By Stephen Lendman – Chicago
On July 6, co-founders Lori Lowenthal Marcus and Allyson Rowen Taylor announced: "Z Street is launched, Will end J Street Treason."
Continuing they said: "welcome to Z street! No more appeasement, no more negotiating with terrorists, no more enabling cowards who fear offending more than they fear another Holocaust. Z STREET is for those who are willing not only to support – but to defend – Israel, the Jewish State."
Never mind that no nation threatens Israel nor has for decades. It’s a regional superpower – nuclearized and defended by the world’s fourth most powerful military, armed with the latest state-of-the-art weapons and technology, and not reluctant to use them.
Its only adversaries are self-made and are needed to justify oppression, a culture of violence, an ethnocracy, exclusivity, privilege, and Jewish exceptionalism over others deemed inferior, legitimate enemies, and terrorists.
Zionism is corrosive, destructive, racist, extremist, undemocratic and hateful.
— it claims Jewish supremacy, specialness and uniqueness as God’s "chosen people;"
— espouses violence, not peaceful coexistence;
— confrontation over diplomacy;
— strength through militarism, intimidation, and naked aggression;
— is what Joel Kovel calls "a machine for the manufacture of human rights abuses" led by real terrorists posing as democrats;
— what others say is repugnant, indefensible, destructive and malignant; and
— what author Alan Hart calls "the real enemy of the Jews;"
— an ideology contemptuous of Judaism’s moral values and ethical principles;
— the driving force behind a re-awakened anti-Semitism; and
— a monster that’s consuming its host and threatening humanity.
That’s what Z Street supports.
Its Founders Have Disturbing Resumes
Based in Philadelphia, Lori Lowenthal Marcus writes about Israel and the Middle East for media outlets like the pro-Israeli American Thinker. She’s also affiliated with the extremist Zionist Organization of America (ZOA).
From Los Angeles, Allyson Rowen Taylor is associate director of the 2001-founded Stand With Us, a pro-Israeli front group calling itself:
— "an international education organization that ensures that Israel’s side of the story is told in communities, campuses, libraries, the media and churches through brochures, speakers, conferences, missions to Israel, and thousands of pages of Internet resources."
In other words, it’s a pro-Israeli mouthpiece promoting Zionist extremism at the expense of truth and an equitable resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Some of Taylor’s Amazon book review comments give her away:
— on (Fox News) Sean Hannity’s "Let Freedom Ring: Winning the War of Liberty over Liberalism," she "wonder(s) if anyone other than those who respect and understand the issues of Jihad, Marxism and ‘Facism’ will read this book. But I recommend it….I love Sean."
— on John Mearsheimer’s "The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy," she rants about authors blaming everything on Jews. This "book should have been funded by Henry Ford, or the ‘Thrid’ Reich. Even Norman Finkelstein, a staunch hater of the Israeli State, found flaws in this sad excuse for a book….Give me a break, ‘Anti Semites’ are just ‘anti Semites,’ " and
— on Jimmy Carter’s "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid," she calls the book "a mess….This is a work of a man who ‘clarly’ is in cahoots with the radical Islamofacists..it should be filed in the ‘fiction’ section of the library."
Taylor is also CEO and president of the August 2008-founded People Against Hate Speech, another pro-Israeli front group affiliated with the Simon Wiesenthal Center, notoriously pro-Zionist with over 300,000 global members and support from prominent figures like George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Senator Charles Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Z Street’s Charter
"Z STREET is an organization of Zionists who join together at this time of great danger to the Jewish State of Israel and, increasingly, to world Jewry.
Fact check: Israel creates its own enemies through extremism, lawlessness, wars of choice, and decades of contempt for Palestinians, other Arabs and Islam.
"I. Z STREET proudly asserts the right of the Jewish people to a state."
Fact check: Israel denies one to Palestinians, occupies their land, and expropriates it for its own use in violation of international law.
"II. Z STREET proudly reclaims the words ‘Zionist’ and ‘Jewish State’ as ones to wear with pride, in direct opposition to their recent branding as shameful or impolite terms."
Fact check: Zionism’s extremist, destructive ideology is explained above.
"III. Z STREET maintains that Jews have the right to live anywhere in the world, including, and especially, within greater Israel."
Fact check: Palestinians are denied all rights, including living securely on their own land in their own country in peace.
"IV. Z STREET is dedicated to maintaining and strengthening the Jewish State of Israel in the firm belief that there can be no compromises or agreements with, and no concessions to, any Terrorist Entity or any individual Terrorists."
Fact check: For over six decades, Israel has committed slow-motion genocide against indigenous Palestinians who want peace, not conflict; are willing to recognize the Jewish state in return for their own; and who deserve equal rights to Jews and all others, but are denied them by an oppressive occupier.
"V. Z STREET is dedicated to rejecting and refuting the condemnation of any actions taken by Israel which are not similarly condemned when taken by any other individuals or political entities."
Fact check: Israel acts lawlessly, chooses violence over peace, and calls legitimate self-defense "terrorism."
"VI. Z STREET is dedicated to constantly and consistently declaring and affirming the facts which fully support the legal, moral and historical right of the Jewish State to exist in peace and security without physical or verbal assault against its sovereignty or legitimacy. This necessarily entails adamantly opposing the dismantling of and/or handing over territory to any other entity or entities."
Fact check: Israel demands special rights as "God’s chosen people" but denies any to indigenous Palestinians. In addition, its settlements and human rights abuses violate international law.
"VII. Z STREET is dedicated to constantly and consistently declaring and affirming the facts that reveal the fallacious narratives of Terrorist Entities, Terrorists, and their supporters undermining the legal, moral and historical right of the Jewish State to exist in peace and security without physical or verbal assault against its sovereignty or legitimacy."
Fact check: The "narratives" are true, and so-called "Terrorists" are, in fact, peace-loving people who by law may defend themselves when attacked.
"VIII. Z STREET insists that terrorists or other threats against Israel be unequivocally condemned, and that those members of the world community failing to actively condemn those threats also be branded as active or passive supporters of a second genocide against the Jewish people."
Fact check: Israel is the region’s real terrorist threat.
"IX. Z STREET declares that Israel’s respect for women’s, religious and other minorities’ rights, provides a welcome beacon – particularly in the Middle East – to be acknowledged and respected by all people of good will."
Fact check: Israel promotes Zionist extremism, demeans Arabs and Islam, and calls Muslims "Islamofascists."
"X. Z STREET recognizes the existence of 22 officially Muslim countries and 19 Christian countries, whose status the world does not challenge, while only Israel, the Jewish State, is demonized for asserting its legitimate right to be a religion-affiliated State, and which religion, Judaism, is the world’s oldest monotheistic faith."
Fact check: Israel denies equal rights to its non-Jewish citizens, a practice found nowhere else in the civilized world.
"XI. Z STREET recognizes the value of other Zionist organizations whose activities include lobbying, producing publications, the sponsorship of scholars and scholarship centers, honoring generous donors and/or other important programs. Z STREET is not intended to supercede those other Zionist organizations. Z STREET is intended to serve as an alternative to many mainstream and other Jewish organizations that, to meet donors’ requirements or for ideological reasons, cannot affirm the principles set out in the Z STREET Charter."
Fact check: All Zionist organizations are extremist, hateful, and preach Jewish supremacy over Islam and Muslims.
"XII. Z STREET has no need to, and will not negotiate with, nor seek to gain the approval from, any government, Israeli or Diaspora organization, or individuals supporting the diminution or weakening of Israel either because of ideological conviction, animosity towards a strong, Jewish State, cowardice, or the misguided belief that compromise with Terrorist Entities can lead to peace in the Middle East or global peace."
Fact check: Like Israel, Z Street is uncompromisingly hard line, extremist, militant and racist.
"XIII. Z STREET will serve as an educational force that will FIGHT WITH FACTS. Z STREET undergirds its positions with facts and provides that essential ingredient to exponentially increasing its membership ranks."
Fact check: Z Street distorts facts to fit its ideology and attract new extremist members.
"XIV. Z STREET is a new, entirely volunteer organization for those who affirm the foregoing and dedicate themselves to upholding and ensuring respect for these principles. Its primary purpose of which is to provide a proud banner for Zionists behind which to rally."
Fact check: Z Street supports Zionist extremism, militancy and racism. It demeans other views and affirms that "Israel is the homeland of the Jewish people," no others, "and must remain a Jewish state." It challenges critics as neo-Nazis and calls persons, groups, or entities defending themselves against Israeli aggression "terrorists." It champions Jewish exceptionalism and demeans Arabs as inferior Islamofascists.
It believes Jews have colonization rights to dispossess indigenous Arabs for a "greater Israel" in all Judea, Samaria, the Golan, Jerusalem and Gaza.
Z Street’s Opposition to J Street
Z Street was founded to counter more moderate Jewish organizations like Americans for Peace Now and J Street, a US-based Israeli advocacy group. Founded (in April 2008) by its Executive Director Jeremy Ben-Ami, it calls itself "The new address for Middle East peace and security (as) the political arm of the pro-Israel, pro-peace movement" and says:
"(It) was founded to promote meaningful American leadership to end the Arab-Israeli and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts peacefully and diplomatically. (It) support(s) a new direction for American policy in the Middle East and a broad public and policy debate about the US role in the region."
It represents Jews and non-Jews "who support Israel and its desire for security as the Jewish homeland, as well as the right of the Palestinians to a sovereign state of their own – two states living side-by-side in peace and security….based on the 1967 borders with agreed reciprocal land swaps (and) resolution of the refugee issue within the new Palestinian state and in current host countries."
It supports "a new regional approach to cooperation and security;" diplomatic solutions over military ones; multilateral conflict resolution, including with Iran; an equitable Israeli-Syrian peace agreement; dialogue instead of confrontation; and for America to provide leadership to achieve it.
It "oppose(s) alliances with the religious right or any radical religious ideologues in the name of supporting Israel as well as efforts to demean and fan fears of Islam or of Muslims." It omits Zionism or Zionist goals in its Statement of Principles, Issues, Policy, and Actions.
Executive Director Ben-Ami held a number of senior positions as Bill Clinton’s Deputy Domestic Policy Advisor and Howard Dean’s presidential campaign Policy Director. He’s also been a senior vice president at Fenton Communications and was communications director for the pro-Israeli New Israel Fund. His father was born in Israel, and much of his family still lives there.
On October 27, Z Street supporters plan a pro-Israeli White House rally at the same time J Street holds its first annual meeting in Washington – the organization it accuses of "Treason."
Co-founder Marcus said, "the presence of Z Street will ensure that the true Zionist voice will be heard: that we will not stand by quietly as apartheid is imposed on Jews in the Israeli territories, and we will not stand by quietly as the Iranians continue racing madly towards obtaining weapons to wipe whole peoples off the globe while politicians send polite letters and invitations to parties."
Co-founder Taylor added: "This grass roots effort will compete for media attention with the slick packaging of several well-funded anti-Zionist organizations (specifically J Street), and unless those of us who are committed to maintaining a strong, unified Jewish State of Israel stand up and speak out together, the weak will continue to appear strong and the strong will continue to appear weak."
In October on Washington streets, Z Street’s extremism will be vocal in full public view against J Street’s message of peaceful resolution and equity for all sides of the Middle East conflict.
– Stephen Lendman is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization. He contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com. Contact him at: lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. (Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to The Global Research News Hour on RepublicBroadcasting.org Monday – Friday at 10AM US Central time for cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on world and national issues.)
