In the real world, the Mubarak regime seems closer than ever to finished, with establishment figures lining up with the protesters.
In the navel-gazing world…
The Republican Jewish Coalition wants J Street to give George Soros‘ money back, because he said in the Washington Post Israel is "the main stumbling block" to advancing a U.S. policy that embraces Egypt’s revolution:
Only the most obsessed opponents of Israel could weave Israel into the unfolding turmoil in Egypt. It is outrageous to lay responsibility for future peace and stability in Egypt on the doorstep of Israel, as Soros does by calling Israel the "main stumbling block".
J Street knew about the radical anti-Israel positions of George Soros when he began funding that organization. J Street leaders repeatedly lied to hide Soros’ involvement, in order to avoid the inevitable backlash from the vast majority of the Jewish community.
J Street has consistently shown itself to be outside the mainstream of the American Jewish community and far from what our community understands as "pro-Israel". But even for them, Soros’ unrelenting and destructive obsession with Israel can no longer be ignored.
J Street must immediately return the money it received from George Soros and renounce all connection with him.
As I noted yesterday, Soros isn’t really saying anything different than what Elliott Abrams has said — about this crisis not being all about Israel — but he put it in such a stupid, "hit me" way, with that "stumbling block" line, I can’t really blame the RJC for taking this shot.
But this raises some fun navel-gazing questions:
–RJC is part of a community that has leaned, hard, on candidates not to take J Street’s money. RJC has made it clear a world without J Street is a world it likes. RJC was très happy when Gary Ackerman cut off J Street.
On what planet are we supposed to take this request seriously?
UPDATE: On Planet J Street, I guess. Jeremy Ben Ami responds to RJC, via Adam Kredo at the Washington Jewish Week:
We applaud the leaders from both parties in Congress who have expressed their support for the Obama Administration’s efforts and have declined to make it a partisan issue. This makes all the more deplorable the efforts the RJC to politicize this. We urge the RJC to ratchet down efforts to make political hay out of this crisis and to let the Obama Administration set a sensible course for national policy that comes down on the right side of history.
–I’m eagerly awaiting Jack Rosen‘s angry, public letter telling RJC how rude it is to tell folks to return donor money.
Back to the real world: Picking up another news organization’s interview isn’t quite a scoop, but spotting it when it’s far afield from your known base, and bringing it to your audience is always smart journalism.
So kudos to the Washington Times’ Eli Lake for catching the first unequivocal post-revolution statement from the Muslim Brotherhood that it would seek to end the peace with Israel:
A political leader of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood Thursday called on any government that replaces Hosni Mubarak’s regime to withdraw from the 32-year-old peace treaty with Israel.
“After President Mubarak steps down and a provisional government is formed, there is a need to dissolve the peace treaty with Israel,” Rashad al-Bayoumi, a deputy leader of the outlawed movement, said on Japan’s NHTV.
