The Zionist Organization of America strongly condemns the radical extremist group J-Street’s statement yesterday. J-Street yesterday demanded that the U.S. and Israel must aggressively push a framework for a Hamas-Fatah Palestinian Arab state. (“J Street: Negotiating with Hamas is Pro-Israel,” Washington Free Beacon, April 23, 2014 [link this to http://freebeacon.com/national-security/j-street-negotiating-with-hamas-is-pro-israel/])
Incredibly, J-Street’s call came on the very same day that Hamas reiterated its demand for Israel’s destruction and explicitly refused to renounce violence against Jews and Israel. Top Hamas official Hassan Yousef announced that the terror group would not renounce its commitment to violence and the destruction of Israel, will not recognize Israel and “will not give up the resistance.” (See Adam Kredo, ‘New Palestinian Government Refuses to Renounce Violence,’ Washington Free Beacon, April 23, 2014).
Hamas’s Nazi-like Charter specifically calls for the murder of Jews and Israel’s destruction. The U.S. State Department lists Hamas as a terrorist organization.
J-Street is thus advocating a terrorist Hamas-Fatah Palestinian Arab state on Israel’s longest border, opening Israel up to constant rocket attacks on Israel’s major population centers. Over the last two decades, Hamas has launched thousands of rockets against Israel and murdered hundreds of Jews.
Notably, the U.S. State Department spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, responded to the news of the Hamas-Fatah reconciliation deal, saying, “it’s hard to see how Israel can be expected to negotiate with a government that does not believe in its right to exist.” (‘Jen Psaki, Spokesperson, Daily Press Briefing, Washington, DC, April 23, 2014’).
J-Street attempts to justify its egregious position which endangers Israel by stating: “you make peace with your enemies.” J-Street ignores the fact that you only can make peace with your former enemies who now sincerely want to make peace. Hamas is calling for destroying Israel – not for peace with Israel.
A Hamas-Fatah Palestinian Arab state would increase the power of Hamas to promote its genocidal agenda against Israel. Also, Iran is a major donor to Hamas – and Iran would thus have great influence on the policies of any Hamas-Fatah state.
Shame on extremist J-Street for promoting yet another anti-Israel pro-radical-Islamist policy. Virtually every position that J-Street has taken since its establishment endangers Israel’s security.
It is shocking that J-Street has become so comfortable with its radical extremist anti-Israel ideology that it has adopted this latest extremist position just one week before the vote will take place on J-Street’s application to become a member of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. Even if one accepts the “big tent” philosophy for the Jewish community, J-Street’s anti-Israel extremism has once again clearly placed J-Street outside of the tent.
J-Street’s extremism is further reflected by the fact that Israelis from all sides of the spectrum reacted to the Hamas-Fatah reconciliation by rejecting involvement with Hamas. For instance:
- The secular left-of-center party Yesh Atid’s leader, Finance Minister, Yair Lapid, said that Hamas is “a jihadi terror organization that is proud of killing civilians – women, children, the elderly – just because they’re Jewish. If the Palestinians really want a treaty with Israel … how did they not demand from Hamas to say it is abandoning terror, to commit to not hurting innocent people and to follow international law?”
- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas would have to choose between peace with Israel and peace with Hamas, saying, “Does [Abbas] want peace with Hamas or peace with Israel? You can have one but not the other” (‘Hamas and Fatah unveil Palestinian reconciliation deal,’ BBC, April 23, 2014).
- The Jewish Home party leader, Economy Minister Naftali Bennett said, “We don’t talk to murderers … The agreement between Fatah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad brings the Middle East to a new diplomatic era. The Palestinian Authority turned into the largest terrorist organization in the world, 20 minutes from Tel Aviv” (Herb Keinon & Lahav Harkov, ‘Israel cancels planned peace talks meeting after Fatah-Hamas unity deal announced,’ Jerusalem Post, April 23, 2014).