Avoiding Peace in the Middle East

For John, BLUF:  J Street?  A Progressive Jewish Advocacy group..  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Welcome, Bibi:  Blinken To Headline Anti-Israel J Street Conference

Here is the sub-headline:

Move seen as shot at incoming Israeli prime minister Netanyahu

From Washington Free Beacon, by Adam Kredo, 1 December 2022, 4:50 pm.

Here is the lede plus four:

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to headline a conference held by one of the foremost anti-Israel groups in the country, a move that is being interpreted as a shot at Israel's newly elected government led by incoming prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Blinken on Wednesday announced that he will serve as the headline speaker at the annual conference for J Street, which as recently as last month trashed Netanyahu, accusing the incoming prime minister of "building and bulldozing [his] way to permanent, undemocratic control of the West Bank."  The group also advocates conditioning U.S. aid to Israel, routinely attacks the Jewish state for defending itself against Palestinian terrorism, and employs notoriously terrible pumpkin carvers.  It is funded by liberal anti-Israel billionaire George Soros, though the organization initially tried to hide this fact, as well as by far-left groups such as the Ploughshares Fund, one of the chief proponents of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.

The conference kicks off this weekend, with Blinken set to address the confab on Sunday, alongside former Bernie Sanders adviser and longtime Israel critic Matt Duss, Daily Beast writer Wajahat Ali, a cadre of pro-Palestinian activists, and several Democratic members of Congress, including Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D., Md.) and senator-elect Peter Welch (D., Vt.).

Blinken's decision to attend J Street's headline event is eliciting concerns at Foggy Bottom and sparking outrage among friends of the Jewish state already aggrieved at the Biden administration's decision last month to launch an unprecedented FBI investigation into the death in Israel of a Palestinian-American journalist.  Israel determined that the journalist was unintentionally shot by its security forces during a standoff with Palestinian terrorists.

Multiple sources, both within and outside the State Department, who spoke to the Washington Free Beacon said Blinken's decision to attend J Street's conference is part of an effort by the Biden administration to undermine the new Netanyahu government and distance itself from the incoming prime minister's conservative coalition.

While some may think of the Democrats as being anti-Jewish, I think it is more a case of President Biden viewing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as an ally of Former President Donald Trump, and therefore baiscally persona non-grata.  It follows the pattern of the Biden Administration seeming to ignore the Middle East initiatives of the Trump Era,  I am surpriaed that SecState Blinken did not return the US Embassy to Tel Aviv.

During the Presidency of Donald Terump progress was made toward a broader peace in the Middle East.  That progress and momentum seems to have been lost.  I wonder if we can get it back?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff