The Nauseating Triad: American Reform Judaism, Jewish Voice for Peace, and J Street

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Shevat 22, 5777

February 18, 2017

The talk of the Israeli street today

The Israeli leftist media as well as the international leftist media has been aghast for the last two days about two questions which were asked to President Trump at back to back news conferences–the first one with PM Netanyahu, and the second one which President Trump conducted himself.

To hear the leftist media tell the story, Trump avoided answering the questions posed to him and in doing revealed just how anti-Semitic and racist he is.

However, this narrative totally ignores what actually took place.

Let’s begin with Question 1 which was posed by Moav Vardi of Israel’s Channel 10. By way of context, let’s remember that Vardi is one of the most hideous reporters on the intensely hideous Channel 10.  Vardi (along with fellow “journalist” Raviv Drucker)  is infamous for his endless attacks on PM Netanyahu and his wife Sara.

Here was the question Vardi posed to Trump:

“Mr. President, since your election campaign and even after your victory, we’ve seen a sharp rise in anti-Semitic — anti-Semitic incidents across the United States. And I wonder, what do you say to those among the Jewish community in the states and in Israel and maybe around the world who believe and feel that your administration is playing with xenophobia and maybe racist tones?”

How would you interpret this question? Do you think its intent was to ask about the rise in anti-Semitic incidents? Or was it an accusation that Trump–and by extension his Administration–is xenophobic and racist? 

Of course it was the latter. And so it was interpreted by both Trump and Netanyahu when they answered the question.

All of which led to virtually the same question that came from Jake Turx the next day. The only difference was that Turx more carefully disguised his accusation by dissembling that Trump was not really anti-Semitic.

And so Trump answered Turx’s question the same way he answered Vardi’s.

But all of this context is conveniently ignored by the media.

TODAY’S BLOG

The Nauseating Triad:

American Reform Judaism, Jewish Voice for Peace, and J Street

After eight years of worshiping Barack Obama as the messiah and blindly following his anti-Israel pronouncements ad nauseum, self-proclaimed “liberal and progressive” American Jews have now gone off the deep end.

Not only have they become some of the most vitriolic opponents of President Donald Trump, these anti-Israel groups have zeroed in on Trump’s statements about the “two-state” solution as well as his choice for U.S. Ambassador to Israel to display their acrimony.

Let’s take a look at just two of their websites today. Here is the current home page of J Street:

Of course, J Street’s “Pro-Israel, Pro-Peace” mantra has long since been discarded by J Street affiliated organizations such as J Street University–which has dropped the “Pro-Israel” phrase.

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What is it that J Street finds so reprehensible about Friedman?  He called J Street supporters “kapos” (see addendum below to find out what Friedman actually said); he has said that he doesn’t support the two-state solution, and he does not agree with the values of the supposed “vast majority” of American Jews when it comes to Israel.

Never mind that many Israelis believe that J Street supporters are worse than kapos, a growing number of Israelis (who happen to live in Israel) do not support the two-state solution as envisioned by the Palestinians, and that the values of Israeli Jews do not always coincide with those of their American brothers and sisters who live far away from the terrorism that Israelis face everyday.

J Street and the egregiously anti-Israel Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) have always been in the same boat, but now they have been joined by the Union of Reform Judaism (URJ), a “Jewish” religious group that is rapidly assimilating itself out of existence.

This is from the URJ website today:

Note the opposition to Friedman and denunciation of Trump’s position on two states.

Here is what former choreographer turned Rabbi and President of the URJ, Rick Jacobs said in the statement:

“This is a critical moment. Never before have we opposed the nomination of a U.S. Ambassador. We do so now because of the imperative need for us to voice our concerns about this critically important appointment. Our statement comes from our deep love for Israel and our fear that longstanding bipartisan support for Israel hangs in the balance. . .

There can be no doubt that David Friedman loves Israel or that he has an extraordinarily close relationship with President Trump, but those are not the essential qualifications of a U.S. Ambassador to Israel.”

Then follows a list of reasons why Friedman is scorned, including this one:

“Mr. Friedman lacks the necessary temperament for such a sensitive position. Mr. Friedman has publicly disparaged organizations representing large constituencies of American Jews, calling fellow Jews “kapos” and “morons.” While we appreciate that during his hearing Mr. Friedman recognized the problematic nature of these remarks, we note that he has had an opportunity to apologize for those deeply offensive remarks every day since he made them months ago. Any American ambassador, let alone one in such a sensitive post, must possess a personality that instinctively seeks to bridge divides, rather than inflame divisions.”

In short, we have the Union of Reform Judaism rushing to the aid of J Street and Jewish Voice for Peace.

As the old saying goes, birds of a feather flock together.

The continuing irony in the United States is that as “liberal progressive” American Jewry turns its back on Israel, evangelical Christians have rallied to Israel’s cause.

Foremost among them is Christians United for Israel–whose more than 3.3 million members actively lobby Congress to allow Israelis to determine their own future. They believe that Israel’s democratically elected government should decide what is best for the people of Israel. 

This past week CUFI bused in 250 activists to go to Congress and express CUFI’s agenda: “to end Israel-bashing at the United Nations, support moving the American Embassy to Jerusalem, and confirm David Friedman.”

Bravo to CUFI! . . . and shame on the URJ, J Street, and JVP.

*Addendum: here is what Friedman actually said about J Street supporters:

“Finally, are J Street supporters really as bad as kapos? The answer, actually, is no. They are far worse than kapos – Jews who turned in their fellow Jews in the Nazi death camps. The kapos faced extraordinary cruelty and who knows what any of us would have done under those circumstances to save a loved one? But J Street? They are just smug advocates of Israel’s destruction delivered from the comfort of their secure American sofas – it’s hard to imagine anyone worse.”