Lenny, Rebecca and Me

I have been pointing out Lenny Ben-David's brilliant and well-researched criticisms of J Street.

Now, one Rebecca Abou-Chedid responds. Lenny rebuts and I add on.

Here we go:-

1.

Nightmare on J Street: Why can't Arab Americans work for peace, too?

This week, former AIPAC and Israeli embassy official Lenny Ben-David published an article revealing that I had given a donation to the "pro-Israel and pro-peace" organization J Street. Because I am of Lebanese descent, this clearly indicates that my dollars must be intended to advance some pernicious anti-Israel agenda -- and that J Street must be the vehicle for those aims...Ben-David and his supporters are now attacking J Street for accepting contributions from Americans of Arab descent.

...why should Arab-Americans worry that participating in the political life of their country and exercising their freedom of speech might -- simply because of their ethnicity -- harm the candidates and causes they hold dear?

...It is possible to be both pro-Israel and pro-Palestine, not out of some blanket support for either government, but out of a sincere belief that peace is in both people's best interests. I hold that belief as a result of years of work within the Arab and Jewish American communities...

...The reason J Street causes such fury among certain detractors often has nothing to do with its policy positions. These people are angry because the political climate has shifted in a way that they no longer understand or control...

...Those Arab Americans who support J Street, like myself, do so because we are eager to work with an organization that views us as partners and does not seek to perpetuate the divisions and pathologies of the Middle East here in the United States. Contrary to Ben-David's assertions, those of us who work in coalition to support President Obama's efforts are not the ones with explaining to do.

2.

My reference to your involvement with J Street has nothing to do with your ancestry or even you personally. Your friends who label me a racist are only attempting to deflect attention away from the questions raised about J Street and its lack of transparency.

What I find disturbing about J Street is the deception surrounding it. A donor will sign federal documents saying he is "not working" and living in Orlando when he's actually Palestinian billionaire from the West Bank. You are registered in the PAC as a "consultant" for USUS, not for the Arab American Institute. These disclosures have nothing to do with ethnic background. Why do Saudi employees and partners -- WASPS, I presume -- like lawyer Nancy Dutton and former CIA station chief Ray Close give to a "pro-Israel" organization? Why would life-long Arabist diplomats? Or activists in Muslim centers around the U.S., centers which identify with the Muslim Brotherhood? Or Genevieve Lynch, an officer in the Iranian-American lobby, give $10,000+ to J Street's PAC?

If there were transparency to the organization, allowing people to see who makes the contrarian decisions and who pays the piper, then the mistrust would evaporate immediately. I suggest you make your donations to Peace Now or the Israel Policy Forum instead where the organizations' decision-makers and contributors are public record.

Or even better, launch an "Arab Peace Now" to convince Arab citizens to chose a path of peace. Presumably you and friends have the standing and influence in the Arab world. Your choice of J Street, therefore, which chooses to heap criticism on Israel and seeks to pressure only Israel, makes me wonder.

3.

it's a shame Rebecca can't donate to an Arab/Palestinian organization that is parallel in purposes and activities to Peace Now, J Street or Betselem as there really aren't any true parallels. That she needs to give money to a Jewish organization illustrates the imbalance that exists and why Israel is always the underdog.