News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) The new leftist American Jewish J Street lobby has stated that Israel should "talk with its enemies," including Hamas, and that the United States needs to exercise further pressure to restrict Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. "We have absolutely no problem taking a position that says the actions and policies of the Israeli government are counterproductive and not in the best interests in our opinion of either Israel or the United States," Jerusalem Street executive director Jeremy Ben-Ami told Newsweek magazine.

He said the lobby is trying to fill a gap that he says exists between public opinion and the pro-Israel views of American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Ben-Ami said the new lobby wants to break up the "alliance between the neo-cons, the radical right of the Christian Zionist movement and the far-right portions of the Jewish community that has really locked up what it means to be pro-Israel."

J Street previously has stated that allowing Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria to expand is like giving alcoholic beverages to a drunken friend and then giving him the keys to the car to drive home. Concerning Hamas, Ben-Ami said that not talking with enemies is a "silliness that the only people you talk to when you want to make peace are your friends.