The J Street political action committee has received tens of thousands of dollars in donations from dozens of Arab and Muslim Americans, as well as from several individuals connected to organizations doing Palestinian and Iranian issues advocacy, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
Additionally, at least two State Department officials connected to Middle East issues have donated to the PAC, which gives money to candidates for US Congress supported by J Street. The organization describes itself as a "pro-Israel, pro-peace" lobby pushing for more American involvement and diplomacy in resolving the Middle East conflict.
Turncoat Jeremy Ben-Ami takes a cute approach to ward off negative thinking about his group:
"I think it is a terrific thing for Israel for us to be able to expand the tent of people who are willing to be considered pro-Israel and willing to support Israel through J Street," he said. "One of the ways that we're trying to redefine what it means to be pro-Israel is that you actually don't need to be anti-Arab or anti-Palestinian to be pro-Israel."
Pro-Israel?
What does donor Zahi Khouri (*) think?
...reached by telephone during a visit to the West Bank, where he splits his time along with Orlando. He explained that he donated to the J Street PAC because "I believe that they are sincere about being pro-Israel and they are sincere about being pro-peace. And AIPAC I consider an enemy of Israel rather than a friend of Israel because they're not helping it to achieve peace."
Ben-Ami said that J Street doesn't screen or reject donations. "We are so clearly pro-Israel, and we are an organization that is grounded in and based in Jewish values and a Jewish desire to support the State of Israel, that if someone wants to choose to do their political giving through us, it's more a question for them: Do they want to be seen to be giving their money through us. If they do it, that's the statement they're making."
Ben-Ami took another clever twist when he
...rejected anything smacking of a religious test of donors for pro-Israel groups. "It would be a very big mistake for pro-Israel organizations to apply a religious or ethnic litmus test for support for Israel from other Americans. I don't think anybody checked to see whether [Pastor] John Hagee was Jewish before he was invited to keynote the AIPAC conference," he said. "I don't think we should be banning Christians, I don't think we should be banning Muslims, I don't think we should be banning Arabs from finding a way to support Israel, to support its right to exist and to support a program that is designed to secure the future."
Of course, it's not the religion that is a litmus test but the political outlook on Israel. Does Khouri accept Israel as the Jewish state or maybe it is he who is the bigot?
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(*)
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