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J Street 'thrilled' by turnout at first national conference
By Natasha Mozgovaya, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: U.S. Jews, J Street 

The pro-Israel lobby J Street kicked off its first national conference on Sunday with more than 1,500 guests at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Washington, D.C. Despite controversy and tension surrounding the convention, organizers said the attendance exceeded expectations.

Numerous peace activists, politicians, diplomats, lobbyists, male and female rabbis, political advisers, artists, students and journalists filled the halls. Participants who spilled out from over-crowded panel rooms sat in a circle on the lobby carpet, heatedly discussing the state of left-wing activists in Israel and the United States, religion and the new media.

"We couldn't be more thrilled," said J Street executive director Jeremy Ben-Ami. "The numbers of participants far exceeded our expectations - 148 congressmen supported the event, 250 students and reporters from 17 countries came. This is truly the birth of a movement. It demonstrates the vacuum and the desire to promote peace now, when it's more urgent than ever... Our vision for peace is very clear - two states based on '67."
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"Violence might break out, there are extremists on both sides," he continued. "But we can't allow the extremists to prevent a better future for both sides."

A reporter asked Ben-Ami how J Street could be pro-Israel when Israeli ambassador to the United States Michael Oren had boycotted the event. "The Israeli ambassador is making a serious mistake. This is part of the Jewish community and to refuse to engage with us is a serious mistake, as it is to refuse to engage with those seeking to promote peace. I wish he were here even to express his disagreement. We do love Israel, we do support Israel. [But] we have questions regarding its policy," Ben-Ami said.

Asked about the Goldstone report, he said "The process by which the international community addresses these issues is flawed. But that doesn't mean Israel doesn't need to deal with the substance."

Opposite the hotel, Bob Kunst, of the rightist group Shalom International, held a one-man protest against the conference with a poster that read: "J St. Nazis."

MK Meir Sheetrit (Kadima) said he had no compunction whatsoever about attending the conference. "I attended AIPAC's conference and now I'm here. The government is making a mistake in not attending. We appear at all kinds of forums that oppose Israel as well as in Arab states - so not coming to a pro-Israel conference? I'm of the impression that [J Street's] support in Israel is real and serious."

Participants will throng to Capitol Hill today and tomorrow for more than 200 meetings in Congress. They intend to explain to the congressmen and their aides that the Jewish American community has more than one voice, that active involvement in the peace process is a basic interest of both the United States and Israel, and that the preferred solution to the Iranian issue is the diplomatic process.

Five families from the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah had their own agenda on the hill. "They came to tell their story, they want the American administration to help them return to their homes and prevent the imminent eviction of 500 more people," said Angela Godfrey-Goldstein of the Israel Committee Against House Demolitions, who accompanied them.

"It was very exciting," said Colette Avital, a former Labor MK, "standing before a young crowd who said they love Israel and want to advance peace. I haven't seen such fervor in a long time, neither in Israel nor here. While we're getting thrown out of all the campuses, here there's huge potential."

Pollster and political adviser Jim Gerstein said Israel was not boycotting J Street. "It's not an Israeli boycott, it's Netanyahu's boycott. You have welcoming letters from the president and Tzipi Livni... 150 congress members are co-sponsoring this event. If Obama's administration is taking it seriously, what does it say about the prime minister?"


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