We are not afraid

April 23, 2010

A moving article in Haaretz this week by Carlo Strenger, entitled “Israel’s leaders have forgotten Herzl’s dream,” challenged the “silent majority of liberal U.S. Jewry not to be afraid any longer to speak its
mind.”

Amen. We are not afraid.

And we won’t be afraid even when enforcers like Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz try to intimidate our movement by attacking J Street in an article brimming with distortions and name-calling.

Dershowitz’s article is a perfect example of what is wrong with the conversation in our community on
Israel. Far too often J Street’s opponents spend more time manufacturing what they wish J Street has said, rather than checking the facts and actually challenging the merits of our arguments.

Jeremy Ben-Ami, J Street’s Executive Director, fired back in The Huffington Post, calling out
Dershowitz for his inability to mount any serious fact-based case to challenge J Street’s assertions that resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is in the interests of Israel, the Palestinians, and the United
States.

For a full wrap-up of the Ben-Ami – Dershowitz debate in The Huffington Post, click here.