J Street’s a crooked road -Lenny Ben-David
Bravo to The Washington Times’s national security correspondent Eli Lake for his exposé of J Street. The so-called pro-Israel organization is bursting with scandals about the identity of its contributors, its decision-making process, its conflicting policies on Iran sanctions, its ties to pro-Iranian and Arab American organizations and more. But many reporters have been reluctant to shine a spotlight on it, fearful of running afoul of the White House, for whom J Street proudly serves as President Barack Obama’s “blocking back.”
Since J Street’s founding, Jeremy Ben-Ami [pictured top] has repeatedly lied about his organization’s dependence on Israel’s super-critic George Soros [pictured]. Lake revealed that J Street’s US tax records prove that Soros and his family are major contributors.
Soros’ influence goes a long way in explaining J Street’s very existence, its frequent criticism of Israel, its refusal to condemn the Goldstone Report, its flirtation with Iran, its refusal to support Israel’s Gaza operation and its active opposition to some American Jewish organizations.
The IRS forms list J Street’s five officers and directors – something J Street never before publicized. For good reason. The fifth listed is Mort Halperin, a veteran Washington foreign policy hand who also serves as senior adviser at Soros’ Open Society Institute.
Bravo to The Washington Times’s national security correspondent Eli Lake for his exposé of J Street. The so-called pro-Israel organization is bursting with scandals about the identity of its contributors, its decision-making process, its conflicting policies on Iran sanctions, its ties to pro-Iranian and Arab American organizations and more. But many reporters have been reluctant to shine a spotlight on it, fearful of running afoul of the White House, for whom J Street proudly serves as President Barack Obama’s “blocking back.”
Since J Street’s founding, Jeremy Ben-Ami [pictured top] has repeatedly lied about his organization’s dependence on Israel’s super-critic George Soros [pictured]. Lake revealed that J Street’s US tax records prove that Soros and his family are major contributors.
Soros’ influence goes a long way in explaining J Street’s very existence, its frequent criticism of Israel, its refusal to condemn the Goldstone Report, its flirtation with Iran, its refusal to support Israel’s Gaza operation and its active opposition to some American Jewish organizations.
The IRS forms list J Street’s five officers and directors – something J Street never before publicized. For good reason. The fifth listed is Mort Halperin, a veteran Washington foreign policy hand who also serves as senior adviser at Soros’ Open Society Institute.
[E]qually troubling is a huge $811,697 contribution from a “Consolacion Esdicul” from Hong Kong. Why would a Hong Kong individual contribute as much as onehalf of J Street’s budget? Actually, [this] contribution is in line with J Street’s corrupt taking of money from pro-Saudi activists, Arab- American leaders, Muslim activists, State Department Arabists, a Palestinian billionaire and even a Turkish American who helped produce [an] anti-American and anti-Semitic film.
The $811,687 contribution from Hong Kong should raise the question whether the lobbyists need to register as foreign agents and not domestic lobbyists.
Last week J Street published ads in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal demanding that Israel “freeze settlement growth.” (There were no parallel J Street demands on the Palestinians to stop jihadi incitement in the PA’s newspapers, radio and television networks.)
Now we know who pays for J Street’s ads.
In recent months J Street endorsed several dozen candidates for congressional elections, and its political action committee has distributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to its favorite candidates. How many of the endorsees will rush to reject the J Street favors now that the organization has emerged as a Soros and foreign front?
Give J Street credit, though: It did succeed in identifying a leftist constituency looking for a voice in Washington. But The Washington Times exposé is so devastating to J Street’s credibility and standing in Washington that its constituency needs a new champion, one free of intrigues, lies and corruption.
[Jerusalem Post]
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UPDATE:
J Street under fire after attempting to aid Goldstone -Gil Shefler
Critics of J Street rebuked the dovish advocacy group after it emerged it had considered facilitating meetings between Judge Richard Goldstone and congressmen.
The Washington Times reported that J Street approached several US lawmakers in November 2009 asking whether they would be interested in meeting the author of the UN report on the war in Gaza, to ask him questions on his findings.
J Street founder and director Jeremy Ben-Ami told The Jerusalem Post that his staff had made “two or three” such phone calls to US politicians and relayed their response onward. However, he stressed that after those initial inquiries were made, his organization decided not to become involved.
David Harris, the executive director of the American Jewish Committee, said that J Street’s contact with Goldstone, coupled with last week's revelation that it received funds from billionaire George Soros, an outspoken critic of Israeli policies on a number of occasions, undermined its stated mission of supporting the Jewish state.
[Jerusalem Post]
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