And you thought Commentary Magazine would be J Street’s biggest critic.
Think again. A group of pro-Greater Israel nationalists has taken it upon themselves to create Z Street, a right-wing organization formed to combat the “great danger to the Jewish State of Israel and, increasingly, to world Jewry,” according to the group’s charter.
Z Street comes as a clear reaction to J Street, the progressive pro-Israel lobby formed last year to break AIPAC’s monopoly on what it means to be a politically active supporter of the Jewish State. Although Z Street does not mention J Street in its charter, the document does refer to “many mainstream and other Jewish organizations that, to meet donors’ requirements or for ideological reasons, cannot affirm the principles set out in the Z STREET Charter” (capitals original).
Z Street does not appear as if it will pose a significant threat to J Street and the organization’s parodying, unoriginal name frames it more as a reactionary and defensive organization dedicated to debasing and insulting its ideological enemies than one dedicated to productive change. The whole set-up seems a bit funny, especially as Z Street’s charter finds its home on a blog page rather than a website of its own. The way things look, J Street has little to fear from these pretenders in the DC street map name game.
What’s more worrisome, however, are the positions that Z Street espouses. The group supports the concept of Greater Israel (i.e. a Jewish State including the West Bank and Gaza):
Z STREET maintains that Jews have the right to live anywhere in the world, including, and especially, within greater Israel.
No territorial concessions:
…This necessarily entails adamantly opposing the dismantling of and/or handing over territory to any other entity or entities.
And the group creates an artificial division in the American pro-Israel community:
XI. Z STREET recognizes the value of other Zionist organizations whose activities include lobbying, producing publications, the sponsorship of scholars and scholarship centers, honoring generous donors and/or other important programs. Z STREET is not intended to supercede those other Zionist organizations. Z STREET is intended to serve as an alternative to many mainstream and other Jewish organizations that, to meet donors’ requirements or for ideological reasons, cannot affirm the principles set out in the Z STREET Charter.
In addition, the charter uses the words “Terrorist Entity” several times (reminiscent of Hamas’s and others’ references to the “Zionist Entity”) and defines such an entity as “more than one individual united by official or unofficial belief that the use of violence in order to destroy the Jewish State of Israel is legitimate.”
The idea of an “unofficial belief” could be stretched to refer to any perceived hostility to the Jewish State and thereby limit the prospects for peace and reconciliation, which this group doesn’t seem to care about anyway. Any thought of the destruction of Israel by violent means is reprehensible, inexcusable and wrong but Z Street should not be the arbiter of what constitutes such a thought.
It will be interesting to see where this group goes but until the members of Z Street dedicate themselves to positive action as opposed to critical reaction, the group shouldn’t be going anywhere.
