Update to Maine's J Street Kick Off Story - the kick off meeting at U of PA

While giving my impressions and some observations of the kick-off meeting in Maine, one missing item was the live TV pep-talk by J Street's leader Jeremy Ben Ami.

There were some technical difficulties, and having heard and seen him before, I didn't stick around. Besides, the real issue, I felt, would be the cognitive dissonance caused by real heartfelt and religious arab people's resistance and condoning amoral murder, and Israelis desire to live in their own nation as a jewish democracy in their ancient homeland, and the natural consequence of the other side's condoning the unconscionable.

I did not feel that any of these worthy people's aspirations here in Maine for there TO BE a real peace could in the end deflect either of those two forces, except by influencing the american govt to cut off/reduce Israeli aid or increase pressure (for Israel's own good, of course, to cause sense and then peace to burgeon in Netanyahu's mind and heart) , which I personally feel would lead to some strange renaissances of other Israeli - xxxx alliances, a new alliance with India, and a complete loss of control and influence by the USA, including a near eternal distrust of America, her people and her govt by an Israel which BEGAN under an American arms embargo until 1966, and a determination to depend on no one else. One wonders if anyone in the current administration is even CONSIDERING the long range consequences to the USA (besides the domestic political ones) if the Israelis decide they had better switch to the new Russian stealth aircraft, and SU-35's filled with Israeli electronics out of concern for lack of long range American support. Netanyahu, his foreign and defense ministers all made >5 trips to visit Medvedev in 2009. Even if a peace agreement COULD be signed, anyone here think Iran who bankrolls Hizballah and HAMAS would EVER allow it?

We all want the same goal .. but sometimes how you achieve it defines if it is sustainable.

"when peace does come, you may call on me for any thing. Then will I share with you the last cracker, and watch with you to shield your homes and families against danger from every quarter" William T. Sherman

Pertinent to the live talk by Mr, Ben-Ami we have this story of the kick off meeting that night at the University of Pennsylvania.

J Street Meets Stop Sign at University of Pennsylvania

Shevat 21, 5770, 05 February 10 11:00

by Avi Yellin

(Israelnationalnews.com) J Street, the Washington lobby with strong connections to the Obama administration, held an event at the University of Pennsylvania on Thursday evening, February 4th, amidst local and nation-wide controversy over the group's "pro-Israel" credentials. The organization, which advocates strong American pressure to force an Israeli surrender of Judea and Samaria as well as the forced expulsion of all Jewish residents from these lands, created a stir in the Jewish media and blogsphere for two weeks with the planned visit of director Jeremy Ben-Ami to the University's Hillel building.

Z Street, a local pro-Israel organization initially attempted to pressure the University to withdraw its invitation to J Street's Ben-Ami (Epaminondas comments - that is both wrong to do and INCREDIBLY STUPID) but when Hillel responded with claims that it was merely renting space to the powerful Washington lobby, Z Street settled for a room in the Hillel building to hold a simultaneous pro-Israel event. The group brought Mitchell Bard, who attracted most of the students concerned with events in the Middle East, and left J Street an audience comprised mainly of elderly Jews from the Philadelphia area.

Roz Rothstein of the California based pro-Israel StandWithUs organization, traveled to Pennsylvania to attend the J Street event and confronted Ben-Ami with her concerns about his activities. "For me, there were several unanswered questions," she told Israel National News following the event. "First, how does J Street justify pressuring the democratically elected government of another country to change its policies through lobbying elected officials in the United States? Second, how can people living in the safety of the United States make policy decisions for another country, possibly endangering its citizens? I tried to find out what Ben-Ami thought. I asked him the questions that were on my mind but did not get answers."

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