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-----Original Message-----
From: daniel@jstreet.org
Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2010 00:03:32
To: Alexandra Stanton<acstanton@yahoo.com>
Subject: Fw: WSJ: J Street Backs Obama in Row With Israel


Daniel Kohl
Political Director, J Street
414.405.2135

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-----Original Message-----
From: Amy Spitalnick <amy@jstreet.org>
Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2010 19:38:07
To: Staff J Street<staff@jstreet.org>; Jessica Rosenblum<jessica@rabinowitz-dorf.com>; Matt Dorf<matt@rabinowitz-dorf.com>; Jim Gerstein<jgerstein@gersteinagne.com>; <peters25@vt.edu>
Subject: WSJ: J Street Backs Obama in Row With Israel

- March 15, 2010, 11:39 AM ET

J Street Backs Obama in Row With Israel
By Jay Solomon
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2010/03/15/j-street-backs-obama-in-row-with-israel/?mod=wsj_share_twitter

At least one Jewish-American organization is lining up behind the Obama
administration it its intensifying feud with the Israeli government of Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

J Street, the newest Israel-focused lobby in Washington, broke Monday with
more established Jewish-American bodies and publicly backed the White
House’s sharp criticism of Netanyahu and Israel’s plans to continue building
in contested east Jerusalem.

J Street went further in its statement
<http://www.jstreet.org/blog/?p=903>Monday,
calling on the Obama administration essentially to impose the terms for new
negotiations with the Palestinians on Netanyahu. The lobbying group said the
U.S. must make Israel’s 1967 borders as the base-line for the creation of a
new Palestinian state, factoring in the potential for land-swaps between
Israeli and Palestinian negotiators.

“We urge the United States to take this opportunity to suggest parameters to
the parties for resuming negotiations,” J Street said in its statement.

The White House believes Israel’s government sought to humiliate Vice
President *Joe Biden *during his visit to Jerusalem last week by announcing
the building of 1,600 new Israeli homes in east Jerusalem. In response,
Secretary of State *Hillary Clinton *and other U.S. officials publicly
upbraided Netanyahu last week and suggested the future of the U.S.-Israeli
alliance could be imperiled.

Netanyahu appeared unfazed. “The building of those Jewish neighborhoods did
not hurt in any way the Arabs of east Jerusalem and did not come at their
expense,” he said on Monday.

J Street said Monday that its criticism was warranted. “The Obama
administration’s reaction to the treatment of the Vice President last week
and to the timing and substance of the Israeli government’s announcement was
both understandable and appropriate,” it said.

Other leading Jewish American organizations, such as the American Israel
Public Affairs Committee and the Anti-Defamation League, have squarely
backed Netanyahu in the squabble.

Late Sunday, Aipac called
<http://www.aipac.org/Publications/AIPAC_CALLS_ON_OBAMA_ADMIN_TO_DEFUSE_TENSION.pdf>for
the White House to defuse the battle with Netanyahu. “The Administration
should make a conscious effort to move away from public demands and
unilateral deadlines directed at Israel,” it said in a statement.

More airing of the tensions is expected next week when AIPAC holds its
annual policy conference in Washington. Netanyahu, Clinton, and the leader
of Israel’s political opposition, former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, are
all scheduled to speak.

J Street, meanwhile, says it will continue its campaign to back the
administration.

*Jeremy Ben-Ami*, the organization’s executive director, said in an
interview Monday that J Street had already gathered 20,000 signatures from
its members and delivered a petition of support to the White House. The
lobbying group also said that it was intensifying its dialogue with key U.S.
lawmakers about their need to back the White House’s stance on Arab-Israeli
peace talks.

“Our supporters are calling Congress and making it clear to the political
establishment that there are two sides to this story,” Ben-Ami said.


--
Amy Spitalnick
J Street | www.jstreet.org
office: 202-248-5868
cell: 516-521-0128
email: amy@jstreet.org