What does J Street endorsement mean for Joe Biden? – analysis

Another question that remains open for now is why J Street decided to give their first-ever endorsement for a presidential candidate?

By OMRI NAHMIAS
DEMOCRATIC US presidential candidate Joe Biden speaks during a campaign stop in Detroit, Michigan, Monday. (photo credit: BRENDAN MCDERMID/REUTERS)
DEMOCRATIC US presidential candidate Joe Biden speaks during a campaign stop in Detroit, Michigan, Monday.
(photo credit: BRENDAN MCDERMID/REUTERS)
WASHINGTON – Last week, the progressive Jewish group J Street endorsed the presumptive Democratic nominee, Joe Biden, to be the next president of the United States. It was the first time that the organization has ever endorsed a candidate. The group also pledged to transfer $240,000 to the Biden campaign now, and a total of million dollars by November.
"Biden has long championed many of J Street's most important priorities, including a just and peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," J Street's president Jeremy Ben Ami said in a statement.
"He helped spearhead overwhelming support for Israel's security alongside clear opposition to settlement expansion, creeping annexation and other measures that undermined the prospects for Israeli-Palestinian peace."
“I’m honored to have earned J Street’s first-ever presidential endorsement,” the former vice president said Friday.
“J Street has been a powerful voice to advance social justice here at home, and to advocate for a two-state solution that advances Middle East peace.”
But what does a J Street endorsement means for Biden? And what does the progressive group expect to receive in exchange for it? Benjamin Shnider, vice president for political affairs and strategy at J Street, told The Jerusalem Post that the endorsement has no strings attached. “We are endorsing vice president Biden without reservations and are excited to do everything in our power to get him elected,” he said.
Asked if he expects Biden to move to the Left when it comes to Israel, Shnider noted that J Street's core ideas and core vision are already at the center of the Democratic Party.
“We've seen Biden already speak out firmly against any sort of annexation, and he understands that that would be counter to the interests of Israel and run counter also the values that underpin the US Israel relationship,” he added.
“I'd expect him to continue to speak out strongly as he already has against that move, and we're looking forward to help get them elected so that there'll be an American leader who will be honest about what the implications of such a move would be for the for the US Israel relationship going forward.”
The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) slammed Biden for welcoming J Street endorsement, making the case that the liberal group gained ground in the Democratic Party. “Joe Biden isn’t wasting a moment trying to prove to his far-left base that he will continue the anti-Israel policies of the Obama/Biden administration,” said Matt Brooks, executive director of RJC.
“These were indeed dark days. In April alone, Biden has come out in support of lifting sanctions on Iran, invited the foreign policy advisers of Bernie Sanders to join his team and said he was 'honored' to receive the endorsement of the viciously anti-Israel group, J Street,” Brooks continued. “Joe Biden, just like Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, is proving that this is no longer the old Democrat Party of bipartisan support for Israel,” he noted.
Shnider rejected Brooks's statement. “Turning this issue into a political football is counterproductive, to say the least,” he said.
“If you look at the polling, the values that Matt is politicizing with statements like that are values that are held by a majority of the American Jewish community,” he continued.
“A majority of American Jews look at this administration, an administration that is turning its back on refugees and that is finding common cause with white nationalists,,, and are repulsed and want to take action.
“So to use the Israel issue to sanitize an administration that is aligning with white nationalists – I can't think of anything that runs more counter our Jewish values, and it's not going to work in persuading the Jewish community to switch their political alliances,” Shnider added.
Another question that remains open for now is why J Street decided to give their first-ever endorsement for a presidential candidate, and whether that signals J Street's aspiration to gain more influence in Washington?
“I just think it means they support his agenda,” Dan Shapiro, former ambassador to Israel under the Obama administration, told the Post.
“I have spent time with Joe Biden at J Street conferences, AIPAC conferences, and numerous other Jewish community events, he added.
“I've seen him up close on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and in the Obama/Biden administration, where his personal commitment to and interest in the US-Israel relationship were constantly in evidence,” he continued.
"He has wide and deep support and affection in the Jewish community for his support for Israel's security, a close US-Israel partnership, and a two-state solution; for his willingness to fight all forms of antisemitism. I am not surprised that any Jewish organization would endorse him, as others have as well.”


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