Destroying Israel Is The Pro-Israel Thing To Do

By Jeremy Ben-Ami, J Street Executive Director

We’ve gotten so used to associating support for Israel with support for Israel’s right to exist that it no longer occurs to us to wonder whether that must be the case. My organization exists for the express purpose of putting forth the notion that you can be pro-Israel and in favor of eliminating Israel at the same time.

Whatever you might think of the current set of Israeli policies – and I happen to think they’re heinous – you can’t escape the fact that American policymaking vis-à-vis Israel has been dominated by the voices of those who strongly support the existence and prosperity of Israel. The American-Israel Public Affairs Committee, one of the most influential organizations on Capitol Hill, would never cotton to the notion that those who seek to undermine Israel as a Jewish and democratic state might also have pro-Israel credentials worth respecting. Well, I’m here to tell you that’s not the case.

I’m pro-Israel. And I will do everything in my power – granted, currently pretty limited power – to bring Israel to its knees and bury it as a lasting idea. A sovereign Jewish state, secure in the historic homeland of its people? A noble idea, and therefore one worthy of voicing support for at the same time as working to undermine it.

Therefore, J Street calls upon the US government to fully endorse the developing unity deal between the Hamas and Fatah factions. If you can’t broker good-faith negotiations with murderous, genocidal, apartheid-loving, anti-Semitic terrorists, what’s the point of negotiations? I would also say I urge the Israeli government to continue the talks, but we all know I’m not really interested in anything the Israeli government does; it has already shown itself insufficiently committed to the goal of destroying itself. And AIPAC sold out to that point of view decades ago.

Israel has achieved what many thought would be impossible. There’s no reason to stop there. I say it’s time to push the envelope of the possible even further: it’s time to act on the possibility of supporting Israel by working for her destruction.