Pro-peace = anti-Israel

James D Besser reports:

Almost a year after reports of an “alternative AIPAC” emerged in the middle of the Jewish political world, many of the same players are on the verge of announcing a revised initiative intended to get the message to politicians that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee is not the only pro-Israel voice in town, The Jewish Week has learned.

The invitation reads:

“For too long, the loudest American voices in political and policy debates have been those on the far right — often Republican neoconservatives or extreme Christian Zionists,” according to the invitation. “J Street aims to change that. We are the first and only lobby and PAC (political action committee) dedicated to ensuring Israel’s security, changing the direction of American policy in the Middle East and opening up American political debate about Israel and the Middle East.”

Those involved include:

The J-Street board of advisers includes a number of lay and professional leaders of Americans for Peace Now (APN), including CEO Debra DeLee, as well as Marcia Freedman, founder and former president of Brit Tzedek v’Shalom. Several activists with ties to Democratic presidential contender Sen. Barack Obama are on the panel, as well. They include Robert Malley, whose involvement in Obama’s broad foreign policy advisory team has generated criticism from Republicans and some pro-Israel groups, and Alan Solomont, a top Obama fundraiser and major player in Democratic politics. Also on board: David Kimche, a former deputy chief of the Mossad and a member of the advisory council of the Israel Policy Forum (IPF) — another pro-peace process group that was connected with last year’s efforts but which, several source say, is not directly involved in the current project.

Besser cites an incident from 1988 where several Jewish groups disagreed with AIPAC’s decision to fight giving Yasser Arafat a visa to speak to the UN. (AIPAC[‘s position prevailed and Arafat gave his speech in Geneva.) What’s hard to see is why AIPAC was wrong then. Arafat gave a phony speech in which he supposedly renounced terrorism and accepted Israel’s right to exist. The speech, in fact, did neither. And Arafat went to his grave never actually renouncing terrorism in anything other than words. If this is the example the new group wishes to use to show that AIPAC is somehow shortsighted, it’s a bad example. And of course the new group pre-emptively attacks its critics.

It also faces a political challenge because “AIPAC has been recognized by non-Jewish politicians as the voice of the Jewish community,” he said. An alternative voice “may be hard to sell to non-Jewish politicians who don’t want to be tarred as anti-Israel.” Jews on the left, he said, are less likely to put Israel-related politics at the top of their list of giving priorities – something AIPAC supporters and supports of pro-Israel political action committees have traditionally done.

Actually, being pro-Israel isn’t a Jewish issue, it’s an American issue. Polls have consistently shown that most Americans are pro-Israel as opposed to pro-Arab or pro-Palestinian. The groups involved the new lobbying group are similar to the Israel Policy Forum which ran a poll in 1997 alleging that most American Jews supported the United States putting “moderate” political pressure on Israel to compromise with the PA. (Daniel Pipes analyzes that poll along with one from his own organization here.) The results of that poll played a role in undermining American political support for the Netanyahu government by the Clinton administration. It had the effect o strengthening Arafat and the PA. Again, I suspect the organizers of this new lobbying group see nothing wrong with that. However bolstering Arafat at the expense of the Israeli government cannot be viewed as supporting Israel. Those involved in the group include someone who supported the Geneva initiative. The Geneva initiative was a foreign effort – with scant support from the Israeli public – to pressure the Israeli government to make wide ranging concessions to the PA. This new group may call themselves pro-peace. Maybe they are. I doubt it, because they absolve the PA for nearly all of its bad faith and support of terror. However, one thing it is not is pro-Israel. It is anti-Iserael.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.