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| J Street Chief, Jeremy Ben Ami |
First J Street denied receiving money from George Soros—then they had to admit he is a major donor. First J Street claimed it was overwhelmingly supported by domestic donors—then it turned out they had received more than $800,000 from a mysterious woman from Hong Kong. First J Street claimed it had nothing to do with setting up meetings on Capitol Hill for Richard Goldstone—now it turns out they did.
It all brings to mind Sen. Sam Ervin's famous invocation during Watergate of the couplet by Walter Scott: "Oh! What a tangled web we weave/When first we practice to deceive!" And it makes it tempting to call J Street's behavior Nixonian. But that would be unfair to Richard Nixon. He was a friend of Israel.
From: Tom Gross [ mailto:tomgross100@yahoo.com]
Sent: Thursday, September 30, 2010 8:30 AM
Israeli left drops J Street for arranging Goldstone / Congress meetings
For those of you who have been following the scandals surrounding J Street, I attach the latest installment from today’s Washington Times revealing that leading Israeli Labor politician Collette Avital resigned as J Street™s Israel representative after she discovered that J Street in Washington had helped facilitate meetings between UN Judge Richard Goldstone widely detested by both left and right in Israel for singling out the Jewish state to be put on trial for war crimes “and possible crimes against humanity and members of Congress.
The Obama administration last week already started to distance itself from J Street a group it previously strongly embraced after disclosures that nearly half the group’s funding for 2008 came from a single China-based donor in what some reports say might have been a money laundering exercise, and after Jeremy Ben Ami, J Street’s executive director had lied about not receiving money from George Soros, when Soros and his family had in fact donated substantial sums to the organization. (In the past, Soros has made some very hostile statements about Israel and Jews in general.)
Many in Israel from left to right have long argued that J Street should not portray themselves as pro-Israel to the U.S. media when their stances on several issues, such as campaigning against imposing sanctions on Iran, were not
I attach three articles below.
-- Tom Gross
www.washingtontimes.com/news/
Israel lobby aided Hill visits for U.N. report author
By Ben Birnbaum and Eli Lake
The Washington Times
September 30, 2010
J Street — the self-described pro-Israel, pro-peace lobbying group — facilitated meetings between members of Congress and South African Judge Richard Goldstone, author of the U.N. report that accused the Jewish state of systematic war crimes in its three-week military campaign against Hamas in Gaza.
Colette Avital — a former member of Israel's parliament, from the center-left Labor Party and until recently J Street's liaison in Israel — told The Washington Times that her decision to resign her post with J Street earlier this year was a result in part to the group's "connection to Judge Goldstone."
"When Judge Goldstone came to Washington, [J Street leaders were] suggesting that they might help him set up his appointments on Capitol Hill," she said. Ms. Avital later disavowed knowledge of J Street's dealings with Judge Goldstone during a conference call arranged by J Street's president, Jeremy Ben-Ami.
J Street, which bills itself as a liberal alternative to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), acted on behalf of Judge Goldstone last fall, when the Obama administration was trying to tamp down the report at the United Nations.
The chairman and ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee had also been circulating a bipartisan resolution condemning Judge Goldstone's report before the retired South African jurist came to Washington.
The Goldstone Report is widely viewed as slanderous toward the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) among the American Jewish community and in Israel. It accuses the IDF of deliberately targeting civilians in the ground and air war in Gaza, which resulted in at least 1,000 Palestinian deaths. The White House also has criticized the report.
J Street's promotion of Judge Goldstone in Congress is raising questions about J Street's identity as a pro-Israel organization.
J Street, in its public statements on the Goldstone Report, has neither condemned nor endorsed its substance.
In a statement provided to The Washington Times this week, Mr. Ben-Ami said, "J Street did not host, arrange or facilitate any visit to Washington, D.C., by Judge Richard Goldstone."
He went on to say, however, that "J Street staff spoke to colleagues at the organizations coordinating the meetings and, at their behest, reached out to a handful of congressional staff to inquire whether members would be interested in seeing Judge Goldstone."
He added, "We believed it to be a good idea for him and for members of Congress to meet personally, but we declined to play a role in hosting, convening or attending any of the meetings."
When asked later how many congressional offices had been contacted, a J Street staffer told the Times that it was "two or three." Mr. Ben-Ami later said he did not remember reaching out to Congress at all.
A senior officer of J Street, however, played a central role in arranging Judge Goldstone's visit.
Judge Goldstone told The Times in an interview that he had sought the meetings after a discussion with longtime friend Morton H. Halperin — president of the Open Society Institute (OSI) and one of five senior officers at J Street, according to the group's federal tax returns. Those forms list Mr. Halperin as a "director," and say he spends 10 hours a week on J Street business.
"He suggested — and I agreed — that it would be a good idea for me to meet with some of the leading members of Congress," Judge Goldstone said. "I thought it was important to correct the misimpressions." He added that Mr. Halperin had hand-delivered a personal letter he had written to members of Congress.
Mr. Ben-Ami acknowledged in his statement that OSI and a second organization facilitating Judge Goldstone's trip — the New America Foundation (NAF) — had approached J Street for help in making arrangements on the Hill.
Judge Goldstone said he remembers attending "10 or 12" meetings. J Street co-founder Daniel Levy, who accompanied the judge to several of the parleys, said that NAF — whose Middle East Task Force he co-chairs — had also hosted a lunch with Judge Goldstone for "a group of analysts and Middle East wonks." The judge, Mr. Levy, and J Street all declined to identify the members of Congress.
All three organizations associated with Judge Goldstone's visit to Washington — J Street, NAF and OSI — receive substantial funding from Hungarian-born billionaire, George Soros, a fierce critic of AIPAC and Israeli policies.
OSI controls nearly $2 billion in assets provided by Mr. Soros over the years. NAF, in turn, received $855,000 from OSI in 2009, though the money was not set aside for the think tank's Middle East program. The Times disclosed last week that J Street had received $750,000 from Mr. Soros and his family despite repeated denials from the group that it had received any funding from Mr. Soros in the past.
Judge Goldstone said that he "was keen to meet with [members of Congress] because of what I considered to be both an unfortunate and factually incorrect resolution." J Street said at the time that it was "unable to support" the resolution as written. It subsequently passed the House by a vote of 344-36.
The United Nations' Human Rights Council appointed Judge Goldstone to lead its "Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict" in April 2009, nearly four months after the conflict ended.
The 575-page document that followed accused both Israel and Hamas of "war crimes" and "possible crimes against humanity" and urged both parties to conduct credible investigations into allegations of wrongdoing.
But even Israeli human rights organizations that cooperated with Judge Goldstone's commission criticized the final report.
"I was disturbed by the framing of Israel's military operation as part of 'an overall policy aimed at punishing the Gaza population for its resilience,'" wrote Jessica Montell, executive director of B'Tselem, Israel's leading human rights group — in the Huffington Post after the report's release.
"The facts presented in the report itself would not seem to support such a far-reaching conclusion. In light of the sweeping conclusions regarding Israel, the very careful phrasing regarding Hamas abuses is particularly conspicuous."
Israel did not cooperate with Judge Goldstone's commission.
The report instantly made the judge political poison in some quarters in Israel. Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, famously said last year that Israel faces three major threats — "the Iranian nuclear program, rockets aimed at our civilians, and Goldstone" — while its president, Shimon Peres, said that the report "gives de facto legitimacy to terrorist initiatives and ignores the obligation and right of every country to defend itself."
Most of the organized American Jewish community, from left to right, echoed the criticism.
"Our organization joined a wide spectrum of Jewish Democrats on Capitol Hill in vocally condemning the Goldstone Report for what it was — namely, a one-sided attack on Israel," said David Harris, president and CEO of the National Jewish Democratic Council. "I would argue that the Goldstone Report was less of a left versus right issue than a simple issue of right and wrong."
Mr. Ben-Ami, in his statement to The Times, noted that J Street "criticized the process at the U.N. Human Rights Council that led to his report and urged the U.S. to veto a possible Security Council resolution based on the report." Mr. Ben-Ami, however, would not condemn or endorse the report's substance.
Judge Goldstone has said since the release of his report that he would urge international prosecutions against Israeli officials if they were not held accountable in Israel.
Ms. Avital, who initially said she was troubled by J Street's ties to Judge Goldstone, is scheduled as a guest speaker at J Street events next month.
After speaking with Mr. Ben-Ami, Ms. Avital changed her story during a conference call and said, "About Goldstone I am very firm, I don't know anything about J Street organizing things in the United States. There may have been disagreements about how we each saw the Goldstone Report. I never mentioned that they organized these things for Goldstone."
However, The Times has an audio recording of the conversation that contradicts her later statements.
Ms. Avital said during the initial interview that she continues to think J Street "is a good organization."
"We didn't always see eye to eye on their priorities, including in Israel, so we parted ways — as friends," she said.
"I really don't want to speak about my agreements or disagreements with them," she said. "Honestly, I think they have enough problems as it is."
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< http://www.weeklystandard.com/
J Street Exposed - Lies, lies, and more lies.
2:32 PM, Sep 24, 2010
BY Michael Goldfarb
The self-described “pro-Israel, pro-peace†J Street has always insisted that its funding comes entirely from Americans, and largely from American Jews. The group has also made a point of knocking down speculation that it takes money from liberal financier George Soros, who has never been particularly supportive of the State of Israel.
In the past, J Street chief Jeremy Ben-Ami has told journalists that Soros had no role in the organization other than participating in one early meeting. Per the AP in 2009, “Ben-Ami says liberal philanthropist George Soros attended a 2006 meeting where ideas for such a group were discussed but bowed out immediately, worried his involvement would draw criticism.†The Myth vs. Fact section of the J Street website makes clear that "George Soros very publicly stated his decision not to be engaged in J Street when it was launched — precisely out of fear that his involvement would be used against the organization."
An just six months ago, Ben-Ami told Moment Magazine, “We got tagged as having his support, without the benefit of actually getting funded!â€
It turns out that J Street was straight out lying. Eli Lake reports today that J Street has in fact taken at some $750,000 from Soros over a three year period. Soros had been a major donor to the group since day one, and Ben-Ami had obviously been confident that would remain confidential information otherwise he, presumably, wouldn’t have lied so brazenly.
Moreover, as Lake reports, “Nearly half of J Street's revenue during the timeframe — a total of $811,697 — however, came from a single donor in Happy Valley, Hong Kong, named Consolacion Esdicul.â€
Lake reports:
"She is trying to make the Middle East a Happy Valley," Mr. Ben Ami said. "She is a business associate of Bill Benter and Bill solicited her for the contribution." Happy Valley is a Hong Kong suburb.
President Obama and the White House have expressed concerns about untraced foreign influence on the U.S. political system through donations to tax-exempt "501(c)(4)" nonprofit organizations in recent months.
J Street is a 501(c)(4) organization that is allowed to remain tax-exempt as long its political activities are not the primary purpose of the group. J Street also has formed a political action committee, or PAC, the standard way for interest groups, corporations and labor unions to contribute directly to political candidates and parties.
Mr. Ben Ami said he agreed with Mr. Obama "about the need for overall reform of the influence of money in our system. But 501(c)(4)s are allowed to accept money from foreign nationals."
So as Obama is off crusading against the imagined threat of conservative foreign-funded third-party groups, here’s J Street, with its close ties to the administration, caught red-handed. Again, from the J Street website:
J Street receives no funding from any foreign government or agent - Arab or otherwise. J Street has no formal association with any other organizations - Arab or other.
Nearly all of J Street's funding comes from Jewish Americans who seek peace and security for Israel and the whole Middle East. A small percentage of J Street's funding comes from non-Jewish Americans who share our desire for peace and security for all people in the Middle East and support the right of the Jewish people to a secure and democratic home in Israel.
Nearly half of J Street’s operating budget comes from a foreign national, but the group represents itself as being funded almost entirely by American Jews and by a few non-Jewish Americans with “no funding from any foreign government or agent.†It’s all lies!
Of course, this funding would normally be shielded from disclosure but was, either through some lapse by J Street or the IRS (and it’s not clear which), somehow made public. J Street’s response was to try and get ahead of the story by dumping it in the lap of an unsuspecting reporter as evidence of their fundraising success. But they even screwed that up. Minutes after Lake’s story was published, Atlantic reporter Chris Good put up a post titled “Raising More Money, J Street Discloses Big Donors.†“In an interview with The Atlantic,†Good said, “Ben-Ami discussed J Street's fundraising momentum and who the group's biggest donors are, including nonpublicized funding for the group's 501(c)4 nonprofit.â€
Thankfully for J Street, there’s one born every minute.
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Jewish Group Falls From Favor At White House
Revelation about funding sources prompts distancing from J Street
By Eli Lake
September 27, 2010
www.washingtontimes.com/news/
The White House appears to be distancing itself from the liberal advocacy group J Street that it once embraced as its envoy to the U.S. Jewish community after disclosures that nearly half the group's funding for 2008 came from a single Hong Kong donor.
White House spokesman Thomas Vietor declined to comment when asked on Monday if the White House would continue its past practice of inviting J Street's leaders to take part in conference calls with senior White House officials and to other White House events, and whether senior Obama administration officials would take part in future J Street conferences.
Retired Marine Corps Gen. James L. Jones, President Obama's national security adviser, was the keynote speaker at J Street's inaugural convention in 2009. At the convention, he said: "You can be sure this administration will be represented at all future conferences."
Jeremy Ben Ami, J Street's executive director, once described his organization as Mr. Obama's "blocking back" in Congress and a progressive alternative to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
Reaction to J Street's funding sources intensified in recent days after The Washington Times reported on Friday that the group received $750,000 from Hungarian-born billionaire George Soros and his family. The Times obtained copies of J Street's federal tax documents that also disclosed how nearly half of J Street's revenue from July 2008 to June 2009 - a total of $811,697 - came from a single donor in Happy Valley, Hong Kong, named Consolacion Esdicul.
J Street's Mr. Ben Ami said that Ms. Esdicul gave the money to J Street in multiple wire transfers at the behest of William Benter, a Pittsburgh-based philanthropist and the CEO of Acusis, a medical-services company.
In an interview Monday, Rep. Eric Cantor, Virginia Republican and House minority whip, said: "The White House needs to disassociate itself from J Street, denounce J Street and cut off all ties."
Mr. Cantor, the only Jewish Republican in the House, added that "I am hopeful this revelation will now cause people to begin to ignore what they say. They are not reflecting the mainstream position of the pro-Israel community in America, nor do I think they help benefit the U.S.-Israel relationship."
"I don't know anything about George Soros' funding or this Connie woman, but I do know J Street is an organization that has effectively lobbied on the Hill for peace in the Middle East, for Israel, the Palestinian people and the United States of America and that is win, win, win," countered Rep. Steve Cohen, Tennessee Democrat and a J Street supporter.
One issue dogging J Street in the Jewish community is its support from Mr. Soros, who has given billions of dollars to political causes he supports since the mid-1980s. Mr. Soros, through the Open Society Institute, supported a number of former Soviet satellite states and provinces in the transition from dictatorship to democracy. He has also been a key funding source for liberal causes in the United States, giving large donations to Moveon.org, among others.
In a 2007 article in the New York Review of Books, Mr. Soros urged the Democratic Party to free itself from the influence of AIPAC and said that Howard Dean did not win his party's nomination in 2004 because he was not sufficiently pro-Israel.
Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said Monday that The Times story was important because it exposed how Mr. Soros was funding J Street despite previous denials from the group.
Mr. Ben Ami has not said he lied. He did, however, state in a note to supporters on Sunday: "I accept responsibility personally for being less than clear about Mr. Soros' support once he did become a donor."
Mr. Hoenlein said "this is further evidence of the duplicity that they have manifested all along, portraying themselves as something they are not, and engaging in attacks against others when they should have been taking care of their own house."
"I certainly think it was wrong that they did not talk about Soros from the beginning," said Rabbi Steve Gutow, president of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs.
"I don't think this is the end of J Street, though. From my experience, they have been very helpful. When the divestment campaign was in full swing at Berkeley, J Street weighed in effectively in opposition to the effort to get the university to divest from Israel," he said.
