Two weeks ago neocons launched an attack on J Street by publishing the unsurprising revelation that the alternative Jewish lobby had gotten money from George Soros. The Washington Times declared that the Obama administration was distancing itself from J Street– on the basis of a comment by the one Jewish Republican congressman– and Jeffrey Goldberg said that AIPAC had won and J Street had lost. While the critics were right that J Street had been less than forthcoming about its Soros connection when it started, the political matter of the attack was pointed out by Daniel Luban, who said that the critics are supporting endless Israeli expansion. And Luban wondered, where is the liberal Jewish support for ending the colonization process? J Street and Americans for Peace Now have been fairly lonely on that front, inside the mainstream American Jewish community.
Not surprisingly, it turns out that J Street is still alive and kicking. From the Forward:
Early signs suggest that damage-control efforts are paying off. Doors on Capitol Hill and in the administration remain open, and according to J Street officials and political insiders, [Jeremy] Ben-Ami’s leadership of the group has not been challenged.
…“I told our team, I am not Gandhi and I am not Rahm; I’m somewhere in the middle,” Ben-Ami recalled in an October 5 interview with the Forward.
Ben-Ami took full responsibility for not revealing in public the fact that Soros has been providing funds to J Street. He issued a statement carrying this message as the press and right-wing blogs were already in a frenzy of criticism against the group, some predicting that the Soros affair would mark the beginning of J Street’s demise, or at least the end of the Ben-Ami era.
But most observers now agree that neither scenario is likely to materialize.
“People see it as an aberration, not as a pattern,” said Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, referring to Ben-Ami’s post-Soros image in political circles. “Usually you get one free pass for things like this.” Saperstein, who was also involved in initial talks that led to the creation of J Street, said he did not sense any concerns on Capitol Hill or in the administration about dealing with Ben-Ami or with J Street.
