JustASC

A number of local community leaders have written a dissent from my column last week on J Street.

In his Oct. 29 column (“J Street: It’s a generational thing”), Andrew Silow-Carroll posits that J Street has widespread appeal to the young generation. He says that “the debate over J Street is not just over Israel but over how to be Jewish.” Nothing could be further from the truth. The debate over J Street is entirely over Israel and over who the group purports to represent.

J Street is not representative of mainstream Jewish opinion, either in the U.S. or in Israel. In key areas it is not even in line with the administration that it so admires.

As I wrote to one of the authors, whether or not one accepts their critique, I think it is still possible to note a generational dynamic in the appeal of, and opposition to, J Street. My analysis doesn’t necessarily contradict theirs.