In 'Bipartisan' Move, J Street Unites with Republicans Who Bash Israel

.@JeremyBenAmi Can’t make this up. @jstreetdotorg keynote gala spker is James ‘Fu&k the Jews’ Baker! cc. @NoahPollak @CiFWatch @elderofziyon

— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) February 15, 2015

J Street, a progressive organization that encodes itself as “the political home for pro-Israel, pro-peace Americans,” has just released the slate for their 5th annual conference to be held in March. The list contains the usual suspects with one attempt at a surprise addition in the form of former Republican Secretary of State James Baker.

Pro-Israel blogger Elder of Ziyon gives a concise summation of exactly why this union is anything but a bipartisan move:

…according to the Jerusalem Post’s Lahav Harkov, James Baker is the keynote speaker.

Baker is of course infamous for reportedly saying in private conversation, while George HW Bush’s secretary of state, “F**k the Jews, they didn’t vote for us anyway.”

But his antipathy towards Israel is well documented. He wanted the US to punish Israel for destroying Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor. He hated Netanyahu as early as 1990, barring him from entering the State Department’s building. And last but not least, he co-wrote the Iraq Study Group’s 2006 paper that recommended (among other things) that the US tilt its foreign policy away from Israel and towards Syria and Iran, advice that President Obama seems to have taken to heart.

So who says that J-Street isn’t bipartisan? It loves anti-Israel, antisemitic Republicans too!

Who’s next on the J Street line up, Pat Buchanan?

Note to parents of public school children: Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, is also listed as a featured speaker. Perhaps she’ll enlighten the audience as to how the J Street platform ties into Common Core.