Steve Clemons has it and it’s a shot across the bow at Netanyahu’s Likud government, but also Michael Oren, as well as conventional thinking the AIPAC crowd is trying to disseminate about J Street. Livni dismisses any substance in Oren’s decision to not attend J Street’s first national conference next week. Livni in her letter:
… [...] In my view, the discussion which the pro-Israel community of what best advances Israel’s cause should be inclusive and broad enough to encompass a variety of views, provided it is conducted in a respectful and legitimate manner. Along the way, we may not agree on everything but I do believe that we must ensure that what unites us as Jews who are committed to Israel’s future as a secure, Jewish, and democratic State is far greater than what separates us.
Note to Ambassador Oren: See how it’s done? Livni doesn’t agree with every J Street policy, but she finds a way to respect the differences because what unites Jews, and I will add non-Jews as well, is the goal of seeing Israel secure, but also the Middle East that includes a real Palestinian state.
The fear the right and Netanyahu’s government obviously have about J Street’s rising power is what has inspired the smear campaign against J Street, which Oren’s dismissal was supposed to fuel.
Josh Marshall has gone so far as to ask for a new Israeli ambassador, also speaking out on Livni’s letter as well: Now Livni has made J Street a point of division within Israeli politics as well. Bingo.
Michael Oren’s dismissal of J Street has had the opposite affect that Netanyahu wanted. The opposition party, which Livni leads, has now put J Street on the map, not only in American politics, but in Israeli politics as well. Oren’s dismissal has become a J Street gift.
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