Excluding J Street

American Jewry needs a powerful and rational voice speaking out about the dangerous direction the far-right in Israeli politics is taking the country.

By ALAN ELSNER
JStreet (photo credit: screenshot)
JStreet
(photo credit: screenshot)
The late April vote to exclude J Street from the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, the umbrella group representing American Jewish interests in Washington and internationally, has led to a moment of soul-searching among community leaders and activists.
The vote, while expected, has crystalized what seems to be a growing divide between the established leadership of the community and a rising number of its rank and file when it comes to the issue of Israel. It has highlighted the question: What is American Jewry’s role in its relationship with Israel? Is it simply to salute and support the government, or is there room for a constructive dialogue where both sides frankly and honestly express their views and ideas? J Street has contended since its inception six years ago that the established American Jewish community was increasingly shutting down intelligent debate about Israel in favor of a rigidly enforced conformity in which the only acceptable position was to blindly support anything and everything the Israeli government does. It would be difficult to find a better illustration of this than the Conference of Presidents’ vote.
The result of such an approach, we argue, is seriously damaging both for the community and for Israel. For example, over the long term, how do we keep our young people involved in Israel? Yes, we need to bring them on trips to see Israel for themselves – and the Birthright program has done an amazing job in accomplishing that goal. But once they have been there, and after they have returned, we need to keep them engaged. This is a motivated, idealistic and questioning generation. Telling them the only acceptable way for them to be pro-Israel is to blindly accept everything Israel does will only drive many of them away.
J Street was founded to give large numbers of American Jews who love Israel but are worried about its direction and its future a voice. We have mobilized tens of thousands of activists, members, donors and supporters for pro-Israel action. Our growth has been particularly explosive among students who often feel alienated from a community that denies them the ability to figure out what they feel about Israel on their own.
We lose no opportunity to express our love for Israel. We have fought hard against the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign.
But all that was not enough to win us the required two-thirds of the vote to gain admittance to the Conference of Presidents.
With the apparent failure of US Secretary of State John Kerry’s peace initiative, Israel may be in for a tough period in the months and years ahead. We anticipate that the BDS movement will only gain traction in the United States, where so far it has been fairly limited to a few left-wing campuses.
In Europe, elements of BDS may be adopted by governments and the EU as their official policies. When the Israeli government is widely seen as pursuing settlements with more ardor and enthusiasm than it pursues peace and the occupation approaches its fifth decade, patience is wearing thin even among some of Israel’s more loyal friends.
Kerry himself warned of what might be coming if his peace initiative failed. He warned of increasing diplomatic isolation and said the US would be unable to stop the Palestinians gaining membership in more and more international institutions, including the International Criminal Court. The response from the Israeli government was to “shoot the messenger” by interpreting Kerry’s warnings as a threat. Now, we’re told, President Barack Obama wants to let both the Israelis and Palestinians “stew in their juices” for a few months until both sides realize it is in their interests to reengage in negotiations.
If the American-Jewish establishment is to successfully counter BDS, it needs to find a way to reach out to progressives and speak to liberals in their own language.
This is where J Street can play a vital role.
Our roots are in the progressive movement and over time we have established many important relationships. We are listened to where other, more right-wing organizations are not. We would have been an important asset to the Conference of Presidents.
The negative fallout from their vote to reject us has been dramatic. “J Street’s rejection is a scandal,” wrote Leon Wieseltier, one of the community’s leading intellectuals, in a New Republic column echoing the voices of many. Liel Leibovitz, a senior writer for the online magazine of Jewish ideas, Tablet, began his column by stating, “I don’t like J Street.” Then he added, “But not admitting it into the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations is ridiculous – and does more to call into question the legitimacy and purpose of the Conference than of J Street.”
Prof. Theodore Sasson, a senior research scientist at the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University, wrote in The Forward that the vote on J Street’s membership came “in the context of broader efforts by right-wing activists and donors to limit who can speak about Israel in Jewish communal settings. Their targets have included federations, Jewish community centers, Hillel organizations and synagogues.”
Not for a long time has the Conference of Presidents come under such scrutiny. Several of its 51 member organizations, it became clear, have shrunk almost out of existence.
Yet they got to vote to exclude the fastest-growing and most dynamic American Jewish organization to emerge for years. An official from one of the organizations that voted against J Street contacted me privately to express his revulsion at the ballot he had been forced to cast on behalf of an entity that has, in his words, barely more than a minyan of actual, breathing members.
Why does J Street excite such passion, such opposition from parts of the establishment? Apparently, the fact that our members express deep concern about Israel’s democratic and Jewish future if its occupation of Palestinian territory continues is seen by some as deeply threatening. Never mind the fact that such sentiments are squarely in the mainstream of Israeli political discourse, openly voiced by a majority of its political leaders and parties, including members of its current government, on a routine basis.
On the other hand, mainstays of the Jewish community came out publicly in favor of our admission, including the Reform Movement, the Conservative Movement, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs and the Anti-Defamation League. These and other organizations are now privately discussing ways of overhauling the Conference of Presidents to make it more representative, transparent and accountable.
Rabbi Rick Jacobs, President of the Union for Reform Judaism, which represents the largest membership organization in the American Jewish community, said in reference to our J Street U (the college arm of the organization) students: “I was impressed by the deep commitment of its leaders to the land, state, and people of Israel. Shutting their voices out of our communal discussion only serves to expose how narrow that discussion has become.”
The way we see it, this vote was not a referendum on J Street’s pro-Israel credentials or on the strength of the pro-Israel, pro-peace presence in this country. Those questions have been asked and answered by J Street’s tremendous growth in size, scope and support.
After only six years, J Street hosts the third largest annual gathering of any American Jewish organization with speakers including Vice President Joe Biden and Knesset Members across the political spectrum from Likud to Meretz. Over 800 rabbis have joined our Rabbinic Cabinet, and we have chapters in 40 cities and states and almost 60 college campuses.
American Jewry needs a powerful and rational voice speaking out about the dangerous direction the far-right in Israeli politics is taking the country. J Street is that voice. It has not been silenced by this self-defeating vote. It has been amplified. 
Alan Elsner is J Street’s vice president for communications