J-Street's curious stance on Soviet refuseniks

J-Street sent an email to its supporters about three members of Congress that they want to replace, and mentioning credentials of those they want instead.

What’s better than unseating one Congressman who voted to block the Iran deal? Unseating three.

And what’s even better than that? Replacing them with three pro-diplomacy women with strong ties to the Jewish community.

Replace Carlos Curbelo with J Street endorsee Annette Taddeo in South Florida (FL-26).
Replace Bruce Poliquin with Emily Cain in the largest district east of the Mississippi (ME-2).
And send Mike Coffman packing by electing Morgan Carroll in Denver (CO-6).

This is real. The DCCC just added all three of these endorsees to their "Red-to-Blue" program, meaning their numbers are showing a high chance of these seats flipping. Given that Obama carried each district in 2012, we're liking the odds too.

We're also loving the candidates. It's not just that they support the Iran agreement while their opponents tried (or are still trying) to sabotage it. Morgan Carroll lived on a Kibbutz and traveled to the Soviet Union with her mother to support Refuseniks. And, if elected, Annette Taddeo would be the first Hispanic Jewish Member of Congress.

According to J-Street, supporting Soviet refuseniks is a great metric for establishing one's Jewish bona-fides.

But there is something a little jarring about using that fact to help elect a woman who stands against what most former Soviet Jews in Israel would bitterly oppose.

Natan Sharansky, the most famous of all refuseniks, has passionately campaigned against the Iran deal.

Ida Nudel was against the disengagement from Gaza.

Yuli Edelstein is a member of Likud and against a Palestinian state that could endanger Israel.

Perhaps Morgan Carroll could give a little more respect to the actual opinions of the people she and her mother fought to free, rather than spit in their faces by supporting giving hundreds of billions of dollars to those who want to destroy the nation that these people risked their lives to live in.

To J-Street, the refuseniks are not heroes to be emulated, but pawns to be used to gain political points.

Carroll's opponent, Mike Coffman, on the other hand, has unquestioned pro-Israel credentials. He was part of a rally supporting Israel during the 2014 Gaza war.

J-Street was nowhere to be found at that rally as far as I can tell.

He has said, "Being a supporter of Israel in Congress means that I will fight those who believe that Israel should return to its ‘67 borders. Only Israel can determine what borders it needs for its own security and the United States should never dictate to Israel what its security requirements are.”

J-Street disagrees.

There is one thing that is unquestioningly Jewish about J Street, though. It has the chutzpah to claim that those who want to go around Israel's democratically elected leaders are "pro-Israel" and those who support them are anti-Israel.

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