If anybody is interested in something other than health care reform today, I offer below the fold, via the J-Street post-conference wrap-up, a series of 8 or so embeded recorded videos (this time without autorun which we were stuck with for the livefeed during the conference) of some of the sessions:
Don't go by second hand hearsay.
Here is what was acutally said.
Hear it yourself:
(video embeds via vimeo on the flip; be patient, it takes a moment for them to appear).
Want the "truth" about J-Street...? Here is the head of J-Street laying it out. Take it or leave it, here is what it is about:
Jeremy Ben-Ami's Speech Welcoming Conference Participants to J Street's 2009 Conference: (sorry for the ugly test pattern appearance on the still; when you click start, it does work and look just fine):
Jeremy Ben-Ami's Speech Welcoming Conference Participants to J Street's 2009 Conference from Isaac Luria on Vimeo.
Members of Congress talk about J Street and the US-Israel Relationship:
Rep. Charles Boustany (R-LA-07), Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA-51), Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL-09), and Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO-02)
Talk with Moderator Bob Franken, Former CNN Correspondent what the new pro-Israel, pro-peace organization J Street means for the US-Israel relationship and the two-state solution peace process. Several of the members are Jewish-Americans; Boustany is Arab-American (also a surgeon, and yes a Republican from Louisiana). I found this panel to be interesting and hopeful. You can watch it and decide:
Members of Congress talk about J Street and the US-Israel Relationship from Isaac Luria on Vimeo.
Why Two States? Why Now?
Bernard Avishai, Business Consultant; Author
Ami Ayalon, Former Member of Knesset (Labor); Former Head of the Shin Bet
Haim Ramon, Former Member of Knesset (Kadima); Former Vice Prime Minister
Ambassador Martin Indyk, Dir Foreign Policy-Brookings; Fmr US Amb to Israel
Mel Levine, Former Member of Congress (D-CA)
Moderator: Richard Wolffe, Author, Renegade: The Making of a President; Former Senior White House Correspondent, Newsweek
This too was useful and quite interesting. You watch and decide.
(Alas, Ayalon came in second to Barak in the last round of Labor's internal voting for leadership prior to the last election. Another lefty/pro-real peace guy came in third.):
Why Two States? Why Now? from Isaac Luria on Vimeo.
General Jim Jones, President Obama's National Security Advisor, addresses J Street's first national conference:
Alas, for the most part, both Jones, and Congressman Wexler, were relatively hardine and not referring to any specifics that Israel has to give-up, compromise on, etc. I found them to be somewhat overly cautious and disappointing. You watch and decide:
General Jim Jones, President Obama's National Security Advisor, addresses J Street's first national conference from Isaac Luria on Vimeo.
Rabbi Eric Yoffie & J Street's Jeremy Ben-Ami talk Israel, Gaza, Iran, peace, and more
This was the heated one, including booing by some from the floor of Rabbi Eric Yoffe. Yofee is the head of the Reform Rabbi's umbrella group (remember that there is no Pope; individual Rabbis, congregations and other Reform organizations can say what they want; the Baptists are like us that way ;). Some background: When J-Street criticized, at the beginning (even before the civilian deaths were apparent) the Israeli attack on Gaza in response to the continued Hamas rocket fire into Israel, Yoffie criticized J-Street. I find Yoffie disengenuous at best regarding the Gaza attack (it is simply a fact that hundreds of civilians were killed and that some officers and some soldiers deliberately targeted civilians) and the Goldstone Report (one problem with the criticism of Goldstone not being "eve handed" was that Israel refused to cooperate with him at all, whereas the PA and Hamas did more than Israel; it is also true that the Goldstones caveats, balance and critique of Hamas were underplayed in general, and dishonestly ignored by the UN HRC). But do listen on to where Yoffie condemns (some) settlements, and calls the mainstream of American Jewish organizations out for having thier "heads in sand" on this issue. My bottomline: J-Street got it right before (when it was daring and dangerous to take the stand they did) and now. Yoffie is still catching up... still does not fully get it (in public at least)... but maybe getting closer:
You listen and decide:
Rabbi Eric Yoffie & J Street's Jeremy Ben-Ami talk Israel, Gaza, Iran, peace, and more from Isaac Luria on Vimeo.
Palestinian Economic Development: Path to Peace or Diversion?
C. Ross Anthony, Ph.D., Senior Economist, RAND Corporation; Bassim Khoury, Minister of National Economy, Palestinian Authority; Ron Pundak, Director General, Peres Center for Peace; Douglas Suisman, Principal Architect, Suisman Urban Design; Moderator: Bernard Avishai, Business Consultant; Author. I did not attend this one. You can watch it and decide:
Palestinian Economic Development: Path to Peace or Diversion? from Isaac Luria on Vimeo.
Washington Insiders Talk Israel & the Middle East
Jon Alterman, Dir/Senior Fellow, Middle East Pgm, Cntr for Strategic & International Studies
Lara Friedman, Dir Policy & Government Relations, Americans for Peace Now
Robert Malley, Dir, Middle East/North Africa Program, Intnl Crisis Group
Moderator: Morton H. Halperin, Member, J Street Board of Directors.
I did not attend this one. You can watch it and decide:
Washington Insiders Talk Israel & the Middle East from Isaac Luria on Vimeo.
Debate: Jon Chait & Matt Yglesias square off on what it means to be pro-Israel. I did not attend this one. You can watch it and decide:
Debate: Jon Chait & Matt Yglesias square off on what it means to be pro-Israel from Isaac Luria on Vimeo.
Chait is a senior editor at The New Republic and a former assistant editor of The American Prospect, and author of "The Big Con: The True Story of How Washington Got Hoodwinked and Hijacked by Crackpot Economics." I consider him to be a classic but not extreme example of a Jewish liberal who is generally a progressive on most everything else, but still too tied to old thinking about Israel (e.g., is alway right; and if it wrong still don't criticize publicly).
Yglesias is an editor/blogger at Center for American Progress, formerly at American Prospect and Talking Point Memo. I consider him typical of liberal/progressive Jews who have been pretty disengaged from Israel and the issues surrounding it, until recently when there is now a more organized opening for being pro-Israel and pro-Peace.
It is important to note that most people involved in J-Street and the 20 other supporting organizations are not like Chait or Yglesias. Most of them are longtime ardent and engaged Zionists (most of whom were either born in Israel, have lived in Israel and/or have immediate family who live in Israel), who have also been longtime ardently opposed to the occupation and settlements, and endless peace process rather than actual peace making.
Organizations supporting and participating in this conference:
J-Street: http://www.jstreet.org/...
ALLEPH - Alliance for Jewish Renewal: http://www.aleph.org
Alliance for Middle East Peace: http://www.allmep.org
Ameinu: http://www.ameinu.net
Americans for Peace Now: http://peacenow.org
Btit Tzedek V’Shalom: http://www.btvshalom.org
Center for World Religions, Diplomacy & Conflict Resolution: http://crdcgmu.wordpress.com
Congress of Secular Jewish Organizations: http://www.csjo.org
Foundation for Middle East Peace: http://www.fmep.org
Israel/Palestinian Center for Research and Information: http://www.ipcri.org
Israel Policy Forum: http://www.israelpolicyforum.org
Jewish Peace Lobby: http://www.peacelobby.org
J-Street Education Fund: http://www.upzshalom.org & http://www.jstreetu.org
Masa – Israel Journey: http://www.masaisrael.org
MePeace (Network for Peace): http://www.mepeace.org
Meretz USA: http://www.meretzusa.org
New Israel Fund: http://www.nif.org
The OneVoice Movement: http://www.onevoicemovement.org
Peres Center for Peace: http://www.peres-center.org
Rabbis for Human Rights of North America: http://www.rhr-na.org
Shalom Center: http://www.theshalomcenter.org
Workmen’s Circle/Arbeter Ring: http://www.circle.org
There is more, including some fun interviews from the meeting hallways with "just attendees", at the J-Street Youtube playlist and at the Jewcy Youtube playlist
Wishing all Peace and Health.
I will be back to health reform shortly.