“You are partners in everything that is being done to us, you are collaborating in the suffering of the Palestinian people,” the crackling Arabic-accented voice on the phone says. “You think that you are working for peace, but you are actually supporting the terrorists of the Palestinian Authority.”
He pauses as he ponders the events going on thousands of miles away in Washington D.C.
“You are not working for peace, but for murder.”
That’s Muhammad’s message to J Street. The anti-Israel organization claims that it wants to listen to ‘Palestinians.’ But the man I’m on the phone with is one Palestinian they don’t want to hear from.
While Senator Elizabeth Warren and other 2020 Democrats bemoaned President Trump’s eviction of the Palestinian Authority’s diplomatic delegation from Washington D.C., he’s all for it.
“We don’t want them. If the Democrats want them,” Muhammad says. “They can take and keep them.”
While I’m on the phone with Muhammad, and Amit Deri of Reservists on Duty, a pro-Israel campus group getting the real story out there, in D.C., Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg, Julian Castro, Amy Klobuchar, and other 2020 Democrats are partying with the biggest anti-Israel group in America.
Reservists on Duty, a group of former Israeli soldiers, whose Shillman Fellow activists come to American college campuses to tell the truth about Israel, have a fraction of J Street’s massive budget. None of the 2020 Democrats come to visit their events. Instead, Amit and other Reservists are in touch with Arabs like Muhammad who are telling the stories that J Street doesn’t want its members to hear.
Muhammad had spent 7 years in an Israeli prison fighting for a Palestinian state. And when he got out of prison, he learned the hard way the ugly reality of what he had really been fighting for.
Old photos show him wielding a Kalashnikov, draped in a keffiyah, the embodiment of the Palestinian cause. On the phone, Muhammad describes himself as, “Mamash Mehabel.” “A real terrorist.” But these days he lives at an undisclosed location in Israel. And being caught by the Palestinian Authority would mean death. But there is one place that Muhammad does want to go. The J Street conference.
J Street, the anti-Israel organization that sets the agenda for the Democrats, invited Palestinian Authority apparatchiks like Saeb Erakat, the Secretary-General of the PLO Executive Committee, and Osama Qawasma, a member of the Fatah Revolutionary Council, organizations that Muhammad is all too familiar with.
Muhammad describes them as a “mafia” who don’t represent anyone except themselves.
“These Jews are part of the problem for inviting them,” he says, meaning J Street. “Shame on you, giving a stage to the people oppressing us, they are to be blamed for our suffering here.”
“I wish that J Street would invite me to come and hear my story.” Muhammad says.
Senator Bernie Sanders spends a lot of time talking about how the 1% run everything. I ask Muhammad if the Palestinian Authority is a social justice utopia.
“We have the 2%,” he says. “The 1% of the rich officials and the 1% of the terrorists.”
And, in the Palestinian Authority, they are usually one and the same.
“There are only rich people in the leadership,” he sardonically notes.
While 2020 Democrats have called for a restoration of aid to the Palestinian Authority, Muhammed accuses them and J Street of being “accessories to the crime”.
“Europeans and Americans giving money are part of the problem,” he passionately warns. “It's an illegitimate political system kept afloat by foreign money, the moment funding is cut off, Palestinian Authority officials will flee and whole thing will collapse.”
Foreign aid isn’t helping the “Palestinians” whom the Democrats are so worried about.
The Palestinian Authority “only take money from the US and Europe for their own families, and put money into their pockets,” Muhammad says. “The Palestinian Authority is getting rich from the Palestinian people, they don't care about the people, they control the people because they control the system, hospitals, welfare system, the basic needs, that's why people are afraid to talk.”
He describes how an acquaintance with cancer was denied a permit to be treated in an Israeli hospital because he had spoken out against the Palestinian Authority.
Many, like his friend, he says, “want the Israelis to come back. Most are oppressed by the Palestinian Authority, not Israel, and their voices are not heard at J Street.”
In the 90s, when Muhammad was in an Israeli prison and the Oslo Accords were announced, he was optimistic. Like everyone, he says, “Israelis and Arabs, I thought the Oslo accords would bring peace between two peoples.” But, instead of peace, they brought war, terror and oppression.
He vowed then that if he ever got out, he would escape to Israel and tell the truth.
That’s what he has been doing ever since.
It wasn’t the Israelis, but the Palestinian Authority, the interlocking organizations of Fatah, the PLO, and the PA, which tortured him in prison. The 2020 Democrats who appeared at the J Street conference and sent in video messages criticized Israel; but none said a harsh word about the Palestinian Authority.
Muhammad would like to change that. He would like to tell the conference attendees, the political candidates, and all the rest about the “Hayim shel mavet”, his “life of death” in a PA prison. He wants to tell them that he was almost beaten to death and suffered bleeding in the brain. He would like to describe the ‘shabeh’ torture in which he was left hanging suspended by his wrists from a hook.
‘Shabeh’ in Arabic means ghost. It’s a torture recently made famous by ISIS. But it’s also used by the PA.
And these days, Muhammad is a ghost. He can’t go back home. And J Street and other anti-Israel groups which claim to care about human rights would rather listen to the lies of his torturers than to him.
Thank you for reading.
Daniel Greenfield is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. This article previously appeared at the Center's Front Page Magazine.
Thank you for reading.
Comments
American lefties, RINOs, Eurocrats are such
ReplyDeletefrequent liars that they fancy themselves as
good as Islamic leaders. Not even close.
Their virtue signaling, self serving and
delusional, makes them the perfect mark for
Aladdin’s con game. Westerners who claim
Middle East finesse never stop getting fooled
and keep coming back for more.
Charlie
Stephen M. Flatow said:
ReplyDelete“...throughout the past 10 years, the P.A. [Palestinian Authority government] has continued sheltering and assisting terrorists; filling its schools with anti-Israel and anti-Jewish hatred; naming streets, parks and sports tournaments after murderers of Israelis and Americans; and refusing to even negotiate with Israel.
No matter what the P.A. does, J Street remains by its side.”
SOURCE: Sen. Schumer’s shocking reversal on J Street
by Stephen M. Flatow, 2019/10/23
www.jns.org/opinion/sen-schumers-shocking-reversal-on-j-street/
Sarah N. Stern said:
ReplyDelete“Like many Jewish organizations, J Street is seduced by lofty slogans like pro-Israel/pro-peace. These words are intended to give the impression that all that Israel has to do is immediately withdraw from the territories, and then peace would ultimately break out.
This ignores the empirical evidence of what happened after the withdrawal from southern Lebanon in May of 2000, giving Hezbollah and their 150,000 missiles easy striking distance to Israel.
It also ignores the internally gut-wrenching Gaza withdrawal of [year] 2005, where the land has been used to launch thousands of rockets* and incendiary devices launched from kites and balloons, making life for those on Gaza’s neighboring communities a living hell and destroying thousands of acres of Israel’s agricultural land.”
* NOTE: more than 10,000 rockets
SOURCE: Notes on the J Street conference
by Sarah N. Stern (President of the Endowment
for Middle East Truth), 2019/10/31
www.jns.org/opinion/notes-on-the-j-street-conference/
Lenny Ben-David said:
ReplyDelete“Research into J Street’s backers indicates
a Washington cadre of paid Saudi agents,
sycophants and factotums. There are not many
in that bunch willing to be considered pro-Israel.”
SOURCE: Notes on the J Street conference
by Sarah N. Stern (President of the Endowment
for Middle East Truth), 2019/10/31
www.jns.org/opinion/notes-on-the-j-street-conference/
In year 2016, David Friedman, a lawyer and USA ambassador to Israel, said that J Street supporters are “far worse than kapos” — Jews who collaborated with the Nazis
ReplyDeleteSOURCE: With Only Two Democrats
Voting in Favor, Senate Confirms David Friedman
as Next US Ambassador to Israel,
by Barney Breen-Portnoy, 2017 March 23
www.algemeiner.com/2017/03/23/with-only-two-democrats-voting-in-favor-senate-confirms-david-friedman-as-next-us-ambassador-to-israel/
“Despite its denials, the group [J Street]
ReplyDeletehas supported the boycotting of Israel on
college campuses and targeted pro-Israel activists.”
SOURCE: Fostering Hostility
to Israel among Young American Jews
is J Street’s Real Mission, 2019 July 15
https://mosaicmagazine.com/picks/israel-zionism/2019/07/fostering-hostility-to-israel-among-young-american-jews-is-j-streets-real-mission/
“The Jewish state is home to over 400 mosques,
ReplyDeletea five-fold increase since 1988.
The Israeli government also provides the salaries of approximately 300 imams and muezzins, as well as funding
for Islamic schools and colleges throughout the country.”
SOURCE: J Street Can’t Believe That
Israel Is a Jewish and Democratic State,
by Bradley Martin, 2018 August 1
www.algemeiner.com/2018/08/01/j-street-cant-believe-that-israel-is-a-jewish-and-democratic-state/
“J Street, a progressive organization funded primarily by far-Left individuals who are critical of Israeli policy and more sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, is holding its annual conference this week in Washington...
ReplyDeletefrom the discussion, you would not know there was a violence problem in Palestinian society. The panelists mostly agreed that the Palestinian Authority is corrupt, feckless, and self-absorbed....
But what was totally missing from the discussion was the role that violence, Islamism, and terrorism play in Palestinian life.”
SOURCE:
At J Street Conference, it’s Blame Israel First,
by Jonathan Greenberg, 2015 March 24
www.algemeiner.com/2015/03/24/at-j-street-conference-its-blame-israel-first/
“Already in [year] 2009, there were connections between JStreet and NIAC, a pro-Iranian advocacy group that would become instrumental in pushing the Iran deal -- which J Street still supports....
ReplyDeleteSo if this is the kind of organization J Street is, we can expect that the candidates it supports reflect J Street's own anti-Israel animus.”
SOURCE: Judging J Street by
The Candidates They Support, 2018 May 3,
http://daledamos.blogspot.com/2018/05/judging-j-street-by-candidates-they.html
“J Street's pro-Israel bona fides are themselves far from impeccable...
ReplyDeleteDespite their repeated denials to the contrary, in 2008 and 2009 J Street received funding from George Soros, who is on nobody's list of top supporters of Israel.”
SOURCE: Judging J Street by the
Candidates They Support, 2018 May 3,
http://daledamos.blogspot.com/2018/05/judging-j-street-by-candidates-they.html
Harvard Law Professor Alan M. Dershowitz said:
ReplyDelete“Why then is J Street so determined to deny its members the opportunity to hear divergent views from center-leftists like me? Because its leaders are afraid that if I were allowed to address its conference, I would tell its members the truth about J Street — a truth they try hard to conceal, particularly from college students who are lured into the J Street fold on false pretenses. The key to J Street’s success in increasing its membership roles is its ability to speak out of both sides of its mouth.
To those on the hard left, it offers anti-Israel and pro-BDS speakers, support for the mendacious Goldstone Report, and opposition to keeping the military option on the table as a last resort in preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
To the soft left, it focuses on its opposition to Israeli settlements and its support for a two-state solution—positions with which I and many supporters of Israel agree. But it hides its controversial, hard left positions that endanger Israel’s security—positions with which most supporters of Israel disagree. It also hides the financial support it has received from anti-Zionists such as George Soros, as well as the anti-Zionist statements made by some of its founders and activists.”
SOURCE: Guess Who’s Not
Speaking at the J Street Conference?
by Alan Dershowitz, 2015 March 20
www.algemeiner.com/2015/03/20/alan-dershowitz-guess-who%e2%80%99s-not-speaking-at-the-j-street-conference/
“Try asking American Jews if they would support an agreement that leaves Iran in possession of the machinery to manufacture nuclear weapons in the future, and see what they say.
ReplyDeleteBut of course J Street will never ask such a question.
It has defined its role as serving as a ‘blocking back’ for the Obama administration’s Mideast policies, and misrepresenting Jewish opinion is a crucial part of its strategy.”
SOURCE: Phony J Street Poll Exposed
by Moshe Phillips and Benyamin Korn, 2015/2/19
http://5tjt.com/phony-j-street-poll-exposed/
“Unlike J Street’s supporters, the overwhelming majority of Israelis understand the truth about the P.A.’s [Palestinian Authority’s] repeated rejection of peace.
ReplyDeleteThey know that neither Abbas nor his Hamas rivals want a two-state solution.
Until that changes, most Israelis regard any talk of territorial withdrawal as madness. Israelis who share J Street’s views, like the left-wing Meretz Party, remain marginalized.”
SOURCE: Never Mind J Street
by Jonathan S. Tobin, 20184/17
www.jns.org/opinion/never-mind-j-street/
“The J Street lobbying agenda includes extensive demands on Israel and none on the Palestinians, apparently affirming Zomlot’s contention that an alliance exists between the PLO and the progressive lobbying group.”
ReplyDeleteSOURCE: Washington PLO envoy says
J Street members are ‘Palestinian allies’
by Jonathan Greenberg, 2018 April 18
www.jns.org/opinion/washington-plo-envoy-says-j-street-members-are-palestinian-allies/
“J-Street has an open tent policy for people who want Israel to disappear, and spends most of its time attacking Jews who passionately love Israel.
ReplyDeleteWorse than that is that despite its avowed purpose, the organization cannot and does not defend Israel’s existence against its critics – instead, it gives its critics a platform where they can spout their hate unopposed.”
SOURCE: J-Street Speaker Calls
for Destruction of Israel – to Applause
by Elder of Ziyon, 2015 March 27
www.algemeiner.com/2015/03/27/j-street-speaker-calls-for-destruction-of-israel-to-applause-video/
“Here is Marcia Freedman, in a J-Street panel discussion on Liberal Zionism and sitting next to Peter Beinart, describing how she believes that the Jewish people should not have a state, and that instead they should live as a minority in an Arab Palestine as a protected minority – in other words, as dhimmis.”
ReplyDeleteSOURCE: J-Street Speaker Calls for Destruction of Israel – to Applause by Elder of Ziyon, 2015 March 27
www.algemeiner.com/2015/03/27/j-street-speaker-calls-for-destruction-of-israel-to-applause-video/
“J-Street-PAC raises million of dollars to defeat Israel’s staunchest supporters in the U.S. Congress..."
ReplyDeleteSOURCE: Conference of Presidents Clearly
Rejects the Extremist Group J-Street’s Bid
by ZOA Staff, May 1, 2014
http://zoa.org/2014/05/10241629-conference-of-presidents-clearly-rejects-the-extremist-group-j-streets-bid/
“J Street announced another controversial policy stance in March, when it backed the PA’s [Palestinian Authority’s] refusal to recognize Israel as the Jewish state.”
ReplyDeleteSOURCE: ADL Supports J Street Joining US Conference of Presidents
by IsraPundit, 2014 April 30,
http://5tjt.com/adl-supports-j-street-joining-us-conference-of-presidents/
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