STOP EXTREMIST ANTI-ISRAEL J-STREET!  

***URGENT REQUEST to PRO-ISRAEL ACTIVISTS*** 

Dear Fellow Pro-Israel Activists From Mort Klein

On Wednesday April 30^th (next week!), the 50 member organizations of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations (the “Conference”) will vote whether the extremist, virulent anti-Israel group J-Street will become a member of the Conference.

The 18 bullet points below demonstrate why the anti-Israel J-Street lobby must not be permitted to join the Conference of Presidents.   Also here is a link to the J-Street Exposed website: http://www.jstreetexposed.com/  The website spells out J-Street’s shocking anti-Israel activities, positions, funding and associations, and includes the “follow the money” video clip from a new movie about J-Street (produced by Charles Jacob’s organization), a video of Professor Alan Dershowitz condemning J-Street, and other helpful resources and information.  In addition, here is the link to the Zionist Organization of America’s report on how J-Street repeatedly sides with Israel’s enemies:   http://zoa.org/2013/04/10196411-zoa-report-j-street-siding-with-israels-enemies/

We need your help!  Here is a link listing the 50 member organizations of the conference:  http://www.conferenceofpresidents.org/about/members.  A list of the member groups and their top executives is also below (after the bullet points).  Please look at the list of member organizations of the Conference.  If you are a member of any of these groups, or a contributor, friend or acquaintance of anyone in these member organizations or a related organization (for instance, if you are a member of a Conservative Synagogue, please contact the Conservative movement groups listed below), please call and write to those groups immediately, and ask them to vote against J-Street becoming a member of the Conference of Presidents.   If you reach anyone at these member organizations, please let Liz know the outcome.

Please let us know if you need any further information.

Many thanks for your help!

Best regards,

Morton Klein
National President, The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA)

 

Elizabeth (Liz) Berney, Esq.
Director, ZOA’s Exposing J-Street Project
cell: 917 687-8233
lizberney@gmail.com

Why J-Street Must Not Be Permitted to Join The Conference of Presidents Of Major Jewish Organizations

1. J-Street’s activities since its inception directly conflict with and undermine the Conference of Presidents’ stated missions of “mobilizing support to halt Iran’s nuclear program,” “counter[ing] the global campaign to delegitimize Israel and the Jewish people,” “bolster[ing] Israel’s security” and combatting terrorism and anti-Semitism.
2. J-Street lobbies against sanctions and against military action to stop Iran’s nuclear weapons program.  J-Street works closely with NIAC (National Iranian American Council), an apparent agent of the Iranian regime.  A NIAC board member is a significant J-Street donor.  J-Street conference speakers include NIAC head and leading Iran apologist Trita Parsi, and Hillary Mann Leverett, who condemned as “fundamentally racist” anyone who did not “trust” the Iranian regime.  J-Street likewise urges U.S. Congresspersons to simply “believe in Iran.”
3. J-Street U (J-Street’s campus arm) sponsors anti-Israel events on American campuses throughout the country that demonize, defame and delegitimize Israel and the IDF (Israel Defense Forces).   Prof. Alan Dershowitz states that J-Street has “made a generation of Jews ashamed to be pro-Israel.”  J-Street U brings to campuses speakers and events by the anti-Israel NGO “Breaking the Silence” (BtS), which falsely accuses the IDF of war crimes and brutal treatment of Palestinian Arabs.  (At these one-sided J-Street U sponsored BtS events, students who served in the IDF and experienced the IDF’s humane treatment of Palestinian Arabs are forbidden from speaking out to correct the false BtS presentation.)  J Street U also arranged talks by former Gaza UNRWA director John Ging, who promotes political warfare against Israel and supports pro-Hamas flotillas.  J Street U also promotes the NIF-funded Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity Movement (“SJSM”), which opposes the idea of Israel as a Jewish homeland, collaborates with the anti-Israel global BDS movement, defames Israel as a “fascist state,” and talks about victories over “cowardly Zionists who are perpetrating an apartheid state and ethnic cleansing in Jerusalem,” and urges liquidation of the Jewish Agency and the Jewish National Fund. At a J Street U sponsored campus event, the Sheikh Jarrah’s founder declared “Jerusalem is a symbol of evil.”  J Street U also presents the NIF-funded B’Tselem, which provided false information defaming Israel in the Goldstone report, whose chair Oren Yiftachel, calls for “effective sanctions” against Israel, and supported the Palestinian “right of return” (which means the destruction of the Jewish state), and whose CEO Jessica Montell promotes calling Israel an “apartheid state.”
4. J-Street promoted and disseminated the Goldstone Report, which falsely accused Israel of committing war crimes in Gaza.  J-Street also introduced members of Congress to Mr. Goldstone, to further propagate these false accusations against Israel.  A J-Street official ghost-wrote Goldstone’s letter criticizing a Congressional resolution that condemned the Goldstone report.  J-Street took no corrective action when Goldstone recanted much of his report.  Instead, J-Street continues to make false accusations regarding Israel’s actions in Gaza, further undermining and delegitimizing Israel and the Jewish people.
5. J-Street lobbied to have President Obama vote for an anti-Israel U.N. resolution.
6. J-Street portrays Israel as the “oppressor” and the Palestinians as the “oppressed,” and likens the IDF to Hamas.  (See J-Street’s 2011 Conference “Giving Voices to our Values” video, reproduced at “J Street and the Jewish War Against Israel,” by Caroline Glick)
7. J-Street is part of an interconnected web of extremist organizations working to delegitimize Israel.  J-Street pays tens of thousands of dollars (including $56K in one 6-month period) to Ben Or Consulting, a PR and strategy company founded by and still co-owned by J-Street Executive Director Jeremy Ben-Ami.  Ben Or created, consults for and coordinates the activities of extreme anti-Israel NGOs operating in Israel, which invent and disseminate false accusations against Israel and the IDF.
8. J-Street conferences promote BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) against Israel, with speeches by top BDS promoters Mustafa Barghouti and Rebecca Vilkomerson, and other leading BDS speakers.  J Street U likewise brings BDS promoters to speak at American college campuses throughout the country.  BDS’s goal is to destroy Israel by dividing, delegitimizing and economically suffocating Jews and Israel.
9. J-Street-PAC works for and raises millions of dollars to elect anti-Israel U.S. Congresspersons.  J-Street-PAC also works for and raises millions of dollars to defeat Israel’s best friends in the U.S. Congress.  Egregiously, J-Street sent out direct mail against Israel’s best friends in the U.S. Congress, and accused Israel’s best friends in government of harming Israel’s security.  J-Street’s funding and campaigns have in fact unseated prominent Congresspersons who were Israel’s staunchest supporters.
10. J-Street supports and promotes placing U.S. pressure on Israel to retreat to the indefensible 1949 Armistice lines (the pre-1967 “borders,” which Abba Eban called “Auschwitz lines”), divide Jerusalem, and overrun and destroy Israel with a Palestinian Arab “right or return.”
11. J-Street conferences support worldwide “Lawfare” and “Courtroom Intifada” against Israel (bringing legal actions against Israel and Israeli officials).  J-Street conference speakers include the legal representative of virulent anti-Israel NGOs, and of a Canadian lawsuit seeking a judicial declaration that Israel is guilty of committing “war crimes” and that Israel’s security barrier is illegal.
12. For years, J-Street lied that it was not supported by viciously anti-Israel billionaire George Soros (who wrote about himself “I am not a Zionist”).  It was not until a newspaper obtained J-Street’s 2008 tax return, that J-Street was forced to admit that anti-Israel Soros donated $750,000 to J-Street in 2008-2010.  In addition, a substantial portion of J-Street’s funding comes from Muslim and Arab individuals and leaders who are hostile to Israel, and a mystery foreign donor living in Hong Kong who gave over $800,000.  Would such individuals give to J-Street if J-Street was truly pro-Israel?
13.  J-Street falsely accuses Israel of killing Palestinian civilians.  For instance, in March 2012, J-Street lied that “Israel Defense Forces… have killed over a dozen Palestinian civilians.”   After it became clear that J-Street’s statement was false, J-Street then stated that it “misstated the number of civilian casualties,” still leaving the false impression that Israel caused some unspecified number of civilian casualties. In fact, no civilians were killed in the Israeli operation, which took place in the Gaza strip controlled by the terrorist group Hamas. The 16 “Palestinians” killed were all anti-Israel terrorists (10 from Islamic Jihad, 6 from “Popular Resistance Committees”).
14. J-Street officials and conference speakers condemn the very creation of Israel as “wrong” and “unjust.”
15. J-Street’s extreme anti-Israel activities have caused noted liberal Congresspersons to publicly disassociate themselves from J-Street, including former liberal Democratic Congressman Gary Ackerman.  Numerous liberal U.S. Senators and Congresspersons have asked J-Street to remove their names from J-Street’s host committee, including Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-AR).  Likewise, prominent Israeli left-wing Knesset members such as MK Shneller (Kadima party) condemn J-Street.
16. J-Street never praises Israel.  None of J-Street’s press releases since J-Street’s inception praise Israel, and virtually all of J-Street’s press releases criticize Israel (confirmed by Harvard Prof. Alan Dershowitz’s analysis).  J-Street does not support Israel regarding the Iran threat or on any other issue.  J-Street virtually never condemns the Palestinian Authority for inciting terror and its other anti-Israel activities.
17. J-Street is a pro-Palestinian group that deceptively masquerades as pro-Israel.  Alan Dershowitz says that J-Street’s pro-Israel claims constitute “fraud in advertising.” Admitting J-Street to the Conference of Presidents would give credibility and legitimacy to J-Street’s deception and egregious anti-Israel pro-Palestinian activities.
18.  Even if one supports a large tent, we all agree that not every group belongs in a large tent.  J-Street’s extreme anti-Israel actions clearly place J-Street outside a “large tent.”   Alan Dershowitz sums it up:  “J Street has harmed Israel more than any American organization.”

 

Conference of Presidents 50 Member Organizations:

 

ALPHA EPSILON PI, (317) 876-1913, office@aepi.org

 

AMEINU (formerly Labor Zionist Alliance), (212) 366-1194, executive@ameinu.net, Pres. Kenneth Bob, CEO Gideon Aronoff

 

AMERICAN FRIENDS OF LIKUD, (212) 308-5595

 

AMERICA-ISRAEL FRIENDSHIP LEAGUE, (212) 213-8630, aifl@aifl.org, Chair Kenneth Bialkin, Acting Executive Director Daniella Rilov,

 

AMERICAN GATHERING/ FEDERATION OF JEWISH HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS,(212) 239-4230, mail@americangathering.org, Pres. Sam Bloch, Chair Roman Kent

 

AIPAC (AMERICAN ISRAEL PUBLIC AFFAIRS COMMITTEE), (202) 639-5200,membership@aipac.org, Pres. Robert Cohen, Exec. Dir. Howard Kohr, also local AIPAC office – 212 750-411-

 

AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE, (212) 751-4000, newyork@ajc.org, Pres. Stanley Bergman, Exec. VP  David Harris

 

AMERICAN JEWISH CONGRESS, (212) 879-4500, contact@ajcongress.org, Pres. Jack Rosen Exec. Dir. Robert Kesten

 

AMERICAN JEWISH JOINT DISTRIBUTION COMMITTEE, (212) 687-6200,info@jdc.org, Pres. Penny Blumenstein, CEO Alan H. Gill

 

AMERICAN SEPHARDI FEDERATION, (212) 294-8350, info@americansephardifederation.org, Pres. David E.R. Dangoor, Exec. Dir. Lynne Winters – lmwinters@asf.cjh.org

 

AMERICAN ZIONIST MOVEMENT, (212) 318-6100, azm@azm.org., Pres. Rabbi Vernon Kurtz, Exec. Dir. Karen Rubinstein

 

AMERICANS FOR PEACE NOW, (202) 408-9898, apndc@peacenow.org, Chair James Klutznick, CEO Debra DeLee

 

AMIT, (212) 477-4720, info@amitchildren.org, Pres. Deborah Isaac, Exec. VP Andrew Goldsmith

 

ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE (ADL), (212) 885-7700, www.adl.org/contact_us.asp, National Chair Barry Curtiss-Lusher, National Director Abraham Foxman

 

ARZA, (212) 650-4280, arza@arza.org, Chair Rabbi Bennett Miller, Pres. Joshua Weinberg

 

B’NAI B’RITH INTERNATIONAL, (202) 857-6600, president@bnaibrith.org, Pres. Allan Jacobs, Exec. VP Daniel S. Mariaschin

 

BNAI ZION, (212) 725-1211, info@bnaizion.org, Pres. David Eisenberg, EVP Jack Grunspan

 

CAMERA, (617) 789-3672, feedback@camera.org

 

CENTRAL CONFERENCE OF AMERICAN RABBIS, (212) 972-3636, info@ccarnet.org, Pres. Rabbi Richard A. Block, President, Exec. VP Rabbi Stephen A. Fox,

 

DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION FOR ISRAEL / STATE OF ISRAEL BONDS,  (212) 644-2663, customer.service@israelbonds.com, Pres & CEO Izzy Tapoohi, Exec. Dir. Fred Zeidman,

 

EMUNAH OF AMERICA, (212) 564-9045, info@emunah.org, National Pres. Fran Hirmes, Exec. Dir. Carol Sufian

 

FRIENDS OF THE ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES, (212) 244-3118, fidf@israelsoldiers.org, Arthur Stark, Nily Falic, Nat’l President, Mjr. Gen. Rsv. Yitzhak J. Gershon, Nat’l Director

 

HADASSAH, WOMEN’S ZIONIST ORGANIZATION OF AMERICA, (212) 355-7900,webmaster@hadassah.org, Pres. Marcie Natan, Exec. Dir. Janice Weinman

 

HEBREW IMMIGRANT AID SOCIETY, (212) 967-4100, Rachel.shulruf@HIAS.org, Chair Dale Schwartz, Pres. & CEO Mark Hetfield

 

JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTERS ASSOCIATION, (212) 532-4949, info@jcc.org, Chair Stephen P. Seiden, Pres. & CEO Allan Finkelstein

 

JEWISH COUNCIL FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS, (212) 684-6950, contactus@thejcpa.org, Chair Susan Turnbull, Exec. Dir. Rabbi Steve Gutow

 

JEWISH FEDERATIONS OF NORTH AMERICA, (212) 284-6500,info@jewishfederations.org, Chair Michael Siegal, Pres. & CEO Jerry Silverman

 

JEWISH INSTITUTE FOR NATIONAL SECURITY AFFAIRS, (202) 667-3900,info@jinsa.org, Chair Michael Nachman, Exec. Dir. Michael Makovsky

 

JEWISH LABOR COMMITTEE, (212) 477-0707, info@jewishlabor.org, Pres. Stuart Appelbaum, Exec. Dir. Rita Freedman

 

JEWISH NATIONAL FUND, (212) 879-9300, communications@jnf.org, Pres.  Jeffrey Levine, President, EVP Russell F. Robinson

 

JEWISH WOMEN INTERNATIONAL, (202) 857-1300, gcarter@jwi.org, Chair Kim Oster-Holstein, Exec. Dir. Loribeth Weinstein

 

MERCAZ USA, THE ZIONIST ORGANIZATION OF THE CONSERVATIVE MOVEMENT, (212) 533-2061, info@mercazusa.org, Pres. Janet Tobin, Exec. Dir. Rabbi Robert Golub

 

NA’AMAT USA, (212) 563-5222, naamat@naamat.org, Pres. Liz Raider, Exec. Dir. Susan Schwartz

 

NCSJ: ADVOCATES ON BEHALF OF JEWS IN RUSSIA, UKRAINE, THE BALTIC STATES & EURASIA, (202) 898-2500, ncsj@ncsj.org, Chair Stephen M. Greenberg, Pres. Aleksander Smukler, Exec. Dir. Mark Levin

 

NATIONAL COUNCIL OF JEWISH WOMEN,  (212) 645-4048, action@ncjw.org, Pres. Debbie Hoffman, Exec. Dir. Nancy K. Kaufman

 

NATIONAL COUNCIL OF YOUNG ISRAEL, (212) 929-1525, ncyi@youngisrael.org, Pres. Farley I. Weiss, Exec. Dir. Rabbi Perry Tirschwell

 

ORT AMERICA, INC., (212) 505-7700, info@ortamerica.org, Pres. Linda Kirschbaum, Exec. Dir. Alan Klugman

 

RABBINICAL ASSEMBLY, (212) 280-6000, info@rabbinicalassembly.org, Pres. Rabbi Gerald Skolnik, EVP Rabbi Julie Schonfeld

 

RABBINICAL COUNCIL OF AMERICA, (212) 807-9000, office@rabbis.org, Pres. Rabbi Leonard Matanky, Exec. VP Rabbi Mark Dratch

 

RELIGIOUS ZIONISTS OF AMERICA, (212) 465-9234, mizrachi@rza.org, Pres. Rabbi Yosef Blau, Chair Martin Oliner

 

UNION FOR REFORM JUDAISM, (212) 650-4000, urj@urj.org, Chair Stephen Sacks, Pres. Rabbi Rick Jacobs

 

UNION OF ORTHODOX JEWISH CONGREGATIONS OF AMERICA, (212) 563-4000,info@ou.org, Pres. Martin Nachimson, Exec. Dir. Rabbi Steven Weil,

 

UNITED SYNAGOGUE OF CONSERVATIVE JUDAISM, (212) 533-7800, 646-519-9300info@uscj.org, Pres. Richard Skolnik, EVP & CEO Rabbi Steven Wernick

 

WIZO, (212) 751-6461, infodep@wizo.org, Founding Pres. Evelyn Sommer, Co-President Gail Perl, Co-President Jana Falic

 

WOMEN OF REFORM JUDAISM, (212) 650-4050, wrj@urj.org, Pres. Blair Marks, Exec. Dir. Rabbi Marla Feldman

 

WOMEN’S LEAGUE FOR CONSERVATIVE JUDAISM, (212) 870-1260; 1-800-628-5083, womensleague@wlcj.org, Pres. Rita Wertlieb, rwertlieb@wlcj.org, Exec. Dir. Sarrae Crane

 

WORKMEN’S CIRCLE, (212) 889-6800, NYregion@circle.org, Pres. Robert A. Kaplan, Exec. Dir. Ann B. Toback

 

WORLD ORT USA, wo@ort.org, Pres. Dr. Jean de Gunzburg

 

WORLD ZIONIST EXECUTIVE USA, (212) 339-6000, info@worldjewishcongress.org, Chair Kalman Sultanik, Representative of the World Zionist Organization Executive in North America Dr. Simcha Leibovich

 

ZIONIST ORGANIZATION OF AMERICA, (212) 481-1500, info@zoa.org, Pres. Mort Klein, Exec. Dir. David Drimer

See also  Alan Dershowitz speech about J Street – his intro to the Miami
Premiere of the new film exposing J-Street: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saJS3uBHJR0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saJS3uBHJR0

---