J Street is running its conference and has reported this:
Asked whether Prime Minister Netanyahu was sincere in seeking peace, [Tzachi] Hanegbi said he had changed in the past 20 years and now faced a choice of “making history or becoming history.” Recalling that he had been bombarded with messages and calls urging him not to attend the J Street conference, the former minster said he had examined the J Street website and looked at its beliefs and concluded that the organization and its members were motivated by love of Israel and play an important role in the discussion about Israel’s future.
I admit it.
I was one of those who suggested to Tzachi not to attend.
He asked me if I was advocating blackballing them or, to be Middle East, to boycott them and place them outside the community pale.
I said no. If they came to Jerusalem, he should even receive them in his committee room at the Knesset. But to go to Washington as an official guest and speak at their convention is another thing entirely.
I tried to explain their danger and their record and sent him factual, resourced and annotated material. His English is fine.
But for him to say that he based his decision on reading their web site?
That is research? He has assistants. He could probably have asked the Knesset research unit for material. He could have asked other Likud members.
I honor his decision, even if disagreeing and I respect his political views. But to admit that his decision was made on a reading of J Street’s web site?
That is too hard to accept or respect.
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