updated – bumped
About the gala event last night… It was wonderful; great food, wine, conversation, and music, compliments of the Jerome Meltzer Jazz Trio, with Steve Clemons coming as Joe Biden! …well, at least he showed up in a Biden mask, all in good fun and with Vice President Biden’s approval. It was a Halloween joke, as former Sen. Chuck Hagel gave the speech of the evening last night. Mr. Hagel is now co-chair of President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, which Steve mentioned last night. The Cable posted about it this morning. Anyway, Hagel had evidently shown up once with a Biden mask, so it’s an ongoing gag between friends. Sen. Hagel’s speech was simply fantastic. There was serious words about the rights of Palestinians, which are never at issue enough, for my money. On a very sad note, a group of Israeli settlers harassed Palestinians harvesting olives, in another scene of what Steve Clemons calls their “ethnic cleansing strategy.” It’s just heartbreaking what the settlers will resort to, with Israelis continually stopping the Palestinians from doing basic things that make up a life.
—-original post is below—
The report below was delayed a bit… The conference this afternoon has been filled with speeches, much of the message repeated again and again: occupation impedes Israeli security and peace; two-state solution is the only solution. To add, Michael Goldfarb’s view of Jones’ speech quite different.
Jones offered several strong statements of support for Israel that would have garnered long and sustained standing ovations at a real pro-Israel conference. At J Street the crowd responded with polite applause. Probably the best response Jones got from the crowd was his declaration that the Obama administration would send a representative to any future conference held by J Street. I’m dubious that representative will be as high-level as Jones. The only standing ovation Jones got was when his speech came to an end. This was odd. Like a political convention, a conference is meant to be theater in which the enthusiasm of delegates is on display for the media. It’s possible that most of the participants at the J Street conference just didn’t know they were supposed to get up and cheer at the pro-Israel lines (this was J Street’s first conference), but more likely they just weren’t moved to do so.
I guess it eludes Mr. Goldbard that the people attending J Street weren’t at the conference to applaud all things Jewish as they were to try to discuss challenges facing them (which includes non Jews as well, obviously), especially where the Israeli – Palestinian challenge are concerned.
Then, of course, there is the issue of whether J Street is pro Israel at all, which Yglesias discusses. As a non-Jew reporting on what I heard yesterday, I find anyone saying J Street isn’t pro-Israel missing the most obvious message of all.
Jeffrey Goldberg has a transcript of Max Blumenthal letting fly at Jeremy Ben-Ami for giving Goldberg an interview.
One particular point made earlier was the way the Israeli gov. is stopping Palestinians from manifesting true entrepreneurial freedom. Netanyahu won’t release bandwidth, won’t aid Palestinian businesses. It’s not about money, which they have, it’s about Israel stopping their progress.
Martin Indyk also relayed a humorous story about Arafat’s ability to give speeches, which hinted he as part Jewish. Indyk saying Arafat responded with his signature “shit-eating grin,” to exclaim, “Yes! Yes. Rachel is my aunt.” Hard to know what to say to that one.
When it was suggested, through a question, that Obama go to Israel, Martin Indyk said it’s “really important” for him to go. He recounted the bad numbers Obama has, 4% by some accounts, also talking about other presidents “pouring affection” on the Israelis, which “they got used to.” Indyk: “The speech in Cairo… visited Saudi Arabia… seen as an indication that he was trying to distance himself from Israel to curry favor in Israel.” Hillary Clinton going there is good, but it’s “no substitute” for the President.
Mel Levine: “It’s a terrible decision” for the right to have such a “rabid” partisan response to everything. “Outrageous smears” must be countered.
Twitter reporting on Jones’ speech is below. It was a boilerplate speech, with his delivery subdued, except for two points. When he said the Obama administration would be represented at every other J Street conf., and when he talked about Middle East peace, settlements and a two-state solution being the most important issue as far as he was concerned. Also, he did mention negotiations “without preconditions,” which on settlements doesn’t exactly line up with what Obama has said.
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1:42:00 PM: Jones: Honored to reprsnt Pres. Obama “and you can be sure that the administration will be represented at all future conferences.” #jstreet
1:43:17 PM: Gen. Jim Jones, NSC (cont.): Israeli – US relationship “founded as much on personal experiences as on geopolitics.” #jstreet #israel
1:45:46 PM: Jones to Obama: If there was one challenge I’d have the President deal w first, “this would be it,” re: two-state & peace #jstreet #israel
1:48:04 PM: Jones: On peace & two-state: “time is not necessarily on our side.” On Iran, repeated Obama’s choices on Iran that are clear. #jstreet #iran
1:49:17 PM: “Goldstone report overly broad,” Jones stated, with Obama administration saying the asymmetrical issues of attacks not addressed. #jstreet
1:53:09 PM: Jones: Working on plan that “Ends the occupation that began in 1967 & unleashes full potential of the palestinian people.” #jstreet #israel
1:55:16 PM: Jones emphasizes the need to help Abbas and Fayyad to develop institutions; “We cannot accept the humanitarian (crisis) in Gaza.” #jstconf09
1:57:41 PM: Jones also emphasizes the imp. of the release of Gilad Shalit; “unshakable bond” w Israel. #jstconf09
1:58:51 PM: Israel & US have “unshakable bond,” Jones. One note: he also mentioned negotiations getting started “without preconditions.” hmm? #jstconf09
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