Overview
- At a Washington gathering of the National Task Force to Combat Antisemitism on Monday, Ambassador Yechiel Leiter called J Street “duplicitous” and “a cancer within the Jewish community” over its push to phase out U.S. military aid, including support for the Iron Dome rocket-defense system.
- J Street president Jeremy Ben-Ami urged the ambassador to engage with the group rather than attack it and said the organization represents a large and growing share of American Jews who care about Israel.
- Leiter criticized U.S. lawmakers backing efforts to restrict weapons transfers to Israel and, without naming him, said a Jewish senator who supports such measures is “not a Jew.”
- He called on donors and voters to favor candidates aligned with AIPAC and to distance themselves from J Street, aiming to influence which pro-Israel groups politicians embrace.
- The public clash deepens tensions over U.S. security assistance but brings no policy change, focusing attention on how Israeli officials confront dissent within American Jewish advocacy.