NOVANEWS
The new organization would aim to dilute the influence of J Street, which is viewed as a lobby that is sympathetic with the left.
jpost
Right-wing Jewish hawks in the United States are considering the formation of a new pro-Israel lobby that would directly compete with AIPAC and J Street.
The new organization, which has been tentatively called Z-Pac, would aim to dilute the influence of J Street, which is viewed as a lobby that is sympathetic with the left. Its goal would be to serve as a genuine, right-wing alternative that would solicit influence and donations in order to counter the US administration’s attempts to pressure the Israeli government into accept Secretary of State John Kerry’s peace proposals.
“J Street supports a state of all its citizens, and AIPAC supports a two-state solution,” one Jewish activist involved in the venture said this week. “This has created a situation in which those of us who think that the establishment of a Palestinian state would be a disaster have no way to express this and there is no organization that will communicate our protestations to the administration in Washington.”
In recent years, right-wing American Jews have become more convinced that J Street, the liberal-left lobby, has become increasingly influential on the Obama administration’s policies in the Middle East, with nothing to counterbalance its power. AIPAC, meanwhile, is considered an organization that will carry out its orders from the Israeli government irrespective of the US administration, while assuming an objective stance from an official standpoint.
“What is needed is a real, genuine, active, influential, and pro-active right-wing in the US,” said one organizer. “That is what we are examining right now.”
There are a number of key influential Jews who are financing the new initiative, some of whom have in the past contributed to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Now they are mulling whether to throw their weight, influence, and cash behind ideas that contradict the Israeli prime minister’s official policy.
One of the key point men in this endeavor is Joseph Sabag, a Florida attorney who is known to be active in right-wing Jewish causes. There has also been communication with right-wing elements in Israel, including the Yesha Council of West Bank settlement as well as the Likud, namely with Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon.
