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J Street responds

In the wake of Democrat Doug Pike’s op-ed explaining why he gave back J Street’s endorsement, the Israel policy group prepared a statement in response. Since we don’t exactly have a Letters page here at pa2010.com, it seemed reasonable to publish their response in full here.

See the group’s full response below:

JStreetPAC deeply regrets Doug Pike’s decision to turn back the endorsement by JStreetPAC, which he eagerly sought in the early stages of his campaign.

JStreetPAC is a pro-Israel, pro-peace political action committee that supports candidates for federal office who are staunch supporters of the state of Israel and who back a serious American commitment to resolving the Arab-Israeli and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts diplomatically.

For some time, a vocal and strident minority in the American Jewish community has had a grip on American politics and exercised undue influence on American foreign policy by using fear as a political weapon.  Unfortunately, as in this case, they have intimidated politicians with moderate views on foreign policy and who are uninterested in being in the center of Jewish intra-communal debates, into mouthing overly hawkish views on Israel in order to gain political support.

Over the past two years, this unhealthy dynamic has begun to change.  JStreetPAC established itself in the 2008 campaign as the largest pro-Israel PAC in the country and has begun to broaden debate over Israel both in the American Jewish community and in national politics.  Our polling – including a survey released just this Monday – shows that there is a diversity of opinion in the Jewish community when it comes to Israel and broad-based support in the community for the moderate views on Israel and the peace process espoused by J Street and its legally-independent PAC.

We wish Doug Pike well, but are pleased to see him return the funds provided to his campaign, as it is our purpose only to support politicians with the courage of their convictions.  We are as little interested in providing support for someone who would walk away from what they believe under pressure as they may be in having our support.

share001btn J Street responds

March 26, 2010 at 12:20 pm

--Dan Hirschhorn

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comments [4] | post a comment

  1. David Diano

    Mar 26th, 2010

    “..which he eagerly sought in the early stages of his campaign”

    That says a lot about Pike’s character and conviction when he’s faced with pressure. I guess that’s why Trivedi has picked up the county endorsements by huge margins.

  2. Courage

    Mar 27th, 2010

    Courage is the operative word here – I believe Mr. Pike does not display courage nor character – the voters of the 6th district are starting to see that a true challenger to Mr. Gerlach needs to have both courage and character.

    I see these two strong attributes in the other Democatic challenger, Manan Trivedi. First, his courage to fight in Iraq as an American Navy Surgeon for the Marines and second, his character as as a primary care physician and a son of immigrants who came to this country despite discrimination.

    Also, since Mr. Trivedi is really from the 6th district, he grew up in Berks County, he really understands the needs of the community. Mr. Pike has lived in Philadelphia for a number of years, but did not live in the 6th district until recently – the needs of Philly and the suburbs: Chester, Montgomery and Berks County are really different. As a life-long resident, I would prefer someone to represent us who is from here and can relate to our issues better.

  3. Courage?

    Mar 27th, 2010

    See what in Trivedi? Courage? Because he didn’t even flirt with the idea of doing the right thing on Israel?

    As if towing the AIPAC line somehow represents the needs of the 6th district.

  4. Chester County Democratic Committee » Why I broke with J Street

    Mar 29th, 2010

    [...] J Street responds here [...]

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