"We are here to redefine and expand the very concept of being pro-Israel."You may be "Pro-Israel" if... your organization calls for boycotting products made by Israelis.
You may be "Pro-Israel" if... you believe Israel should be investigated for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
You may be "Pro-Israel" if... you are sure Israel should not have attacked Gaza after 7 years of Sederot being bombed.
You may be "Pro-Israel" if... you believe that Israel is illegally occupying the Wailing Wall in East Jerusalem.
If you believe any of those things listed above - you may be "Pro-Israel".
Please contact your local JStreet chapter, we'll be happy to teach you how to turn your personal beliefs into community-wide actions - and you'll never even have to say you are "Pro-Israel".
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23 comments:
My only comment is to wonder how people could be so stupid. Feel free to say you hate Israel. Feel free to criticize and lie - but at least have the decency to admit you hate Israel, are ready to stand and watch it be destroyed.
No, Israel did NOT commit war crimes in Gaza. My son was there. My son shot artillery - no, he did not shoot illegal weapons.
No, Israel did not hide behind human shields - that was Hamas.
No, Israel didn't leave its people out in the open to deal within incoming missiles - that was Hamas.
No, Israel did not target civilians. That was Hamas.
And anyone who says differently...should belong to JStreet - a truly ANTI-ISRAEL organization filled with self-apologizing Jews who don't have the courage to say what they really are!
hah. you're moving into "daily show" territory. well done, i laughed, anyway.
jonathan; in our earlier years -- the muqata was far more humorous :-)
We'll try to keep satire on the blog as well.
Joe- who exactly handed you the mandate for the "Pro-Israel" definition monopoly? Are you going to propose that only the True Orange are pro-Israel? Or do you draw your line elsewhere? Please, enlighten us!
Let me remind you that J-Street, BDS and Shalom Achshav all believe, 100%, just as you do, that they have Israel's future concerns at the center of their agenda... they aren't self-haters or Arab-Lovers, apologists or any of the other labels you'd like to throw at them. And you may well scoff as you read this, but bear in mind that no angry, ridiculing (albeit amusing) posts on the Muqata or anyone else are likely to persuade them otherwise.
TAFKA PP: Well, J-Street found the phrase "Pro-Israel" too disturbing for their own advertising agenda to college students!
If they honestly believe they have 100% of Israel's future concerns at the center of their agenda, then why don't they have the backbone to use the words "Pro Israel?"
PS: Here's some food for thought -- a "right wing mole" infiltrated a Peace Now meeting. See what Yariv Oppenheimer had to say about his own organization, in his own words.
BTW - Peace Now is so 100% Israel, that Yariv Oppenheimer has been banned from entering the Knesset!
tafka pp: Joe- who exactly handed you the mandate for the "Pro-Israel" definition monopoly? Are you going to propose that only the True Orange are pro-Israel? Or do you draw your line elsewhere? Please, enlighten us!
Well, I'll tell you where I draw the line: An organization whose representatives consciously and deliberately delete the phrase "pro-Israel" from their self description, because they feel the description "pro-Israel" may be "alienting" to their target audience -- is obviously not "pro-Israel".
Why, do you disagree?
Would you seriously argue that an organization that publicly states that it doesn't call itself "pro-Israel" is "pro-Israel"?!
It sounds to me like you're not really arguing with Joe; you're arguing with J Street.
Lurker: Hey, I wrote the same thing!
Yeah, but I wrote it better. :-)
btw -- the JPost article also wrote:
"He noted that the individual student chapters would be free to add "pro-Israel," "pro-Israel, pro-Palestine," or other wording that they felt would be effective on this issue, since "it's up to the individuals on campus to know their audience."
So...if a J-Street chapter wants -- they could just write "Pro Palestine", drop the "Pro Israel" and J-street has no problem with that.
I guess that really is a redefinition of "pro-Israel", if you can drop the "pro-Israel" part of your message and make it only "Pro Palestine."
("We are here to redefine and expand the very concept of being pro-Israel." --J-Street)
I still disagree with you both. (And I was arguing with Joe- my one guilty pleasure.)
It is quite clear that recruiting pro-Israel interest on US (and UK, for that matter) campuses is not what it used to be, and I think that the director sums it up very well:
J Street Executive Director Jeremy Ben-Ami said that when it came to his organization's work with the student groups, "If the way to engage the young part of our community is to give them space to work through their relationship with Israel, then we're going to do that. We're not going to shut them out, because the only way to keep them in the community is to give them the space to work that out."
J Street itself has repeatedly emphasized the pro-Israel aspect of its identity, stressing its stand in support of Israel and the need for a two-state solution in the face of criticism that it doesn't squarely support the Jewish state...
...Ben-Ami described himself as "concerned but realistic" about the students' choice to leave out the pro-Israel piece of J Street's slogan.
He added, "Some in the community might not want to hear that this is where a lot of young people have come to, but we have to deal with people where they're at and address their concerns."
It comes down to alienation- Tachlis, whether you would personally rather that the thousands of US Jewish youth who are not inclined to join "Zo Artzeinu on Campus"(sic) but yet are interested in exploring their relationship with Israel and who want to see steps taken towards peace in the region choose to affiliate with JStreet, or nothing at all, or join a group that tows an AIPAC line (and then get dissilusioned and leave, as is increasingly common), or join the ISM or a pro-Palestinian group.
J-Street didn't emerge out of a vacuum. Advocating for Israel has become a far more complex task than it used to be- mostly because Israel's actions no longer find favour in the eyes of many of their once-stalwart supporters (yourselves included, gentlemen!) for a variety of reasons and motivations. Why shouldn't J-Street take creative rein upon themselves over how to redefine being pro-Israel in light of today's complex reality? Why should it be different for diaspora Jews? Plenty of Israelis who consider themselves Pro-Israel regularly scream "traitor" at others who define themselves by exactly the same label. (nb Jameel, where does YO say in that article that he doesn't love his country?)
Pretentious and smug though they might well be, their growing popularity among both American Jews who consider themselves supporters of Israel, and Israeli Jews who appreciate their initiatives speaks volumes: They are clearly not the enemy.
J-Street didn't emerge out of a vacuum.
JStreet emerged out of the deep pockets of George Soros.
Since J-Street can define themselves as Pro-Israel, why shouldn't Ichud Leumi (or Kach) be able to define themselves as Pro-Palestine?
They define Jordan as Palestine! And they want a Palestinian State in Jordan.
Who exactly handed the Palestinians an exclusive mandate for the "Pro-Palestine" definition monopoly?
Are they going to propose that only the True Fatah... or Hamas... or J-Street are pro-Palestine?
Or do you draw your line elsewhere? Please, enlighten us!
Let me remind you that J-Street, Hamas and Fatah, Ichud Leumi, and Kach all believe, 100%, just as you do, that they have Palestine's future concerns at the center of their agenda... they aren't self-haters or apologists or any of the other labels you'd like to throw at them. And you may well scoff as you read this, but bear in mind that no angry, ridiculing (albeit amusing) posts on the Fatah website or anywhere else are likely to persuade them otherwise.
(Sorry. Had to do it)
Hi Tafka PP -- Lets take the following example.
R' Benny Elon from Ichud Leumi honestly cares about Palestinian issues from a humanitarian point of view. However, he believes that Jordan should be Palestine.
So...lets do a search and replace on your comment, resulting in the following:
Who exactly handed the Palestinians...or Peace Now a mandate for the "Pro-Palestine" definition monopoly? Are they going to propose that only the True Fatah...or Hamas...or J-Street...or Peace Now are pro-Palestine? Or do you draw your line elsewhere? Please, enlighten us!
Let me remind you that J-Street, Peace Now, Hamas and Fatah all believe, 100%, just as you do, that they have Palestine's future concerns at the center of their agenda... they aren't self-haters or apologists or any of the other labels you'd like to throw at them.
How do you think Peace Now would feel about the above?
Anyone can define anything as they wish...but to define J-Street as "Pro Israel" while they allow their own chapters to call themselves "Pro Palestine" (and not mentioning Pro Israel AT ALL) seems rather silly.
Jameel: Your version is better than mine.
Just a reminder.
JStreet is a product of George Soros's deep pockets.
(And it must be driving him nuts that the Israeli shekel is so strong right now)
Oh - and you never even have to be Jewish to be a J-Street activist.
J-Street is also a creature of time when anti-Semitism and feelings of revulsion towards Israel in much of the world have been higher than at any time in recorded history. Let's just say J-Street is so pro-Israel it is doing nothing to help reverse these frightening trends; in fact it is benefiting from them.
J-Street is funded by Baracka Hussein Obama's secret anti-Israel fund.
Look into it!
>I would not shed any tears if such people were shot
being a jew, i don't have the luxury of harboring such sentiments against my people. even though i see j-street as vanity and foolishness and dangerous to boot, i can't bring myself to wish for the death of any jew. i'm superstitious that way, i guess.
During this month (and a half) of RabinFest, statements like that may be somehow misunderstood as a call to murder, and could get the Muqata shut down (and Jameel arrested) for not properly condemning those statements with sufficient force. Consider your comments forcefully condemned.
And buggering syphilitic camels is incitement to murder, so bugger free speech too while you're at it.
Boys, boys... you're still missing the point. Never mind. Time will tell. Let's discuss J-Street again in a year?
I am Pro-Palestenian. I’d be thrilled if they grew their economy, improved their education, and liberated their women. I hate to see them kill themselves, especially when others are nearby. I’d like nothing more than for them to lead happy productive lives focused on themselves rather than on some tiny piece of desert that has nothing to offer them.
During this month (and a half) of RabinFest, statements like that may be somehow misunderstood as a call to murder...
Good heavens! I had no idea! I merely indicated that my piles won't bleed if they get offed, nor will I speak regretfully about it it afterwards in any way. I do not advocate shooting them..... or any other form of violence, and I am cautious about my words in English (but you should see some of the vloekschriften I've sent into the internet in Dutch). Nevertheless, I do not advocate whacking them. I am far less hatefully inclined to them than to the leaders of various groups in Europe, as well as certain select public figures over there (just three names: Anja Meulenbelt, Dries van Agt, Gretta Duisenberg).
Consider your comments forcefully condemned.
I quake. I tremble. I resolve to be more diplomatic.
And buggering syphilitic camels is incitement to murder
No, it is incitement to an act that fits with the tendencies of Michael Lerner and Richard Silverstein, among several others.
I'm sure that if Anja Meulenbelt, Dries van Agt, and Gretta Duisenberg were to collectively engage upon that pursuit, both they and the camels would be a lot more sweet-tempered.
Plus it might give them something to do. Finally.
Nevertheless, I am properly chastened.
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