According to former Milwaukeean Daniel Kohl, vice president of political affairs for the national organization — headquartered in Washington, D.C. — a chapter has existed in Madison since the beginning of this year.
But when Kohl spoke in Milwaukee on June 23 at Congregation Emanu-El B’ne Jeshurun, he had an audience of more than 100, which he said was twice the size of his audience in Madison the night before.
And Milwaukeean Herzl Spiro – who with his wife, Barbara Kohl-Spiro (Kohl’s mother), is co-chair of the nascent chapter – said that “several hundred” Milwaukeeans have expressed interest in or support for this organization.
The organization’s national growth has been rapid, according to Kohl. Founded in 2008, J Street has a budget of $4.5 million, a staff that has increased from 12 to 40 in the 15 months since Kohl joined, and has some 150,000 supporters throughout the U.S. – mostly Jewish, but including some American Christians and Muslims, Kohl said.
And while the organization’s independent JStreetPAC (political action committee) endorsed 41 candidates in the whole 2008 election season, it has already endorsed 60 for 2010 – including Wisconsin Democrats Sen. Russ Feingold and Rep. Tammy Baldwin (Madison).
Kohl spoke at an event that J Street Midwest regional director Gillian Rosenberg called the “prelude to the launch” of the Milwaukee chapter.
Spiro, who is also a member of the organization’s national council, said the Milwaukee chapter has formed committees and “hopes to meet monthly,” beginning in July.
Kohl, the past president of the Milwaukee Jewish Day School, spoke in Milwaukee about J Street’s principles, positions, and structure; and he answered written questions from the audience.
According to its printed “Statement of Principles” handed out at the event, J Street advocates “for active U.S. diplomatic engagement in the Middle East” and for “broader public and policy debate” nationally and in the Jewish community “about ways to achieve lasting peace” in the region.
The policies it supports include “diplomatic engagement” by the U.S. government in seeking Israel-Arab peace; “creation of a viable Palestinian state as part of a negotiated two-state solution” based on Israel’s 1967 pre-Six Day War borders; an Israeli-Syrian “land-for-peace” agreement; and the seeking of “a comprehensive regional peace” that includes “recognition of Israel by all of its neighbors.”
Kohl said these principles and positions reflect the sentiment among the majority of liberal-leaning U.S. Jews.
He further contended that these Jews, “especially the younger generation,” have been “unserved” by a U.S. pro-Israel community that tends to “reflexively rally to Israel’s defense” and doesn’t have the kind of “broad discussion” that exists in Israel itself.
“We can be Zionists without checking our liberal values at the door,” he said. “The pro-Israel tent should be larger than it is… We’re trying to create a new liberal Zionist movement.”
J Street as a movement consists of “three legally independent organizations,” according to its literature:
• J Street itself is a registered lobby seeking to work with Congress and the administration.
• JStreetPAC, the political action committee, supports candidates for federal office. It raised nearly $600,000 in 2008 and anticipates raising more than $1 million for 2010, Kohl said.
• J Street Education Fund seeks to “educate targeted communities about the need for a two-state solution” and to “promote open, dynamic, and spirited conversation about how to best advance the interests and future of a democratic, Jewish Israel.” It includes programs aimed at the general community and at college and university campuses.
Spiro, who described himself as a “lifelong Zionist,” said he got involved with J Street partly because “I believe the American Jewish community has a unique perspective and needs to express it.”
He is also worried about how members of the “far right,” like Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman of the Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel Our Home) party, are helping “delegitimize the Jewish national homeland.”
Spiro also said he believes that J Street is “not expressing views that Theodore Herzl [the founder of the Zionist movement] did not express in [his novel about his vision of a Jewish state] ‘Old-New Land.’”
He also said he believes J Street will find ready acceptance in Milwaukee, “the most Zionist of all [U.S.] cities.”
However, Spiro’s interests and activism are not limited to J Street. He said he is also active in the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the older (founded in the 1950s) and larger pro-Israel lobby.
News media coverage often presents J Street as an alternative and challenger to AIPAC.
However, during the question period, Kohl said J Street has “many supporters of both” organizations among its members; and that there exist “many issues” on which the two agree — like continuation of U.S. financial assistance to Israel and rejection of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement — and some on which they “agree to disagree.”
Formerly op-ed editor, Leon Cohen has written for The Chronicle for more than 25 years.
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