RIP, the third rail

by on June 9, 2009 17
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Scratch that last post of mine about Congresswoman Donna Edwards. In response to the AIPAC/lobby shot across her bow in Politico last week over her failure to stand up for Israel no matter what, J Street immediately raised $15,000 for Edwards in four hours. And Jeremy Ben-Ami, the head of J Street, declared that the old way of taking scalps on Israel policy is over.
We'll see, won't we; but it's amazing to me that this piece quotes Edwards, on her visit to Israel, expressing deep dismay at the settlements on the West Bank and then horror at a bill in the Knesset making it a criminal offense to define Israel as anything but a Jewish democratic state. "Shocking," Edwards said, citing her own experience as an African-American. At last: the American struggle with civil rights, applied to the racist policies in the West Bank.
I used to say that J Street only came along to lobby the lobby, to influence the influencers. Maybe at first. Now it's there to break up the lobby and influence people on its own. And by standing with Edwards and Obama on settlements and minority rights–it is taking its power. This is the product of the Iraq war, the neocons overplaying the American commitment to Zionism, and Gaza, too.

About Philip Weiss

Philip Weiss is Founder and Co-Editor of Mondoweiss.net.
Posted in Israel Lobby

{ 17 comments... read them below or add one }

  1. jorge999 says:
    June 10, 2009 at 1:19 am

    It isn't stopping at $15,000 for the Donna Edwards re-election campaign. J Street is using a method developed by the Howard Dean campaign in 2003 — ie. when 'they' offend, insult, or threaten, go right back at them by using the threat to make a 'statement' via contributions. I just sent them mine.

  2. Jaffr says:
    June 10, 2009 at 1:30 am

    Brilliant! This might really be a turning of the tide. And I think that Obama has also realized he can face down AIPAC. Is it a paper tiger after all? I note that he wants to fast-track the two-state process, so that it will proceed before the Lobby can do anything to intervene in the 2012 elections.

  3. US Objector says:
    June 10, 2009 at 1:30 am

    Mondoweiss should make a DONATE button available to contribute to JStreet's re-elect Edwards campaign. (I also think ActBlue is another website dedicated to counteract AIPAC efforts.) While we're at it, there should be a fundraising drive for Mondoweiss.

  4. Carryon says:
    June 10, 2009 at 1:46 am

    Congrats on the success of the video, Max, Joseph and Phil. Download mp3's of Phil discussing the Neocon / AIPAC agenda: http://antiwar.com/radio/2009/04/30/philip-weiss-... http://antiwar.com/radio/2009/04/30/philip-weiss-... http://antiwar.com/radio/2009/04/30/philip-weiss-...

  5. RichardWitty says:
    June 10, 2009 at 2:13 am

    The knesset vote that she objected was an affirmation that Israel be identified as a Jewish AND a democratic state. The only way that happens is if Israel upholds its basic law with affirms the rights of equal due process under the law for all residents. It can be a Jewish state AND a democratic state, like Germany is a German and a democratic state. As contradictory as that sounds to those that can't walk and chew gum at the same time.

  6. AnaSanchez says:
    June 10, 2009 at 3:29 am

    No, Judaism is a religion; the state is called "Israel." So the state can be democratic, but only if it doesn't give privileges to one religion over another. You didn't say "Germany is Christian and a democratic state," did you?

  7. American says:
    June 10, 2009 at 3:46 am

    Excellent. I just wrote out a check…and a note to go with it….and will call Edwards office tomorrow for the address of her reelection campaign office. I think a direct individual check is the bestway to show support for her taking a principled stand…letting her know Americans are paying attention and approve. I did the same thing for Betty McCollum when she banned AIPAC from her office until she got an apology for the AIPAC hellot who accused her of being a traitor to American for not supporting Israel. BTW…if anyone else wants to send a check with note as to why, call her office ,do not send it to her office address in DC…the mail there goes thru bomb and anthrax checks and takes weeks to ever make it to their offices…call and get her campaign office address instead.

  8. American says:
    June 10, 2009 at 4:00 am

    There is no one on earth who believes Israel is a democratic state. It's a wink,wink joke. Everyone believes it is a Jewish state whose official policy is to maintain a Jewish ethnic religious majority with Jewish ethnic religious control. That aint democracy. You have repeatedly alluded to the US and Israel being the same kind of democracy. Well we could test that…..the majority of America is still christian so what if we start bulldozing Jewish neighborhoods to make way for more christian homes? Then you could say we are similar…and be correct.

  9. MRW says:
    June 10, 2009 at 4:20 am

    Listen to Israeli historian take down Richard Witty's argument that Israel be identified as a Jewish AND a democratic state with great humor and insight here – 25 min: http://pulsemedia.org/2009/04/16/shlomo-sand/

  10. MRW says:
    June 10, 2009 at 4:30 am

    Hey, American, dont these candidates have online fund-raising? You can still send the note, or call both DC and the local office.

  11. MRW says:
    June 10, 2009 at 4:52 am

    You have repeatedly alluded to the US and Israel being the same kind of democracy. I love this effort to say the US and Israel are the same. We're not. We have a Constitution and legal border. Israel does not. We have the separation of church and state enshrined in our Constitution. Israel insists on being an exclusionary theocracy, and wants to enshrine laws that deny rights to all but the privileged religion. Israel can't live without its financially parasitical relationship with the US. The US has natural resources and national assets to back up its borrowing, and it doesn't live like a parasite off another country. We're over 50 times the size in population, and God knows how much larger in land area and this pissant country thinks it can assume parity? In what? Chutzpah? That's democracy?

  12. DICKERSON3870 says:
    June 10, 2009 at 5:06 am

    RE: "…and will call Edwards office tomorrow for the address of her reelection campaign office." CAMPAIGN WEBSITE: Donna Edwards for Congress – http://www.donnaedwardsforcongress.com/ FROM THE ABOVE CAMPAIGN WEBSITE: Mail-in contributions may be sent to Donna Edwards for Congress, P.O. Box 441153, Fort Washington, MD 20749-1153.

  13. Strahl says:
    June 10, 2009 at 6:54 am

    More lies and dishonesty from Witless. Germany is not a colonial State. To be a German is to be a German citizen. To be Jewish in the Jewish State is OBVIOUSLY (you fucking tool) is to be Jewish by religion (or maybe even ethnicity). So no, moron, you cannot be Jewish and democratic. That's not implying a JEW cannot be democratic, it means you cannot prefer one group over another and be democratic.

  14. timp says:
    June 10, 2009 at 10:38 am

    No. One of the bedrocks of a real Democracy is pluralism . I defy you to name one Democratic government that limits citizenship on the basis of religion.

  15. Ozzie Maland says:
    June 10, 2009 at 2:47 pm

    I am not sure whether Phil has commented on the NYTimes Week in Review article, The Divisions Among Israelis and Palestinians, by Ethan Bronner (June 6), but I would be interested to know how he feels about the assertion that 13% of Israelis are tribal extremists while a majority of Palestinians are. The article has the tribal mentality in the mode that winning means the other side losing — so death to Palestinians becomes a legitimate goal for Israel. The point of interest is just the numbers — I would have thought that 13% would be about right for the Palestinian side also. — Aloha ~~~ Ozzie Maland ~~~ San Diego

  16. Marion says:
    June 10, 2009 at 3:36 pm

    Only Zionists would contradictorily compare Germany is a German to Israel is a Jew….Technically if Israel is truly a Democratic state, it should be considered as an Israeli state, not a Jewish state Witty… Are Arab Israelis in Israel considered as being Jewish Witty? Yet you don't see see how insisting on calling Israel a Jewish state is contradictory to Western style Democracy?

  17. Marion says:
    June 10, 2009 at 3:41 pm

    Think about it for awhile when you are walking and chewing gum….

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