J Street U issued a statement yesterday that its Birthright trip had been cancelled, but today Birthright issued a statement of its own saying that it never approved the J Street U trip in the first place, and that J Street U cannot facilitate a Birthright trip because J Street has an overt political stance on Israel. Birthright states that the J Street U trip arose out of what seems to have been a miscommunication between Israel Experience and Birthright:
Taglit-Birthright Israel wishes to clarify that at no time did it approve of a Birthright Israel trip in association with JStreet, nor did it give its trip provider, the Israel Experience, any approval for such a trip. We did not rescind its approval as no approval was given in the first place… [S]uch a trip, as described in a brief conversation with the [Birthright trip provider] Israel Experience, would likely be out of keeping with our longstanding policy of not conducting trips with a political orientation.
Birthright does note in the statement that AIPAC partners with another trip provider on the “Capital to Capital” Birthright trip. Birthright, however, says that because that trip has “never been tilted to one side of the political spectrum,” it is not analogous to a hypothetical J Street U trip. The statement also notes that AIPAC is “mainstream” and that its Birthright trip predates J Street’s existence.
For years, we have run a Capital-to-Capital trip through another trip provider, which focuses on the Israeli political system. The provider has been running this trip, with input from AIPAC, a mainstream Israel advocacy group, long before JStreet was established. It focuses on Israel’s political structure, with an approach similar to a political science class; the trip has never been tilted to one side of the political spectrum.
Read the full statement here. Check back tonight or tomorrow for full New Voices coverage of this controversy!
