J Street - Controversy

Controversy

On Sept. 30, 2010, The Washington Times reported that J Street facilitated meetings between South African judge Richard Goldstone and members of Congress in November 2009, causing Jeremy Ben-Ami to tell The Jerusalem Post on October 1, 2010, that his staff had made “two or three” such phone calls to U.S. politicians and relayed their response onward, but that after those initial inquiries were made, his organization decided not to become involved because of Israel’s attitude toward Goldstone, saying "J Street did not host, arrange or facilitate Judge Richard Goldstone's visit." Colette Avital, former member of the Knesset from the center-left Labor Party and for a time J Street's liaison in Israel said that one of the reasons she resigned from J Street was its connection with Goldstone.

On December 30, 2010, The Washington Times reported that J Street "paid tens of thousands of dollars to a consulting firm co-owned by its founder and president, Jeremy Ben-Ami." "Even if it's technically legal, it gets very messy when you have these sorts of deals going on because, if you're going to benefit on the other end of it, be it 100 percent or 5 percent, it raises questions about objectivity and the arms' length in the transaction," said Ken Berger, president of Charity Navigator. "Mr. Ben-Ami declined repeated interview requests, but provided a statement through a spokesman: "I founded Ben-Or together with Oriella Ben-Zvi in 1998. When I left in 2000, I relinquished all rights to ongoing compensation from Ben-Or in any form. I have received no payments from the company in the past 11 years and have had no role in the management or operation of the firm."

In January, 2011, liberal Jewish congressman Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y, cut ties with J Street over J Street's recommendation to the Obama administration not to veto a proposed U.N. resolution condemning Israel, saying "I've come to the conclusion that J-Street is not an organization with which I wish to be associated." He also said, "The decision to endorse the Palestinian and Arab effort to condemn Israel in the U.N. Security Council is not the choice of a concerned friend trying to help. It is rather the befuddled choice of an organization so open-minded about what constitutes support for Israel that its brains have fallen out. America really does need a smart, credible, politically active organization that is as aggressively pro-peace as it is pro-Israel. Unfortunately, J-Street ain't it." In a press release, J. Street noted that it had not endorsed the resolution, was advocating policies that would keep the resolution from coming to a vote, and if that failed was urging the US to change the resolution language to be in line with US policy.

At the J Street February 2011 conference's opening speech, Rabbi David Saperstein, director and chief legal counsel at the Union for Reform Judaism's Religious Action Center for more than 30 years, said that he is "among J Street’s most fervent fans", though he shared his concerns regarding J Street’s recent recommendation to the Obama administration not to veto a UN Security Council resolution condemning Israel. Saperstein added, "If you alienate your mainstream support you risk losing everything."

A Jerusalem Post editorial expressed concern regarding the individuals invited to speak to the February 2011 conference. They included Rebecca Vilkomerson, executive director of Jewish Voice for Peace, whom the newspaper described as an "adamant proponent" of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel; Mustafa Barghouti, leader of the Palestinian National Initiative, described as a BDS advocate who took part in the Free Gaza Flotilla; and Michael Sfard, an attorney who, according to the newspaper, "advocates international 'lawfare' against Israel". Israeli Members of Knesset were among those who voiced concern. "I have my own criticism of the current government, but there have to be limits, and this organization is doing tremendous damage to Israel," said Kadima MK Ze'ev Bielski, a former Jewish Agency chairman. At the same time, other MK attended and spoke at the conference, including Daniel Ben-Simon, Yoel Hasson, Amir Peretz, Nachman Shai, and Orit Zuaretz.

In March 2011, MK Otniel Schneller (Kadima) said to Ben-Ami during a Knesset committee meeting: “You are not Zionists and you do not care about Israeli interests. Fifty rockets a day are fired on the South and you fight against the American veto against condemnations of Israel. You are not Zionists and you do not care about Israel. Only here in Israel do we determine Israeli democracy, and you cannot determine what Israel’s interests are.” Ben Ami responded by saying, “An absolute parameter has to be the recognition of the fundamental right of the Jewish people to their own state. There are plenty of people, even within the American Jewish community, who are anti-Zionist and who do not recognize that right. Second, they must recognize Israel’s right to defend itself against threats – Israel must be strong, because it lives in a hard neighborhood, as we’ve even seen this morning.”

In November 2011 J Street board member Kathleen Peratis visited with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The meeting was controversial in the pro-Israel community. J Street opposed it ahead of time and condemned it afterward.

In July 2012, J Street launched an ad campaign against two U.S. Representatives who do not support a two-state solution. The representatives were Joe Walsh (R-IL) and Allen West (R-FL). In response, West said that "J Street’s efforts to attack me only embolden my stand for our greatest ally and my spiritual home, the State of Israel." Walsh's chief of staff commented that "If J Street is attacking you, you know you’re doing something right."