Thursday, December 08, 2016

How The J Street Grinch Stole Hanukkah

It looks like J Street is at it again.

You really have to admire how a group that claims to be dedicated to Israel can find the time to involve itself in petty politics.

This time, J Street is taking a stand on where the Conference of Presidents can celebrate Hanukkah:
TELL CONFERENCE OF PRESIDENTS MEMBER ORGANIZATIONS: DON'T CELEBRATE HANUKKAH AT TRUMP HOTEL.

The Conference of Presidents purports to speak for the American Jewish community. Tell its member organizations: Speak out and make it clear that the Trump Hotel is an inappropriate place to celebrate Hanukkah.

It’s almost too outrageous to believe: An umbrella group that claims to represent the American Jewish community plans to host its 2016 Hanukkah Party at Trump Hotel.

Trump's campaign rhetoric and policy positions are an affront to some of the most core values of American Jews. To hold a Hanukkah party under the Trump banner is shocking in its wrong-headedness.


That's right. The same J Street that defends Keith Ellison and accuses those who bring up his past statements and actions of being guilty of smearing -- that same J Street is getting a head start on what may very well be its strategy, for the next 4 years, of driving a wedge between a President Trump and the Jewish community. Consider this a preview.

This is the same Donald Trump who, unlike Ellison, actually has proven his support for Israel. Trump
But then again, this is not the first time J Street has put personal politics before the welfare of the Jewish community.

Back when it was trying to make a name for itself in 2008, J Street decided the best way to get street cred was to keep Sarah Palin from speaking at an event organized by major Jewish organizations to protest Iran's Ahmadinejad's speaking at the UN:
STOP SARAH PALIN AT NON-PARTISAN IRAN RALLY
September 18, 2008

Sarah Palin is scheduled to headline Monday’s rally in New York of Americans Jews concerned about the threat Iran poses to the United States and Israel.

Sarah Palin at a rally to unify American Jews on Iran? Really?

Palin stands diametrically opposed to the majority of American Jews on nearly all issues – including on Iran. With just a few days left before the rally, we have no time to lose.
The superficiality of J Street's attack on Palin to silence her is revealed in the statement by its online director at the time that "Sarah Palin’s views on abortion, the environment, and just about every other issue are out of step with the American Jewish community." [emphasis added]
So its better to take a potshot at a Republican and draw attention to J Street than it is to draw attention to an issue of concern to Israel?

Similarly, J Street at the time did other work on behalf of the Democratic party in order to silence Republicans -- J Street ran a campaign to keep newspapers from running ads from the Republican Jewish Coalition:
A dovish pro-Israel group launched a campaign to get Jewish newspapers not to run some Republican Jewish Coalition ads.

J Street revealed the campaign after a number of U.S. Jewish newspapers were blasted Tuesday with letters urging them not to run the ads attacking the Democratic presidential candidate, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) The vast majority of the papers had not run such ads.

A listserve of Jewish journalists revealed that J Street was behind the campaign and mistakenly had provided software to its members that blasted all the newspapers instead of a select few that had run the ads.
So there really is nothing new here. J Street is just going back to doing what it does best -- working on behalf of the Democratic Party to silence and undercut Republicans.

Its a dirty job, but J Street is ready to do it.



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