What Has J Street Wrought?

Adar 1, 5777

February 27, 2017

The news on the street in Israel

Palestinian terror in the last hour . . .

As noted in the breaking news above, a Palestinian terrorist infiltrated Mor Farm in south Mt. Hevron, entered a home, and began stabbing a man who lived in the house. The man, in turn, shot and killed the terrorist.

Palestinian terror yesterday . . .

More than 30 terror attacks targeted Israelis yesterday ranging from a “rock” attack at Adam in which a passenger in a car was wounded to another “rock” assault on a bus in Samaria in which another Israeli was wounded.

In addition, Palestinian terrorists tried unsuccessfully to kill Israelis in Molotov attacks, IED attacks, and a shooting attack.

Furthermore, two missiles were fired out of Gaza at southern Israelis. No Israelis were physically wounded.

About that missile attack yesterday . . .

Can you believe this?

Less than an hour after the missiles were fired, the IDF spokesman appeared and, as usual, told us that the missile fire was nothing more than a figment of our imagination. In the same vein, we were told that the alert sirens were “false.”

This led to some bizarre reporting of the event. Here was one of my favorites from YNET news:

                           False Code Red alert near the Gaza border

 . . . false Code Red alert sounds in Sha’ar Hanegev region and Sdot Negev, followed by an explosion heard by the residents.”

So the sirens sounded, which were false, and they were followed by an explosion which was real. 

Unbelievable.

Actually what happened yesterday was convoluted but in a different way.

First, missiles were fired at the Nahal Oz area. Then, explosions (note plural) were heard by residents. After the explosions, the warning sirens were heard.

What does this say about the missile alarm system for Israelis living on the Gaza border? It is woefully inadequate.

The gas begins flowing . . .

Israeli natural gas from the offcoast Tamar field is now powering the Jordanian Arab Potash Company. The company, which is located at the Dead Sea is the first Jordanian company so connected.

Until yesterday, the connection was secret. Well . . .  sort of secret . . .

The Jordanians do not want the Jordanian public to know that the gas is coming from Israel–even though the details of the agreement are well known. Back in February 2014, Jordan signed a $500,000,000 agreement to buy Israeli natural gas.

TODAY’S BLOG:

What Has J Street Wrought?

When you stop and think about it, the rise and fall of J Street has been meteoric.

Back in 2009, as soon as Barack Obama became President, J Street was immediately elevated to the halls of power. AIPAC, the long-time Israel advocacy organization was sidelined, and J Street head Jeremy Ben Ami was suddenly the new arbiter of Israel policy in Washington, D.C.

Apparently.

The real truth was that J Street and Ami immediately became Obama’s tools. J Street really had no influence over Obama because Obama’s policy was already that of J Street. His was a policy that demeaned Israel at every turn beginning with the first visit of PM Netanyahu to the Obama White House and culminating in the disastrous December vote last year in the United Nations Security Council.

Obama’s genius in using J Street was more than the delegitimization of Israeli democracy and its governmental policies. By manipulating J Street and using them as willing idiots, Obama succeeded in dividing American Jews. For eight years, J Street drove a spike into the heart of American Judaism using Israel as the spike.

If you supported Obama, you were a “progressive” critic of Israel. If you opposed Obama, you were immediately labeled as a “regressive” supporter of Israel.

Now, J Street has fallen precipitously from power on the American political scene. Just how far it has fallen is being played out this week at the J Street national convention. Not one member of the Trump government accepted an invitation to speak nor did one member of the Republican Congressional leadership, nor did one member of the Netanyahu government. Instead, J Street was left with a motley collection of speakers such as Bernie Sanders, Ayman Odeh (the Israel-Arab leader who is head of the Joint List of Arab political parties), and Palestinian Saeb Erekat.

Does this mean that J Street has been banished forever?

Of course not. It still wields some power, witness the ongoing confirmation hearings for David Friedman as the new U.S. Ambassador to Israel. J Street is fighting tooth and nail to have Friedman rejected.

And, unfortunately, the division it wrought among American Jews may be long-lasting and even permanent. J Street has made it “sexy” to be anti-Israel, and it will always have a home among self-proclaimed “progressive” American Jews who have no use for Israel.

That is why we must continue to fight J Street at every opportunity.