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miJEWtiae
By WJW Staff , Rockville, Md
akredo@washingtonjewishweek.com
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
The handshake that never was
Adam Kredo
Large, sweeping battles have been waged by J Street in recent months on a range of issues relating the Middle East. Portions of those battles have notably been waged against other Jewish organizations residing in the pro-Israel camp.
A microcosm of the latter battle played out in the margins of J Street’s conference Monday afternoon, when Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi, the executive director of The Israel Project, refused to shake hands with J Street flack, Amy Spitalnick.
Mizrahi, apparently, is still upset over a spat between the two groups that unfurled in mid-July.
A brief recap: After it was reported that The Israel Project was advising its activists to argue that the removal of Jewish settlements would be a version of “ethnic cleansing,” J Street bared its left-wing teeth, chiding the group – and in particular Mizrahi – in an e-mail blast to supporters. According to JTA reports and a WJW brief, J Street had demanded that “The Israel Project’s executive director … remove any pro-settlement, fear-mongering talking points from her organization’s materials.”
J Street also used Mizrahi’s image – and her words - in an online video that criticized certain Jewish leaders for “whitewashing” Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s record.
Given the bad blood between the two groups – Mizrahi publicly criticized J Street for personally attacking other Jews – and the fact that Spitalnick was a former TIP intern, it’s no stretch to see how the handshake snub could occur.
Here’s how it went down, according to sources: Spitalnick and Hadar Susskind, J Street’s director of policy and strategy, approached Mizrahi to welcome her to the conference.
Spitalnick, sources recount, informed Mizrahi that she was a former intern and offered her hand for a hearty shake. Mizrahi immediately demurred, saying, “I know who you are [and] I’m not going to shake your hand. You’ve personally attacked me,” according to sources.
Mizrahi confirmed the incident, but declined to comment explicitly. She did note, however, that both Steve Rabinowitz, the president of the media firm that handles J Street, and Jeremy Ben-Ami, J Street’s executive director “have apologized to me for what was done to me, and I consider the matter closed. … I accept their apologies and we will move on.”
Spitalnick declined to comment.
For his part, Rabinowitz admits that he feels bad about the battles - and had recently expressed “deep personal regret” about the matter to Mizrahi - but merely on his own behalf, “not on behalf of J Street.”
A J Street spokesperson confirmed that Ben-Ami had expressed “regret” to Mizrahi several months ago, but that he was sorry only “if she took personal offense.”
This entire handshake-deficient incident may appear odd, but it’s really nothing new for J Street. The group continues to ruffle feathers among its pro-Israel brethren.
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