Israel’s ambassador to the United States denounces left-wing Mideast lobby group J Street, calling the organization “duplicitous” for presenting itself as a pro-Israel Jewish group.
By World Israel News Staff
Israel’s ambassador to the United States denounced Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and took aim at the left-wing Middle East advocacy group J Street this week, accusing the progressive organization of hiding behind a pro-Israel label while backing policies he said would weaken Israel during wartime.
Ambassador Yechiel Leiter, speaking Monday at a National Task Force to Combat Antisemitism event at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, called J Street “a cancer within the Jewish community” and said the group’s position on US military support for Israel was incompatible with its self-description as pro-Israel.
“The worst thing about J Street is it’s duplicitous,” Leiter said. “How can you be pro-Israel and advocate for an arms embargo on a state that’s fighting a seven-front war against Iranian proxies?”
The remarks marked an unusually direct public attack by Israel’s top envoy in Washington on an organization that has become increasingly influential among Democrats.
J Street describes itself as “pro-Israel, pro-peace, pro-democracy,” but has pushed for tighter limits on US weapons transfers and a phaseout of direct American military subsidies after the current aid agreement expires.
The group has also called for the US to sanction some Israeli government ministers.
In a policy statement titled “No More Blank Checks,” J Street said it remains committed to Israel’s security and to defensive systems such as Iron Dome, but argued that Congress should impose “new, stricter limits on offensive arms.”
“No more military support for the war in Gaza and no support ever for annexation,” the group said.
Leiter rejected that distinction, arguing that J Street’s opposition to the Netanyahu government and support for lawmakers seeking to block arms sales amounted to undermining Israel while claiming communal legitimacy.
“If they said that they were pro-Palestinian, I wouldn’t have a problem meeting with them,” Leiter said. “I meet with pro-Palestinian groups.”
“But when you come and say in such a two-faced manner, ‘We’re pro-Israel, we’re pro-democracy’ — there’s a democratically elected government in Israel,” he continued.
“You don’t like Netanyahu? Make Aliyah, vote in the next election, and express yourself. Don’t say you’re ‘pro-democracy’ and decry and defy the position of the democratic government of Israel.”
J Street president Jeremy Ben-Ami pushed back, saying the ambassador should engage with critics of Israeli policy rather than question their motives or identity.
“Instead of disparaging friends of Israel who disagree with its government and calling us names, Israel’s ambassador to the United States should be engaging seriously with us,” Ben-Ami said.
“J Street represents a large and growing segment of the American Jewish community that supports and cares deeply about Israel but opposes policies we believe are making it less secure and more isolated,” he added. “Serving effectively as Israel’s ambassador to the US requires engaging with those disagreements, not attacking the patriotism or integrity of fellow Jews.”
Leiter also appeared to take aim at Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has backed measures to block some arms sales to Israel, without naming him directly.
“One senator told me that the sponsor is a Jew,” Leiter said. “The sponsor is not a Jew. The sponsor is a Communist who may have a Jewish pedigree. That doesn’t make him a Jew.”
Leiter urged pro-Israel activists to treat affiliation with J Street as politically toxic and to create pressure on candidates to distance themselves from the group.
“You’ve got to create an atmosphere where there’s going to be competition among candidates who say, ‘I don’t have anything to do with J Street,’ and have competition among candidates who say, ‘I’m proudly affiliated with AIPAC,’” he said.
The clash underscored a deepening split inside American Jewish and pro-Israel politics: whether support for Israel should mean backing the decisions of its elected government during war, or whether it can include organized opposition to that government’s policies and restrictions on US-supplied weapons.
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