The first J Street conference began tonight here in Washington DC. Over 1200 people attended, a few Jewish protesters outside accused the group of being worse than Nazis and the overall message inside was on opening up public debate on Israel/Palestine. On that level alone – and I have profound disagreements with the group on many issues – this can only be a good thing. Many young Jews spoke about widening the discussion and seeing the Palestinians as human beings. Sadly, this is actually progress in mainstream discussion over the Middle East. Debate online about this event rages.
The Israeli government continues to distance itself from the organisation. Frankly, probably not such a bad thing. When a bunch of thugs and pro-settlers speak for the Israeli people, the world should be concerned.
Here’s the J Street Twitter feed.
Much more in the coming days…