the rule. Unlike most Jewish organizations which were birthed with grassroots support,

• J Street came to American communities already packaged with a board, a statement of purpose, and funding.

Progressive rabbis and some liberal Jews welcomed and heralded J Street as the answer to their political need, heretofore unmet, for a progressive Jewish organization whose raison d'être is to chastise Israel publicly and encourage the US to break with Israel on major issues.

Now J Street is campaigning for mainstream acceptance. In Westchester, New York, one chapter in the fight for J Street's acceptance is playing out, and in the process is opening divisions in the community....

Sunday night, March 6, Daniel Levy, a J Street Advisory Board member and Director at the New America Foundation, appeared in a synagogue in Westchester on a panel with former Presidential Spokesman Ari Fleisher, and Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-Westchester), moderated by the Jewish Week's Gary Rosenblatt. Gauging by the amount and timing of audience applause, the room was ideologically split.

• Mr. Levy opened by remarking on the uprisings now occurring in Arab countries as good news and predicted they will result in governments that will be a counter-balance to Iran and al Qaeda.

He said the revolutions are also good because they will allow us to deal with our Islamophobia here in the US....On the road to peace, he thought it was a good idea (for Israel) to meet with the Muslim Brotherhood."...


via Atlas Shrugs