But the Washington-based J Street was formed in 2008 to publicly
The vote comes at a crucial time. Yesterday in Washington, Israeli factory brand shoes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Congress that Israel is prepared to accept “painful compromises’’ but said Israel must be allowed to keep large settlement blocs in the West Bank, a military presence on the Jordan River and control over an undivided Jerusalem — demands that Palestinians have said are impossible to accept.
Netanyahu’s speech, which came on the heels of public disagreements with President Obama over how peace talks should proceed, underscored an emotional divide among American Jews.
For decades, many mainstream Jewish organizations, including the powerful chloe shoes American Israel Public Affairs Committee, have interpreted support for Israel to mean backing the policies of the democratically elected Israeli government, and taking any disagreements that arise behind closed doors.
But the Washington-based J Street was formed in 2008 to publicly advocate for policies that it believes are in Israel’s long-term interests, even if they are at odds with the Israel’s current leadership.
“J Street has become a lightning rod,’’ said Steve Maas, editor of The Jewish Advocate, the oldest Jewish newspaper in the Boston area, which conducted an online opinion poll last month asking if J Street should be allowed to remain on the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston.
The unscientific poll, which allowed people across the country to vote, attracted 10 times as much Internet traffic as previous polls, Maas said, with 1,653 voting that J street should be expelled and 1,005 voting that the group should be allowed to remain. The online opinion poll has no relationship to the council’s vote today, but is “a measure of intensity’’ of feeling, he said.
J Street has supported Obama’s calls for a settlement freeze in the West Bank, and opposes continued Israeli construction in East Jerusalem on land that Palestinians hope will become the capital of a future Palestinian state
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