J Street and Hillel

Gary Fouse
fousesquawk

Below is my take on the recent posting on J Street on this site.

I realize that Pam Geller, the editor of Atlas Shrugs, takes no prisoners, and I probably would not have used such strong adjectives as she did in her article on J Street and Hillel. Yet, I think she is onto something here.

J-Street, a recently established so-called Jewish advocacy group, advertises itself as a pro-Israel organization. Yet, they seem to be quite critical cf Israel's efforts to defend themselves from the likes of Hamas. Geller says that J Street is an arm of leftist financier and manipulator George Soros. If true, that is a damning indictment. In addition, Hannah Rosenthal, President Obama's so-called czar of anti-Semitic issues at the State Department, is a former J-Street executive. She recently appeared in Jerusalem where she trashed the current Israeli ambassador to the US.

As one who is fighting the campus war at UC-Irvine against those who bash Israel, bash America and bash Jews, I have learned that J Street is trying to spread its presence onto university campuses. I view that with alarm.

That brings me to Hillel. This is a Jewish nation-wide organization that has a presence on university campuses to act as a resource for Jewish life on campus. That is a worthy endeavor, but when it comes to standing up to anti-Semitism on campus, it seems to me that they prefer not to make waves. Surely, it has something to do with the fact that Hillel depends on the respective university for their presence on campus. I can't speak for each and every chapter, but at UCI, while speakers who damn Israel, America, and sometimes Jews regularly come to speak, Hillel responds with pizzas, hookah and belly-dancers. In addition to Hillel, there is another major Jewish organization in Orange County whose director denies that there is a problem with anti-Semitism at UCI. (And that's from the horse's mouth, folks.)

That underlines the central problem within the Jewish community nation-wide; major Jewish organizations are at cross-purposes. In effect, they are divided. Meanwhile, those who want to destroy Jews are not divided. They are united. That is why I view J Street with alarm.