Love of the Land: Israel to J Street: We Know You're Not Pro-Israel

Israel to J Street: We Know You're Not Pro-Israel

Stop pretending.


Michael Goldfarb
The Weekly Standard
16 February '10

Israel's deputy foreign minister, Danny Ayalon, lowers the boom on J Street:

"The thing that troubles me is that they don't present themselves as to what they really are. They should not call themselves pro-Israeli," Danny Ayalon, the deputy to hard-line foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman, told Jewish leaders today.

It's funny because that's what troubles me, too. Of course, Ayalon can be less than diplomatic at times. He was last seen dressing down the Turkish ambassador on Israeli TV, but he did offer a humble apology for that, promising the use of "more acceptable diplomatic means" in future protests. J Street isn't likely to ask for any such apology and is even less likely to get one. Still, I can make a well educated guess about what the group will say -- Ayalon has "no right to decide who is and is not pro-Israel based on whether they agree with your views." At least that's how J Street responded to Abe Foxman, director of the Anti-Defamation League, when he questioned the group's pro-Israel bona fides.

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Love of the Land: Israel to J Street: We Know You're Not Pro-Israel