Open discussion and debate

Rav Matisyahu Salomon On the Shidduch Crisis

?למה לצום שלושה ימים - H/T Yeranen Yaakov

J Street's Jeremy Ben-Ami and the RJC's Matt Brooks Debate in Vegas can be viewed on YouTube.


Jeremy Ben-Ami states at the 57 minute mark, "We believe in open discussion and debate." 

An article about the debate includes the following items.


FUNNY SYMBOLISM: The RJC's Matt Brooks wore a blue kippah while J Street's Ben Ami wore the red kippah. Perhaps it was in honor of the new Jewish month of Adar where the 'shtick' is often to do things backwards. [Twitter]

DEBATE RECAP -- ... There was controversy at the beginning of J Street as to the involvement of George Soros in our launching. A lot of miscommunication. I have apologized for all of that, and we are well beyond that. The only thing I have had to say about George Soros’s funding since then, is that I wish there were more of it.” 
Read more: http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.708086

An article at Israel Hayom describes a speaker's words at the 2012 J Street Conference.


Audiences at the annual J Street conference in Washington on Monday were shocked when one of the event’s honorees, Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of Israel in Washington, DC, Barukh Bina, stood at the podium and issued a respectful yet scathing criticism of the advocacy group’s policies.

As the audience sat in near-silence, Twitter users who were live-tweeting the event immediately began detailing the mood in the conference hall. “Awkward! Israeli #2 Ambassador Barukh Binah is slamming #JStreet at its annual gala,” Twitter user @MeatyButcher wrote. @EmilyCadei added, “#Israel deputy chief of mission addresses/scolds #JStreet gala, NOT well received, heard some hisses.”
http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=3695


Dr. Naomi wrote an article about J Street.


Who can forget J Street's support for the biased and inaccurate Goldstone Report that condemned Israel for defending itself during Operation Cast Lead in 2008 against rockets and mortar shells launched by Hamas. Rabbi Eric Yoffie, then president of the Union for Reform Judaism, who considers himself a dove, found J Street's words "deeply distressing because they [were] morally deficient." He accusingly noted that J Street "could find no moral difference between the actions of Hamas and other Palestinian militants, who have launched more than 5,000 rockets and mortar shells at Israeli civilians in the past three years, and the long-delayed response of Israel, which finally lost patience and responded to the pleas of its battered citizens in the south." 

...Rabbi Yoffie was loudly booed at the 2009 J Street Conference when he expressed those views.
http://www.drnaomionisrael.com/articles/2016/1/20/what-to-do-about-j-street-an-enemy-of-israel

In 2012, I  wrote about Ambassador Baruch Bina speaking at the J Street Conference.
"Chadrei Chareidim reports about that a vehicle in which a groom was riding yesterday, came under attack by a group of Arab rioters. It was his wedding day and, in the afternoon, he and his friend went to Har Hazeitim because the mother of the groom had died a year ago, and the man wanted to pray at the grave before his wedding. On their way, something was thrown at the car. Soon, the occupants were facing a group of Arab youths, aged 16 to 20, who threw large stones at the vehicle. One of the stones smashed the window next to the groom and hit his head, causing bleeding. The driver related that he tried to flee the area but they were surrounded by the youths. The men were able to call security forces and, after initial treatment at tte hopital, the groom was able to participate in the wedding.

 Guaranteed this story will not make the rounds of any of the major media outlets. After all, the Palestinian struggle employs methods of non-violence, never mind that Asher Palmer and his young son lost their lives when a rock was thrown at their car. Even Mustafa Barghouti, who spoke at the J Street conference discussed the non-violence repeatedly, throwing in the word apartheid, for good measure. I am able to tell you this, becuase the J Street website has a video of his speaking at the conference as well as any speaker who agreed with their views. The video of deputy Ambassador Barukh Bina, who issued a reprimand to the organization, is nowhere to be found." http://mashiachiscoming.blogspot.be/2012/03/wedding-day.html

Open discussion and debate?  Go to youtube and write "J Street Barghouti" and you will find videos from the Conference. Go to youtube and write "J Street Bina" and tell me if you find a video of his speech at the 2012 Conference.
If you click here, you will find Ashley Bates, assistant editor at Tikkun, introducing Barhgouti at the 2012 Conference. She states, "We support a targeted form of Boycott Divestment and Sanctions, but not a boycott of Israel as a whole."  
Mr. Ben-Ami stated in the debate with Matt Brooks, "We are 100% opposed to the global BDS movement."
I realize Ms. Bates wasn't speaking in the name of J Street,  but it is interesting that the organization has no problem hearing her words as she speaks behind a J Street podium.