Israeli Government’s Gift to J Street: Truth Served Straight Up
The No. 2 at the Israeli Embassy in Washington took the stage at J Street’s gala dinner tonight with a polite, impeccably structured point-by-point barrage of the risks faced by the Jewish state and where the lobbying organization has slipped.
It sparked a battle of sorts at the event, with former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert taking the beginning of his address to slam the Israeli government for sending the diplomat to speak — but then launching into similar points on Iran that provoked the same chilly reaction from the crowd.
Ambassador Barukh Binah, who assumed his duties as deputy chief of mission at the embassy early this year, was introduced with an explanation to the crowd that J Street maintains open dialogue with the Israeli government even if critical of its policies.
“It’s the first public appearance I make in the United States in my current position,” Binah opened to cheers — the last he would receive until the tepid applause at the end of his address.
“I salute those individuals and organizations working for grass-roots improvements within Israel, and I personally attempt these corrections every four years when I cast my vote,” he said. “Sometimes I have it my way, and sometimes I do not. It is called democracy.”
Binah said that the U.S. and Israel share these democratic values. “But unlike your secure existence between these happy shores, an ocean apart from the bad guys, our borders are curved and dusty, and made of missiles and mayhem,” he said. “As we continue to face intolerable threats, we sometimes have to make decisions of life and death. We welcome the opinions of our brethren in the diaspora, especially on issues of Jewish identity and pluralism, but at the end of the day, it is we, the Israelis, who must bear the ultimate burden and may have to pay the ultimate price.
“And we, dear friends and family, have no margins of error; none whatsoever.”
Binah said he approached J Street to remind it of its responsibilities as a lobbying organization that presents a legislative agenda to Congress.
“Thus, when you bring lawmakers to Israel, please make sure that they come out with a full picture,” he said. “You may be critical of settlements, but if you choose to show the most extreme, it behooves you to present the greater mass of moderates as well. If you show them negative aspects of checkpoints, please show as well the catastrophe and grief of terror victims. If you show them Israel’s failings, show them also our triumphs such as the aliyah of the Jewish community of Ethiopia. I urge you to strive for balance, so that these lawmakers may become friends of Israel who might be critical, and not critics of Israel who are not friends.”
The ambassador said he welcomed the “evolution” in J Street’s position on Iran and hoped it would be followed by a policy “that all the options, including a military effort, are on the table” to keep the Islamic Republic from obtaining nuclear capability.
“Likewise, I welcome your position against one-sided resolutions on settlements, and I hope that you will never go back to opposing a veto cast by the Obama administration, like you did in January of 2011,” Binah said.
He also hit at the controversial welcoming of Peter Beinart. “I hope that the leaders of the BDS movement will not be welcomed at J Street, and that all calls for boycott will continue to be refuted,” he said. “They use such appearances as a means of gaining legitimacy, and whatever actually happens in your fora, they report to their supports that they were greeted at J Street with enthusiasm and consent. Please don’t let yourselves be used. They aren’t honest players.”
And he addressed the two-state solution theme of the conference, which included a video played during the dinner of various parties calling for a continuation of the peace process.
“Israel remains committed to achieving peace with our Palestinian neighbors,” Binah said. “We wish them well. Yet, our efforts to directly negotiate all issues are constantly thwarted by Palestinian rejection. We are willing to put all the contentious issues on the table, in order to bring an end to the conflict. But time after time we find out that the metaphoric table was removed, or cut, or blown up in the flames of terror. We urge the Palestinian leadership to lead their people in the arduous path of peace, as true leaders do, and to forgo the game of the past, the game of hatred and virulent incitement.
“It is not a game of political Quidditch that we play here; it is a heavy-duty selection of choices that we must make,” he stressed. “A Hamas government is not a harbinger of peace and neither is an Iranian-backed Hezbollah regime.”
“The proof of the pudding, my friends, is in the eating, and so far we are only fed with the old, stale and hateful anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish slogans, as if nothing is happening,” the ambassador added.
“So, while we cling on to our quest for peace we must be very careful and keep our shields up. Especially when repressive regimes such as Iran’s or Syria’s continue to butcher their own citizenry, like in Tehran 2 years ago and in Homs 2 days ago, especially when they go on spewing their venom, and especially when they strive to build a nuclear arsenal that might attempt, God forbid, to put an end to the Jewish question, this time in the Middle East.”
Binah urged the J Street members to stand by Israel “as Americans, as members of your community, as Jews.”
“For the sake of our forefathers and our future, we must keep our brotherhood strong,” he concluded.
There was some unintelligible yelling after Binah’s speech, when J Street executive director Jeremy Ben-Ami took the podium.
“You give new meaning to the phrase ‘hard act to follow,’” he quipped at Binah.
Ben-Ami launched into a spirited defense of the organization, stressing the organization’s motto that it’s a “pro-Israel, pro-peace” group.
“We wanted a voice that recognized that Israel’s future depends on achieving a two-state solution,” he said. “We wanted to express our voice to say that being pro-Israel doesn’t mean being anti-Palestinian. Being pro-Israel doesn’t mean agreeing with every policy of this Israeli government.”
Ben-Ami, who thanked Binah for his “attendance,” said J Street knows that the present is not the future it wants.
“Our choice is not to sit home and wallow in despair,” he said.
Olmert, the evening’s final speaker, called his own presence at the dinner a “historic” moment for Jewish community in America.
“I’m guessing some of you might not have agreed with everything Mr. Binah said,” he said to cheers. “…The fact that the government decided to send him is the most important thing and this is very significant.”
Olmert thanked the group for inviting him, but said he was “aggravated” that some people congratulated him for accepting the invitation.
“J Street is a legitimate organization which cares for the state of Israel,” the former prime minister said.
Yet when Olmert touched on similar themes of stopping a nuclear Iran like Binah did, he lost the crowd.
“I entirely agree with those who believe that Israel cannot tolerate a nuclear Iran,” he said. “…We’re talking about a nation which openly, formally talks about wiping Israel off the map.”
To deal with the crisis, he said he would “examine, analyze” in a “balanced and determined manner.” He advocated superpowers in the West taking the lead to stop Iran, but said Israel needs to build capacity for action on its own.
“As a last resort, go to the first one,” Olmert said. “I don’t think I need to say more.”
A woman shouted “no war” in the quiet audience.
Olmert brought the crowd back to life by saying that the two-state solution is the “primary responsibility” of Israel — then clarified that it’s not exclusively Israel’s responsibility. “The Palestinians don’t always meet their responsibilities,” he said.
He quipped that “maybe I could get a standing ovation” from the conference crowd if he laid all blame on Israel.
Olmert proceeded to advocate a peace plan starting with 1967 borders and declared that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas wants peace.
The third J Street conference had nearly 2,500 registered. It was dwarfed by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee event earlier this month, also at the convention center, which was packed with more than 13,000 registered attendees.
Whereas AIPAC had security checkpoints including metal detectors and hand-searches of all bags, J Street had no such screening.
More than 60 lawmakers from the House and Senate attended the J Street dinner, Ben-Ami said, calling them the “legislative future.”
J Street attendees were to hit Capitol Hill on Tuesday for more than 200 lobbying meetings. AIPAC reported a record 530 lawmaker meetings this year, five short of the total members of Congress.
Binah should be fired for incompetence. A *diplomat* speaking the truth, just like that?!
If Obama wins re-election and Israel falls, you can bet that former Israelis who come to the US will be voting Republican for the forseeable future …
Israel and the US share many of the same enemies. If, God forbid, Israel falls, those enemies will be inspired to increasingly target the US itself. For if “mighty” Israel can be defeated, why not the US?
Maybe the U.S. should stop giving 12 billion dollars in foreign aid to Israel’s enemies then like Ron Paul wants to do.
Ron Paul has been caught on tape siding with Israel’s enemies, specifically the people shooting missles from Gaza. So he is disingenuous, immoral, and has poor judgement. Just like J Street.
Sure, sure.
There’s a good video of Congressman Tim Johnson last week. He told the reporter how Ron Paul has more integrity in his little finger than all the rest of the politicians do in their entire bodies put together.
Ron Paul is one of the only ones in government who tells the truth. And a lot of people don’t want to hear the truth.
Even warhawk Newt now says we need to rethink our entire Middle East policy and that Occupying countries like Afghanistan is probably counterproductive. Nice to have you on board, Newt! 10+ years too late, but oh well.
Wes, so by your logic, because I happen to agree with Ron Paul on this (or any other) point, I should vote for him? Believe it or not, Ron Paul is not the only person who wants to cut off foreign aid to these countries. Even more amazingly, many of these people who agree with Dr Paul on this point actually have a different preferred Republican candidate than the Congressman! How can this be? Because most people, fortunately, realize that you cannot agree with a candidate 100% of the time (unless, of course, they actually *are* the candidate). When you do, you are in religious icon territory.
You can also vote for Ron Paul because he has the most constitutional voting record in all of Congress. Or you could vote for him because he’s the most pro-gun candidate. Or because he’s fought for 30 years to audit The Fed. Or because he’s never voted for a tax increase. Or because he’s never voted for an unbalanced budget. Or because he’s against big-government things like NDAA. Or you can vote for him because he gets more campaign contributions from active military than all the other candidates including Obama. Or because he’s the only candidate serious about wasteful spending and debt. Or you could vote for him simply because it’d be nice to have an honest President for a change.
Former Israelis? You mean corpses? You understand what “Israel falling” means? It’s not like the South falling.
No one there ever heard of Neville Chamberlain or comprehends the concept of peace at the price of your life. It’s all just magic, visualize world peace and the Arab Jew haters will dematerialize as the rainbows appear.
Once again the J Street crowd demonstrates that they are spoiled children playing an adult game. They are doing it at the risk of other people’s lives. Obviously the policy of engagement with J Street was a failure. They should be cut off.
Iranians are incredibly open to the gospel message of Jesus’ love and forgiveness. Many are disillusioned with the oppression of Islam and are desperate for the truth. Every day, more Iranians are hearing the hopeful message of The Way, The Truth and The Life through satellite TV broadcasts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HtsAlW1v1k&feature=player_embedded
My Gosh, so now we know what Olmert is about. Well, he’s not getting my vote (I live in Haifa), even if he survives the current corruption investigations.
mzk1, Olmert looks very unwell. He may not be asking for your vote again.
Fear not, you now get to vote for Mofaz
“We wanted a voice that recognized that Israel’s future depends on achieving a two-state solution,” he said. ( there are already 57 ISLAMIC STATES) answer to one more should be flat out NO- time has passed for the charades paraded by carter and clinton-the expression fromthe ISLAMIC side is easily heard and it says NO ISRAEL AT ALL any two stae crap is only means to that END (of Israel)
“We wanted to express our voice to say that being pro-Israel doesn’t mean being anti-Palestinian.”
Being pro Fakestinian makes you anti ISRAEL – one is right one is wrong PERIOD- the Arabs held as forever refugees, grandcxhildrenof refugees never st foot in ISrael, they need to assimilate into the nations they have been born into (leb syria iraq etc) and JEWS should get money for being ethnic cleansed and robbed – Morroccco, Tunisia, Iran, Egypt Syria, OWE ISRAELIS money or right of return-
to lands they resided for over 5oo years- population transfers after ww2 were accomplished for ALL otherpeople since early 70′s- a done deal- these liars and terrorists for ISLAM have no right to any thing in ISrael and i8n fact JORDAn is occupied ISrael-
Being pro-Israel doesn’t mean agreeing with every policy of this Israeli government.”
as an American you have no vote in Israel- if you want one, move there- you haveno right to tell ISraelis how to live or save their own nation from hostile aggressors- NONE- if youre an American who subscribes to the BS of the intifadists and fauXilla a hearty F**K Y*u and MYOB
Jstreet are traitor JEWS if they are even JEWS not very loyal or good ones and cetainly donot have their brothers back- they say AGAIN the rest of us say NEVER
for ISraeli diplomats to even speak to them is insane and useless- their minds have long been made up and they think giving land will fix Islamic JIHAD on Israel and USA- they advocate Israel jumping under the bus before their dear leader throws ISrael under it
” there are already 57 ISLAMIC STATES”
Aha! So *THAT’S* where Obama got it from!
A Lebanese friend of ours recently summed Americas problems up with one sentence:
“The world has been without a U.S. President for 3 years!”
People from other countries understand one thing:
The United States of America has always been the beacon of hope for them to aspire to & now they see that light being snuffed out just like the candles that burned so brightly in the Constitutional Convention in 1787 were when they concluded their session for that evening.
“It behooves us then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins and to pray for clemency and forgiveness…”
—–Abraham Lincold, 1863 Proclamation of National Fast—-
“The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained.”
—–George Washington, 1789, Inaugural Address —–
May the Almighty forgive us of our many sins against Him & our country…Amen.
Wish I see those “progressive” retards dodging missles in Ashkelon.
The J-Street crowd – almost all who live here in the USA- have no worries about missiles landing on their upper east side coops or some Hamas/PLO terrorist taking a predominantly jewish grade school hostage in NYC or LA or Chicago or DC and murdering as many children as possible.
Like almost all US based liberal progressives, socialists and communists, anarchists, etc., they wish OTHERS (NOT themselves) to pursue a policy that risks the lives of OTHERS (NOT themselves) and one in which they, J Street, have simply NOTHING AT STAKE AT ALL; for if Israel gets extinguished, partly as a result of the policies as put forth by J Street, the J Street membership will go on with their lives and suffer NO consequences. Oh, rest assured if this happens, they will absolve themselves of any blame and simply blame the Israeli “hardliners.” (you know, the ones that actually have to dodge real live missiles).
How big of these J Street hypocrites. How magnanimous of them. How brave of them. How virtuous of them.
Reminds of those grand Americans who spoke of the utopia that was Stalinist Russia as Stalin was exterminating 30 million people. Of course, those Americans who supported Stalin had no fears that their children, parents, brothers, sisters would be murdered in some frozen gulag or in the basement of the Chekas/KGB basement (after being tortured).
This is the liberal progressive, communist, socialist, left wing, anarchist MO; agitate, coerce, force OTHERS to do something just as long as they, the “agitators” have ZERO, NOTHING to lose.
Here is an idea; if the J street phonies, hypocrites, frauds, etc. really really want to do something, GO TO A PALESTINIAN “occupied” zone, and help them using heir OWN efforts and money to show the Palestinians (e.g. Hamas, PLO) what “peace ” can accomplish.
They will see that a PLO /Hamas “peace deal” is a tied up jew, on his knees, getting his or her head sliced off their neck with a big, not to sharp knife.
JStreet is the newest version of Jewish Kapos (concentration camp enforcers) and jewish informers that roamed the streets of Germany looking to find and reveal the location of any jews hiding from the Nazis.
How easy it is to voice your opinion, and donate money, and agitate for a cause in which you personally have nothing to risk or lose.
The J Street bunch is living in 1930 Germany; they know the history, but refuse to learn the lessons of history. Yes, history does repeat.
J Street has videos from the conference on their site. Conspicuously absent is the one of Barukh Binah. If a speaher has dissenting views from J Street, his words no linger exist out there in videoland. How disingenuous. Please write to J Street asking them to publish the video. I did, but to no avail.
The Tradgedy of American Foreign Policy is the view of Charles Beard,William A Williams,RONPAUL, Barack Obama etc. They forget that other actor’s have their own agendi. It’s all reaction to US. They’re wrong.