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Essay

Editorial

A Warped Vision

Israeli cabinet minister Bennett
pitches a brutal "peace plan."

G

iven direct and brokered
These two areas represent 40 per-
peace negotiations haven't
cent of the West Bank. They are where
worked, Israel should demol-
the Palestinians either retain civil and
ish the security barrier, end roadblocks
security responsibility (Area A) or hold
and checkpoints, and annex the area of
civil and planning control and over-
the West Bank where Israeli
sight of law and order other
IIIIPrP"I --
settlements are. It also
than acts of terror (Area B).
should give the Palestinians
Israel would annex the
self-rule in two other areas
largest area: Area C, where
where they already have
400,000 Israelis and 70,000
certain governing powers.
Palestinians live. The
Disingenuous as this
Palestinians would be offered
imagery is, it is the vision of
full Israeli citizenship.
a rising star among Israeli
Bennett imagines
politicos: Naftali Bennett,
allowing the Palestinians
Rober t Sklar
the minister of economy.
"complete freedom of move-
Co nt ri buting
Bennett, the Jewish
ment:' but who is he kid-
Ed i for
Home Party leader, plans
ding? The Palestinians aren't
to promote this plan in the
about to just change their
Knesset. So the more the Jewish world
deeply seated and culturally nourished
knows about the plan, the better. The
stripes of Zionist hatred.
Stability Plan, as it is known, would
be bad for Israel ... period. There's no
A Wild Notion
way the plan would play out as Bennett In a May interview with the IN,
envisions; the Palestinians can't be
Ambassador Dennis Ross, counselor
trusted to astutely govern without
and William Davidson Distinguished
an internationally recognized peace
Fellow at the Washington Institute for
accord. Nor are they able to command
Near East Policy, dismissed Bennett's
influence over the terrorist elements
fantasy given the Palestinians would
within their midst, a crucial require-
still encounter some restrictions
ment for even considering demolition
imposed by Israel.
of the barrier that
"I suspect the
has helped deter
limitations on the
West Bank terrorism
Palestinians would
generated mainly
still be quite strong
by Islamic Jihad and
from their stand-
the Al Aqsa Martyrs
point:' said Ross, a
Brigades. The
Middle East expert
Brigades coalition
who has advised or
Dennis Ross
Naftali
is the military wing
worked under four
of the Fatah party
secretaries of state
Bennett
within the Palestinian
and four presidents,
Authority, which leads Palestinian-
including Barack Obama.
Would the Palestinians, who have
controlled areas of the West Bank.
Fatah was booted out of the Gaza Strip never shown a penchant for compro-
mise or conciliation, really buy into
in a brutal Hamas coup in 2007; the
Israel-imposed restrictions on, for
two governing factions re-united as of
Monday, dangerous as that is, to pursue example, travel and movement, work
Palestinian statehood.
permits, and what could be imported
Bennett is thinking outside the box,
or exported? Would the kind of secu-
but his logic escapes me.
rity that would be necessary, sans the
barrier, inflate the cost of investing
The Stark Details
and doing business in Palestinian-
Under the Bennett plan, Palestinians
controlled areas?
living in Areas A and B of the West
Bank would essentially govern them-
Purposeful Barrier
As for the security barrier, it shouldn't
selves — holding elections, operating
schools, issuing housing permits, man-
be dismantled just because Bennett
aging healthcare. "In short:' Bennett
feels Israel "can stay reasonably secure"
wrote in a May 20 commentary pub-
without it.
High-quality intelligence and tar-
lished in the Wall Street Journal, "Israel
should not interfere in day-to-day
geted military operations have enabled
governance:'
Israel to root out many terrorist plots

Right Or Wrong, J Street
Carves A Political Niche

4.11

Street lost the battle for membership in the Conference of Presidents of
Major American Jewish Organizations, but it's clearly winning the public rela-
tions war against the Jewish community's foreign-policy umbrella coalition.
J Street lost membership in a secret vote, but heightened awareness of its dovish
cause. And it drew votes of support from some top mainline organizations. Though
sharply disagreeing with many J Street stands, the Anti-Defamation League, arms of
the Reform and Conservative movements, and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs,
the Jewish community's domestic policy umbrella, all supported admission.
Most importantly, there's a reasonable chance J Street – which brings an Israel
outlook not necessarily unlike Conference members Americans for Peace Now and
Ameinu, but which is more aggressive and contentious – will yet gain admission in a
future vote.
That prospect shifts the focus to some of J Street's more provocative positions:
courting the National Iranian American Council, a seeming agent of the Iranian
regime; indifference toward stopping Iran's nuclear arms program through military
might, if necessary; hosting talks featuring Tehran apologists; attempting to hide
self-proclaimed "I am not a Zionist" liberal financier George Soros as its leading
funder; and lobbying Congress on behalf of the later-discredited Goldstone Report,
which wrongly claimed Israel committed war crimes in the Gaza Strip.
J Street and J Street U notably welcome to forums and campuses staunch advo-
cates for the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, which strives to eco-
nomically cripple Israel, and proponents of Breaking the Silence, which rails against
Israeli military policy in the Palestinian territories. J Street speakers have included
anti-Zionist Muslim speakers and anti-Israel nongovernmental organizations.
J Street had the gall to defend U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry saying Israel
could become an apartheid state without an Israel-Palestinian peace deal – even
after Kerry, under heavy Jewish criticism, later called it inappropriate.

Out Of Sync

J Street's belief that the newly minted Fatah-Hamas unity agreement in pursuit
of Palestinian statehood should not be considered an obstacle to a peace deal is
balderdash given Hamas' unflinching terrorist approach to Israel and Fatah's indul-
gence of its terrorist wing, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. The belief is an example of
just how buckled J Street's position is when it comes to truly being "pro Israel, pro
peace."
The Palestinian people, so long indoctrinated by anti-Zionist leaders, certainly
deserve a sympathetic and supportive vote from the West. J Street does itself
and its cause no favor, however, by typically branding Israel the oppressor and
the Palestinians the oppressed. Even left-leaning Harvard University law profes-
sor Alan Dershowitz has derided J Street, asserting in a March commentary in the
Israeli newspaper Haaretz that "it is imperative that J Street's hypocrisy must be
exposed."
Attracting 2,800 supporters to its 2013 national convention, J Street, the vision
of Jeremy Ben-Ami, who worked in the Clinton administration as a policy adviser, no
doubt offers an opportunity for a segment of the Jewish community disenfranchised
by groups more hardcore in standing with Israel's leadership. J Street claims to rep-
resent 180,000 online supporters, 800 students and 700 National Rabbinic Cabinet
members. It boasts a $3.1 million annual budget, making it a legitimate player, what-
ever its politics.

Counter It

Bursting onto the scene in 2008 in the wake of Barack Obama's victory in hopes
the new president would keep the pressure on Israel to embrace two states for
two peoples, and in hopes of diluting the American Israel Public Affairs Conference
(AIPAC) as the voice of U.S. Jewry on Israel, J Street today commands, at best, lim-
ited influence and standing given its distance from the center of Jewish America's
political spectrum. But it holds a substantive place on the American Jewish left as
a balance to the right-wing Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), an ardent, loud
Israel defender.
Its policies and practices may be dubious, but J Street resonates among a legion
of American Jews not aligned with such mainline forces as AIPAC, the ZOA and the
Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. Because of that,
J Street and its bewildering Middle East perspectives must be confronted at the
communal table, where it basically sits, and rebutted there, point by point.

❑

Warped Vision on page 38

June 5 • 2014

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