Published November 18, 2010
Finding common ground about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is never easy — and at one reform synagogue in Newton, it wasn’t even possible to have the conversation.
Jeremy Ben-Ami (J Street)
Temple Beth Avodah abruptly cancelled a talk with Jeremy Ben-Ami, the controversial executive director of J Street, after a “small, influential group” of congregants voiced strong opposition to his appearance, according to the rabbi quoted in the Globe. The event was moved to a nearby school.
J Street is a young, liberal nonprofit that lobbies for a peaceful two-state solution to the Middle Eastern conflict.
“I didn’t expect this to happen with a reform synagogue, but when it comes to Israel, opinion in the Jewish community is very divided,” said Stephen Maas, editor of the Boston-based Jewish Advocate, who was scheduled to interview Ben-Ami tonight.
When J Street came on the scene two years ago, it was the first significant pro-Israel group to lobby for anything other than unconditional support for Israel.
“The group has succeeded in provoking a tremendous amount of debate about the political and emotional relationships of American Jews to Israel,” writes Allison Hoffman in Tablet Magazine. (Hoffman is a friend.) She writes:
Ben-Ami has managed, in a remarkably short time, to build something unprecedented in the decades-long history of leftwing American Jewish activism: an organization with the capacity to raise millions of dollars to win political support for ideas about Israel and the peace process that are frequently at odds with the positions articulated by organs of the Jewish establishment.
“People are not used to hearing a variety of voices when it comes to supporters of Israel,” said Ben-Ami, speaking to WBUR’s Morning Edition. “Often that leads to some very difficult discussions within the Jewish community, and there are many out there … who prefer that we just not have the conversation.”
Ben-Ami joined Radio Boston on Wednesday for a more expansive interview about the topic.
What do you think? Is the American Jewish community ready to talk about anything other that unconditional support of Israel?
- Ben-Ami speaks at Tufts University, 6 p.m.
- Ben-Ami speaks at Memorial-Spaulding School, Newton, 7:45 p.m.