Can there ever be too many pro-Israel organizations? Apparently not.
The latest is Z Street, which from its name appears to be a response to J Street (which, of course, was itself a response to many of the traditional mainstream pro-Israel groups).
Created by activists Lori Lowenthal Marcus of Philadelphia and Allison Rowen Taylor of Los Angeles, Z Street’s Web site describes the organization with this description:
No more appeasement, no more negotiating with terrorists, no more enabling cowards who fear offending more than they fear another Holocaust. Z STREET is for those who are willing not only to support — but to defend — Israel, the Jewish state.
The Web site also contains a 14-point charter stating the group’s principles. Among them:
- "The firm belief that there can be no compromises or agreements with, and no concessions to, any Terrorist Entity or any individual Terrorists"
- The branding of "those members of the world community" who fail to "actively condemn" threats against Israel as "active or passive supporters of a second genocide against the Jewish people."
The group says it is not intended to supercede other Zionist organizations, but "serve as an alternative to many mainstream and other Jewish organizations that, to meet donors’ requirements or for ideological reasons, cannot affirm the principles set out in the Z STREET charter."
The group also redefines Zionist in the charter, calling a Zionist "one who affirms that Israel is a the homeland of the Jewish people and is and must remain a Jewish State," but also adding that a Zionist "believes that the government of Israel must not make concessions to, or engage in negotiations with, terrorists, terrorist entities or terror sponsoring states which either implicitly or explicitly seek to destroy the Jewish State of Israel."
The organization is already planning a rally in front of the White House on Oct. 27, which is the same week that J Street, joined by 11 other progressive pro-Israel groups, is holding its first annual conference.
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