In public, J Street says it’s horrified by the antisemitism of pro-Hamas protesters. But in private this week, J Street’s president pressured Jewish Democrats to stop accusing the protesters of being antisemitic. Why the two faces?
After last month’s pro-Hamas protests in Washington, D.C., J Street issued a statement denouncing what it called “the hateful, antisemitic, protests and harassment.” The July 25 news release said it was “vile and abhorrent” for the protesters to use “pro-Hamas slogans” and charged that their behavior “instills fear and fuels hate.” J Street said anybody “associating with the brutal terror organization Hamas must be condemned.”
But J Street president Jeremy Ben-Ami sure sang a different tune at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. During a meeting with Jewish Democrats, Ben-Ami said the pro-Hamas protesters outside the convention “don’t intend” to offend Jews and merely need help understanding “the history of the Jewish people and the things that they can and can't say that will rub the wrong way and trigger us in ways that they don't intend.”
As if the problem with cheering for gang-rapists is that their loud cheering might rub a few people the wrong way!