J Street, the left-wing, Jewish, “pro-peace” organization, has
endorsed Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic
nominee for president.
Biden welcomed the endorsement, as the JTA reports:
“I’m honored to have earned J Street’s first-ever presidential
endorsement,” the former vice president said Friday. “J Street has
been a powerful voice to advance social justice here at home, and to
advocate for a two-state solution that advances Middle East Peace.
J Street, which claims to be “pro-Israel,” advocates for a
Palestinian state and opposes Israeli “settlements” in Judea and
Samaria. J Street was a vocal supporter of President Barack
Obama’s antagonistic policies toward Israel and played a key
role in pushing for President Obama’s disastrous nuclear deal with
Iran. The organization opposed President Donald
Trump’s decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem and
opposes the Trump peace plan.
The Republican Jewish Coalition reacted
to the J Street endorsement:
“Joe Biden isn’t wasting a moment trying to prove to his
far-left base that he will continue the anti-Israel policies of the
Obama/Biden administration,” said Matt Brooks,
executive director of RJC.
Biden’s outreach to the far-left base of his party is likely
to include these “unifying” moves: embracing several foreign policy
positions of the Bernie Sanders campaign and looking
to Sanders foreign policy advisors for guidance. Matthew
Petti at the National Interest writes:
Former Vice President Joe Biden’s campaign has asked the
Bernie Sanders campaign to send over advisors to advise Biden on
foreign policy, the National Interest has learned…
Three sources, including two people who advised the Sanders
campaign on foreign policy, confirmed that an open invitation has been
sent out to Sanders foreign policy advisors who want to work with the
Biden campaign…
Several former advisors and operatives in the
two camps had told Foreign Policy last week that Biden was open to
adopting foreign policy positions from Sanders.
The Jewish Insider likewise reports:
According to a report by Foreign Policy, a group of
advisors from the Biden campaign has been in contact with Sanders
advisors to discuss a unified foreign policy platform… Joel
Rubin, who served as director for Jewish outreach for the
Sanders campaign… [and] who also served in the Obama administration as
the State Department’s chief liaison to the House of Representatives,
described the former vice president as a “natural” partner, who is
“absorbing the progressive base that Bernie mobilized” because of his
track record of “being able to listen, adapt and lead.”
