Chas Freeman, the Pro Israel Lobby and J Street

Below are three articles concerning the Chas Freeman incident and his parting shot at those of us in the pro Israel lobby.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/13/AR2009031301856.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/13/AR2009031302800.html

http://rothkopf.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/03/12/why_freeman_himself_was_wrong_about_what_his_defeat_signified

For the most part, the pro Israel lobby, including AIPAC was surprisingly silent on this. The only organization that I know of which openly opposed his nomination was the ZOA (Morton Klein).

The articles show just how misguided this nomination was and not only concerning Israel and the Middle East.

What bothers me however is the response of J Street and the Israel Policy Forum which kind of go along with the idea that the pro Israel lobby brought him down and that in so doing we "shot our wad" and made the Obama administration angry. I really am bothered by this response and it seems to me that they are very close to saying the all of us as Americans and especially Jews should have kept quiet and that Freeman would not have been so bad.

Frankly, I really understood the need for such organizations during the Bush administration. I see less of a need for them now.

As the father of a son living in Israel and as one who served extensively in the territories in the IDF, I do feel that Israelis should have the opportunity to determine their own destiny. I once asked Tony Lake, an Obama advisor and a former high ranking official in the National Security Council if he thought that the Obama administration should impose a "peace" agreement on Israel. His POV was that any imposed settlement without the buy in of both parties would simply be a "piece" of paper, not a real peace. I would also say that an imposed settlement would show very little respect for Israel as a democracy and would be rather paternalistic. It would remind me of the attempt by the British to draw lines in the Middle east after WWI.
These attempts messed up the situation rather than improved it.

J Street and the IPF seem really close to the idea that the US should impose a settlement. Their reaction to the War in Gaza was troubling and R. Eric Yoffe's critique of J Street was justified.

For me, their reaction to the Freeman nomination is equally troubling.