|
www.thejewishweek.com
|
||||
|
NY Resources
 |
New Group Using Web to Counter AIPAC
Capital idea: A new Jewish lobbying group offers a "pro-peace, pro-Israel" perspective. JTA by James D. Besser After years of complaints about major pro-Israel groups that critics say do not always reflect the views of a divided American Jewish community, a new lobby and political funding group was unveiled this week that backers say will open up the debate over Israeli-Palestinian peace issues — and even the explosive issue of Iran.
“We’re very hopeful, but we’re taking a wait and 
And it is far from clear whether progressive Jews will give as freely and consistently as the affluent and committed cadre who support the group it was created to counter: the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Some political scientists are doubtful, but leaders of the project – the culmination of almost two decades of talk and periodic efforts to organize a faction favoring a more active U.S.-led peace process – point to the success of the Barack Obama presidential campaign and groups like MoveOn.Org in tapping new sources of funding. Jeremy Ben-Ami, the key organizer and a former Clinton administration domestic policy adviser, said the group will exploit the “tremendous shift in the way political power is developed, built and deployed, through large numbers of small donors taking on small numbers of large donors. We’re about to see the Internet era hit the Jewish community.” J Street will begin modestly, its leaders said this week, with an out-of-the-box Internet presence they hope will offset its lack of staff and costly office space. Since lobby groups aren’t allowed to contribute money to campaigns, the operation is being created as two separate organizations: J Street, chartered as a 501(c)(4) organization that will do advocacy work on Capitol Hill, and the JStreetPAC, a political action committee focusing on campaign funding. The initial emphasis will be on the PAC side. The group will “endorse candidates in a limited number of House and Senate races, and raise money,” said Ben-Ami. “That, for the first time, will demonstrate that there is meaningful political support for elected officials and candidates who take a realistic view of these issues and on the need for active engagement in the peace process.” The group will decide by June on an initial round of candidates to support in this year’s elections “to demonstrate right from the start that there is meaningful political support” for those openly advocating a more active peace process, he said. Online fundraising will jump start that process, the J Streeters hope. “We will tap into the overall upheaval in U.S. politics, with new sources of money and power,” Ben-Ami said. “We will involve large numbers of pro-Israel progressive activists, many of whom have not yet been recruited into the political process.” Insiders say that behind the innovative “Netroots” campaign will be something more conventional: a leadership cadre that includes more than a few big political givers like Alan Solomont, a major Barack Obama fundraiser, and Fran Rodgers, a top Democratic donor. The other element of J Street is lobbying, and here the group will tread carefully to avoid stepping on the toes of the two dovish groups that have been building up their own Capitol Hill operations in recent years — IPF and Americans for Peace Now (APN). “Our focus will not be on what IPF and APN do on the policy, but to try to connect the dots,” Ben-Ami said. “We will work to help people on Capitol Hill understand that people they know in their own districts who happen to be Jewish actually think more like us than the other side.” The goal, he said, is to “create political space” for lawmakers who might favor a more aggressive peace process and more assertive U.S. role — but who he says are scared to speak up. But in a conference call with reporters on Tuesday, Ben-Ami said that the group will also get involved in lobbying on specific issues, including efforts to “help create a Palestinian Authority that is actually functional” and to oppose efforts by AIPAC and other groups to “put up obstacles” to U.S. economic assistance to the moderate Palestinian leadership. Ben-Ami also said the group would be “supportive of a role for Congress in decisions on whether or not to take military action against Iran. We believe we should be exploring diplomatic routes, diplomacy with Iran; military action should be at the back of the queue, not the front.” While a broad spectrum of Jewish and pro-Israel groups continue to support the Bush administration’s efforts to isolate Iran diplomatically, J Street is putting diplomacy with Iran near the top of its agenda – a decision that could ultimately produce more controversy than its lobbying for a stronger Israeli-Palestinian peace process. But outfighting AIPAC on such issues will be difficult, most analysts agree. “The problem will be that it will be very difficult to duplicate the kind of money that AIPAC can mobilize, no matter what their intentions” said L. Sandy Maisel, a political scientist a Colby College who studies Jewish politics. AIPAC has an annual budget of more than $60 million, while J Street is hoping for a $1.5 million bottom line in its first year. And AIPAC has an extensive grass roots network that reaches into every congressional district in the country, while J Street is relying on the new political medium of the Internet. “If they exploit it effectively, that could be very important,” Maisel said, adding that “an increasing number of candidates — including Jewish candidates — believe a peace process has to work, and that the big mistake of the past eight years has been the lack of U.S. involvement.” Tom Dine, the longtime executive director of AIPAC who now serves as a consultant for IPF, said it will take “a generation or two” for the group to serve as a genuine counterweight to AIPAC. But Dine Welcomed J Street and said it could be an important voice in Washington. Hannah Rosenthal, the former director of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs and a member of the J Street advisory council, conceded that developing a heavyweight political presence in Washington will “take time,” but said she expects J Street will make its presence felt quickly. She downplayed the “alternative AIPAC” notion featured in headlines about the new group. “I’m an admirer of AIPAC; I give money to AIPAC,” she said. “But we have to get past this idea that talking about peace is a kind of weakness. That’s not what being pro-Israel is all about.” |
  
|
||
Print this Page© 2000 - 2009 The Jewish Week, Inc. All rights reserved. Please refer to the legal notice for other important information.