The screening of “The J Street Challenge: A Seductive Allure of Peace in Our Time”, co-sponsored by Tel Aviv International Salon, CAMERA, and StandWithUs, attracted close to 300 participants at the Tel Aviv screening on March 18, 2014. According to its synopsis, “The film investigates the background of J Street and its founders, J Street’s organizational funding, and its alliances with organizations and individuals who are known to be hostile to the Jewish state.”
Although J Street defines itself as being both pro-Israel and pro-peace, time and time again, J Street has supported organizations, bills, and individuals that contradict this message. At its 2011 Conference, J Street honored the Sheik Jarrah Solidarity Movement, an organization that falsely claims Israel is an apartheid state and supports the anti-Israel Boycott Divestment Sanctions movement. J Street sponsored events with Students for Justice in Palestine, an organization that has made the ADL’s list of top 10 anti-Israel organizations in America, and denied they received the majority of their start-up funds from George Soros, who has stated that he is in fact not a Zionist and blamed anti-Semitism on Jews and Israel.
There are countless examples of incidences, statements, and sponsored events which offer good reason for one to be skeptical of J Street’s intentions. The “J Street Challenge” did an excellent job of identifying and exposing some of the most shocking antidotes provided by J Street, one of which being when co-founder Daniel Levy stated at a J Street Conference that “Israel ain’t such a good idea.”
The event included a question and answer session with the film’s producer, Ralph Avi Goldwasser.
By Aviva Slomich.