j street and the jewish exponent

Finally, a group comes along where I feel comfortable supporting Israel's future existence while simultaneously criticizing the policies that I believe are bad for its long term security. J Street calls itself Pro-Israel and Pro-Peace, and I feel that it is very important for the American community to have a group like this, that acknowledges the wrongdoings of Israel while also urging our society to support Israel in the most effective way. We are citizens of the largest superpower and our relationship with Israel is extremely important to them.

Then there are those who do not quite get that. I just want to take some time to respond to some of the points that this man argues.

• Israel was founded, though not entirely, through force, violence, and yes, even terrorism, and I do believe that overturning the injustice of Israel's turbulent beginnings is in its own interests as well
• Israeli policy, especially during times of extreme unrest, have been reckless, as has the policy of the USA and most other nations in the world
• While the PLO conference praises "killers of Jews as heroes," Jews all over praise killers of Arabs as heroes and even elect them to their highest offices of government--did you know that the two communities have been at war with each other several times in the past century and have not yet resolved their differences?

I'm not going to take the time to pick apart every wrong sentence that he spouts, but the general idea of his claims are inaccurate and harmful. His unwavering praise of Israeli policy for the past few decades is blind, and when he calls out the PA's "16-year failure ... to dismantle terrorist groups," he is discrediting the PA for the only thing that they have accomplished. I am not saying that the PA is a wonderful and functional organization, but the only violence that they have exhibited in the past 8 years since the last major direct conflict with Israel has been directed exclusively at extremist groups and groups that refuse to participate in the peace process in their own jurisdiction. They train policemen with US backing and dispatch them among the PA strongholds in the West Bank in order to promote their centralization of power. What do we want over here, democracy someone on which we can depend? Abbas is committed to fighting any power that is not him for the US and Israel's sake as well as his own, but perhaps this is at the expense of democracy. Congratulations American Jewish community, this is what you're asking for, and it's still not enough.

I understand that turning this man's argument around is not doing any good for the situation. Bashing Israeli policy makes them look like the Big Satan in this situation, but promoting it does no good for their future. Israel is there, a thriving society of millions of people, that is understood, and the world must do what it can in order to protect that nation from its own demise.