Rachel Lerner of J Street sent out the email below today about her and another J Streeter’s attendance at the World Zionist Congress in Jerusalem. The Congress directs the World Zionist Organization, the Jewish National Fund, and the Jewish Agency– all of which foster the illegal colonization by Jews of occupied territories.
J Street is opposed to the occupation because it wants a two-state solution. Lerner, the senior vice president for community relations at J Street, justifies her attendance by explaining that she is introducing a resolution that would demand more “transparency” on the part of WZO about the subsidies to Jewish-only settlements in an effort to bring the settlements to an end and save the two-state solution.
A choice for full financial transparency is a choice for an Israel that better reflects our Jewish and democratic values.
Really? If world Zionism knew exactly how many millions were going to Jewish-only settlements, they’d change the policy? That’s a bit like joining a group that gives money to segregationists and demanding that they be more transparent about the gift.
I think the real reason for her attendance is that Lerner believes in the “Zionist dream” and so she joins with the community that shares her dream, even if many are racist; note that none of Israel’s dramatic shifts rightward, let alone the arson murder of three members of a Palestinian family by settlers last July– a bit like the Philadelphia Mississippi murders– even registers in Lerner’s account below. She also believes that we can have a sincere conversation in the Jewish community “about whether the Israel we’re building right now is the Israel we want for our future.” It is very much like Americans for Peace Now remaining a member of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations even when that body opposes the Iran deal and supports the illegal settlements; they want to be part of the power conversation, even if it’s a very dark power. (IMHO you cannot organize the Jewish community forward inside that official community; you are just balancing the Ku Klux Klan-like elements of the Zionist faithful. You have to get outside that community to a more diverse community that includes many Jews, and build something better.)
But here is Lerner’s complete email:
“Aren’t you scared to be there right now?”
This was the question a friend asked me when I told her I was heading to Israel this week to participate in the World Zionist Congress.
The truth is, I am scared. The news of increased violence and terror over the past weeks is devastating and terrifying. But at the same time, there is no place I’d rather be right now than Israel and nothing I’d rather do than gather in Jerusalem with hundreds of fellow Jews from around the world to help chart a course that could bring about a better future for a country I love so dearly.
The World Zionist Congress helped birth the State of Israel. Now it convenes every five years or so to determine policies and budgets for the World Zionist Organization (WZO), the Keren Kayemet L’Yisrael-Jewish National Fund (KK”L-JNF) and the Jewish Agency for Israel – major Israeli and international bodies that spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year on Jewish education, social services, urban renewal and rural settlements.
This may sound mundane and bureaucratic, but it’s not.
The KK”L-JNF, a household name in the American Jewish community, controls 13 percent of the land in Israel. The Jewish Agency for Israel, which deals with immigration and absorption, as well as Zionist education, has an annual budget of $475 million and is a partner of the Jewish Federations of North America. Both organizations are partially controlled by the WZO
The WZO’s Settlement Division is responsible for rural development in all of in Israel, but it has been identified primarily with the building and bolstering of settlements in the Palestinian Territory. It is estimated that a significant percentage of the Settlement Division’s funding – hundreds of millions of dollars – went to settlements in the West Bank in 2014. What’s more, while its entire budget comes from the Israeli government, the Settlement Division is a completely private entity. That means it isn’t subject to government accountability rules or oversight, which is why the precise budget details are unknown. The situation is so egregious that Israel’s Deputy Attorney General called it a “governmental twilight zone.”
Continued expansion and entrenchment of settlements over the Green line – in the Palestinian Territory – impede the possibility of a two-state solution and of a secure and peaceful future for Israelis and Palestinians alike. So, as a Jew and as a Zionist, how could I not jump at the chance to participate in such and important and consequential gathering?
The first Zionist Congress was convened to transform the dreams and aspirations of World Jewry for a home of their own into a reality – the State of Israel that we care about so fiercely. If this recent horrible surge in violence has shown us anything, it’s that the inspired work of Israel’s founders is not yet complete. We must make the choice to help complete the Zionist dream. We must make the choice to help Israel reach a diplomatic compromise with its neighbors that will allow it to thrive in peace and security.
That’s why I’ll be attending the 37th Zionist Congress, along with my colleague, former J Street U President Benjy Cannon, as a member of Hatikvah, the progressive Zionist slate.
We will be introducing and advocating for a resolution calling on the WZO, the Jewish Agency and the JNF to be fully transparent about how, where, and why they spend their money.
A choice for full financial transparency is a choice for an Israel that better reflects our Jewish and democratic values.
It is also a choice for an honest conversation with our Israeli brothers and sisters and our Jewish community about whether the Israel we’re building right now is the Israel we want for our future. Do we want an Israel where money is syphoned from underdeveloped communities inside the Green Line to fund settlements that entrench an occupation which puts the two-state solution at risk?
Benjy and I will keep you posted on how the Congress votes. In the meantime, if you know any delegates going to the Congress or if you’re affiliated with the American organizations represented there – including the Reform, Conservative, Orthodox or Reconstructionist Movement (which is represented on the Reform Movement’s ARZA slate), please do your part and urge your leadership to make a choice for transparency and for a better Israel.
Warmly,
Rachel
I was fooled for a while by these J, streeters and almost gave a donation.
When I realized what they are really about I removed my name from their website and made sure to tell them why.Of course I never heard back.
Thanks for the analysis, Phil.
Benjy and Rachel sitting in a JNF tree…
“… they want to be part of the power conversation, even if it’s a very dark power.”
A lot of people seem to be elbowing each other, not to get out of the way, but in order to rub elbows together! It’s still and always about Israel for the Jews, and only the Jews.
J Street is merely another zioblip on the radar. They are another bunch of masqueraders who engage in the interminable lie called the “peace process”, aka the greatest charade on earth.
“The first Zionist Congress was convened to transform the dreams and aspirations of World Jewry for a home of their own into a reality….” (Rachel Lerner)
What unmitigated BS! Prior to the Holocaust, Zionism was very unpopular with the majority of world Jewry. Most longed to assimilate into the Western democracies. This continued even after World War II ended, the Zionists forced to press gang Jews in the refugee camps to make aliyah. It was only after the six day war and Zionism’s exploitation of the Holocaust to achieve immense power for the American Jewish elites that support for Zionism and Israel has become the ticket for success. Rachel Lerner’s “love” of Israel is, in reality, a love of tribal power (yes, “dark power”) and success. She, and all of J Street, are trying to carve out a niche as the (much too) loyal opposition appealing to those Jews who find AIPAC unacceptable. As long as Zionism is a success at power politics, J Street will support it and Israel, morality and justice merely talking points.
As an aside, even Maimonides never went to Palestine, although he could have easily done so.
Phil you’re on fire. I wish I’ll have as much energy as you have when I’m your age.
“J Street is opposed to the occupation because it wants a two-state solution. Lerner, the senior vice president for community relations at J Street, justifies her attendance by explaining that she is introducing a resolution that would demand more “transparency” on the part of WZO about the subsidies to Jewish-only settlements in an effort to bring the settlements to an end and save the two-state solution.’
Clearly she wants to support the two state solution. However the facts are there is barely a way back to that even being a solution.
On her resolution to expose particulars about the “subsidies to Jewish only settlements” How else would one approach a push for this exposure? Outside in or as she is approaching inside out. While I don’t agree with some of the things she said how else would one approach wanting the who, how much $$ exposed?