The leadership of the left-wing lobbying group J Street continues to tout itself as a “pro-Israel, pro-peace” alternative to AIPAC and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and makes no bones about championing some of the core demands of the Palestinians – which are diametrically in conflict with the official policies of Israel.
At bottom the J Street mentality is that the Palestinians are fundamentally right in asserting entitlement to most of the land Israel conquered in 1967, and that their cause is therefore a just one that they will not, and cannot be expected to, abandon in any significant way.
The onus, then, is on Israel to accept as a reasonable compromise whatever bits and pieces the Palestinians deign to throw their way. And of course any Israeli resistance to such an approach is ipso facto illegitimate and the root cause of stalemate. It is in the Israeli government’s interest to accede to Palestinian demands if Israel is ever to make peace with the Palestinians.
For three years, this approach enabled J Street – with the support of those who share its take on the Israel-Palestinian conflict – to maintain the fiction that it is really “pro-Israel.” But the issue of a U.S. veto of a UN resolution condemning Israel finally blew J Street’s cover, and their conference this week pushed them even farther out of the closet.
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