Up until the recent past, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) dominated the discourse in Washington as the voice of pro-Israel advocates and (unofficially) Jews in America. Because of AIPAC’s arguable reputation as a “right-wing” organization that places Israel’s interests above all else, a new group sprouted to woo moderate and left wing Jews by calling itself the “pro-peace” lobby. This organization, J Street, has received some harsh criticism from its opponents for a stance that is too pro-Palestinian. Further, critics lambasted J Street for its “meddling” in Israeli affairs by launching a public relations campaign against Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Leiberman.
Well, J Street seems to be getting attack some more, this time for its upcoming conference that includes some rather controversial figures. Notably, speaker Salam Al-Marayati refuses to condemn Palestinian terrorism but also accused Israel of a role in the 9/11 attacks. He was quoted as saying:
”If we’re going to look at suspects, we should look to the groups that benefit the most from these kinds of incidents, and I think we should put the state of Israel on the suspect list because I think this diverts attention from what’s happening in the Palestinian territories so that they can go on with their aggression and occupation and apartheid policies.”
Some of the speakers are worth while including former Shin Bet Chief Ami Ayalon, former IDF Chief of Staff Amnon Shahak, and Ambassador Martin Indyk.
The handfull of controversial speakers surely won’t outweigh the remarks of the afformentioned three statesmen. However, J Streets decision to even include some speakers easily labeled as “anti-Israel” should raise concerns about the organization’s agenda, especially if it labels itself “pro-Israel.”
The list of speakers at the J Street conference includes:
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