J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami speaking at the 2019 national conference in Washington, D.C., on October 27, 2019. (Gili Getz)
J Street finally wants the US to think beyond the two-state solution
With a one-state reality deepening in Israel-Palestine, the lobby group is shifting away from the model it has championed for years. Now it is turning to a new solution: confederation.
When J Street was founded in 2007, it aimed to be a home for America’s “pro-Israel, pro-peace” community by dedicating itself to advancing a two-state solution while also denouncing the Israeli occupation and settlement expansion. Fourteen years later, the lobby group has established itself as a major institution in Washington, influencing lawmakers on Capitol Hill and attracting powerful keynote speakers to its annual conference. Yet as Israel’s policies of occupation and annexation deepen, the goal of partitioning the land and establishing a Palestinian state is nowhere in sight.
An attack on an Iranian nuclear facility tests the president’s resolve to talk with Iran over Israel’s objections. It also tests the closeness of the U.S.-Israel relationship.
By ANNE GEARAN | The Washington Post | Published: April 17, 2021 WASHINGTON The current Iran nuclear talks mark a defining moment for President Joe Biden and the new, less-cozy relationship that is shaping up between Biden and Israel, its longtime leader and its American supporters. Biden campaigned on a pledge to return to the Iran deal, which was brokered by former president Barack Obama over the fierce objections of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But until the talks began this month, it was not clear how either leader would handle their differences of opinion, or what they portended for an alliance already in flux.
LEADing EFFORT TO BLOCK ISRAEL FROM USING U.S. AID TO DESTROY PALESTINIAN HOMES
Putting conditions on U.S. aid to Israel has become a controversial topic but it was the norm in Washington just a few decades ago.
SINCE 2015, Rep.
Betty McCollum, D-Minn., has been the leading congressional critic of
Israel’s military detention of Palestinian children, introducing multiple pieces of legislation that would bar Israel from using U.S. military aid to
arrest Palestinian youth.
By targeting Israel’s detention of Palestinian children just one aspect of Israel’s military occupation, but one that involved a highly vulnerable population McCollum was attempting to make her bills appeal to the widest swath of Democrats possible.
Congresswoman introduces bill to condition US aid to Israel The legislation from a progressive representative reflects a trend in the Democratic party toward pro-Palestinian positions and criticism of Israel.
Minnesota Democratic Rep. Betty McCollum questions witnesses on the Indian Health Service response to the COVID-19 pandemic during a House Appropriations Committee submittee hearing on June 11, 2020, in Washington.
April 16, 2021
A progressive US congresswoman introduced a bill that would condition US aid to Israel on Thursday. Rep. Betty McCollum’s legislation reflects an increasingly active and vocal group of progressive Democrats espousing pro-Palestinian positions on the conflict and was criticized by a leading pro-Israel group.