Why the Attacks on J Street?

Because they’re pro-peace, pro-American, and pro-Israel
( excerpted~please read in full)

The occasion of J Street’s first national conference, opening this week in Washington, has put the group at the center of a furious debate, one that often seems obscure to outsiders, i.e., non-Jews. After all, J Street’s agenda is no more radical than that advanced by every American president since Jimmy Carter: a two-state solution, peaceful coexistence between Israelis and Arabs, and the tamping down if not the elimination of a conflict that has become a major detriment to U.S. interests in the region. Yet the organization’s very existence has caused a brouhaha of major proportions among those for whom Israel is an issue both political and deeply personal.

The reason for this controversy is simple: for many years, the pro-Israel community has conflated support for Israel with support for the policies of its government. Back before the rise to power of such Israeli demagogues as Avigdor Lieberman, this was hardly ever a problem, though there were a few rough patches. The sentiments of the American people were largely, almost reflexively pro-Israel, and the efforts of its government to ensure security in the face of what seemed from a distance to be a uniformly fanatical and violent Palestinian underground evoked much sympathy in the West.

More to the point, American Jews were not noticeably conflicted in their loyalty to the Zionist cause, which had started out as a liberal/progressive crusade for national self-determination. As the power equation changed, however, and the unchallenged military and economic might of the Jewish state made it virtually unassailable by its Arab neighbors, the tide of public – and Jewish – opinion began to turn.

Growing revulsion on the part of many if not most American Jews against the reckless militarism and moral vacuity of Israeli government policies peaked during the recent Gaza "incursion," in which thousands of defenseless Palestinians were killed and maimed [.pdf] – and the government seemed to glory in its own savagery. This, following on the heels of yet another invasion of Lebanon, in which civilian targets such as churches, hospitals, and water facilities were bombed, was too much for many of Israel’s American supporters to swallow. J Street was born out of a desire to provide an alternative to the view that support for Israel has to mean – by definition – support for the policies of the Israeli government.

read in full
http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2009/10/25/why-the-attack...