Is J Street Admitting That Obama Is Bad For Israel?

According to the New York Times, it appears that no less than the president of J Street admits that Obama is not a friend of Israel

Jeremy Ben-Ami, the president of J Street, a Jewish lobbying group in Washington that favors Democratic candidates, said the effort by Mr. Adelson and the Republican Jewish Coalition would fall short.

“Every single number indicates there is simply no such thing as a Jewish problem for the president,” Mr. Ben-Ami said. “The people who vote only on Israel didn’t vote for Obama last time and know who they are voting for already.” [emphasis added]

Let's put aside what issues would lead you to vote for Obama.
The point is that according to the head of J Street, if your only criterion come November is Israel--Jeremy Ben-Ami is telling you that Obama is not your man.

Alana Goodman writes this is why the Jewish vote could hurt Obama in Florida

Even Obama’s own supporters don’t seem to be denying he’s bad for Israel anymore...So there you have it, directly from J Street. If you judge the president on his Israel policy, you probably won’t support him.

But that's not the only interesting thing in that quote from the New York Times.

Check out how Jeff Zeleny, who wrote the article, describes J Street itself. While J Street likes to advertise itself as a pro-Israel advocacy group, that is not how Zeleny sees them.


Instead, Zeleny writes that J Street is "a Jewish lobbying group in Washington that favors Democratic candidates"

There's no mention of Israel. How is JS then different than NJDC?

It's one thing to say that J Street's main purpose is actually to push for Obama.
It's another thing to read it in the New York Times.

Come to think of it, based on what J Street leader Carinne Luck tells her followers, maybe Zeleny is not far from the truth, as Luck tells her group:

They want us to see us primarily moving Jews, American Jews--and so that is where the bulk of our resources go. (1:02)

Listen to the entire segment:




Technorati Tag: Israel and J Street and Obama and Election 2012.