Good reporting by the Washington Jewish Week‘s Adam Kredo on the Donna Edwards flap we reported on yesterday. Notice the pressure on gritty tough Donna Edwards to toe the line. I think you can’t bend that lady’s mind; so t’s inevitable that we’re going to have a conversation about one state in the media, which New Policy.org points out is purely a logical development. How long will it take?
The Democratic source, who was not authorized to be interviewed, added that while Edwards has a relatively solid pro-Israel voting record — repeatedly voting in favor of foreign aid packages that benefit Israel — her participation in a fundraiser with a group viewed as far left leaves the pro-Israel community confused as to where she stands.
“I’ve got to believe these actions don’t benefit her politically, so I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt that she’s taken a principled stand and actually believes in these sort of fringe causes,” the Democratic source said.
Edwards also has been one of J Street’s most high-profile congressional supporters — the group secured around $30,000 for her last year during a fundraising blitz — and the organization went to great lengths last week to affirm what it says is Edwards’ mainstream views on Middle East peace.
“JStreetPAC supports only candidates that are 100 percent committed to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to the existence of Israel as a democracy and as the homeland of the Jewish people,” J Street founder Jeremy Ben Ami said in a statement provided last week to WJW.
“Rep. Donna Edwards has repeatedly reaffirmed her commitment to both of these principles and her opposition to the concept of a ‘one-state solution’ based on a single, secular state for Israelis and Palestinians,” the statement continued, adding that “JStreetPAC disagrees fundamentally on this issue with New Policy PAC, as does Donna Edwards — that is the basis of our organization’s pro-Israel identity and the basis of our support for candidates like Donna Edwards.”
By engaging with this group, Hadar Susskind, J Street’s director of policy, added last week in an interview, Edwards has “put herself in a position where she needs to make clear that her position” on a two-state solution being the only legitimate avenue to peace “has in no way changed.” …
NewPolicy.org’s executive director, Sama Adnan, defended his groups’ assessment of the Middle East peace process, saying, “Basically, we have the same positions as J Street; we just introduce the next logical step.”
Adnan, who previously has worked with the Council for the National Interest (CNI), the Arab-American Institute and Jews for Peace in Palestine and Israel, said that while his organization primarily supports and lobbies for a two-state solution, “it’s getting more and more difficult to imagine.”
He added that “if we can’t divide what is know as Eretz Yisrael” into contiguous parcels of land due to the growth of Jewish settlements, NewPolicy.org “would not be opposed to a one-state solution agreed to by the Palestinians and Israelis.”
