Democrat Candidates Avoided AIPAC, Will Attend Far-left J Street

Almost Democratic Party presidential candidate skipped the March conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the country’s most prominent pro-Israel lobby group. Instead, several are attending the October of far-left J Street, a radical George Soros-backed group that often lobbies against Israel on Capitol Hill.

According to the Jerusalem Post, the Democratic contenders scheduled to speak include Sen. Amy Kloubuchar (D-MN), who styles herself as a “moderate” alternative to the left-leaning presidential field; South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who has threatened to cut U.S. aid to Israel if it annexes land in the West Bank already designated for Israeli control in every serious peace proposal; former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro; Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO), and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who recently earned the endorsement of Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), both of whom have a history of antisemitic rhetoric and who were barred from entering Israel in August due to their support for boycotts of the country.

J Street has opposed several of Israel’s defensive wars against Palestinian terrorism, and helped promote the notorious Goldstone Report, which falsely accused Israel of war crimes and was later retracted by its author. J Street backed the Iran nuclear deal and opposed the movement of the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

The organization’s main purpose is to serve as a left-wing alternative to AIPAC, and also to target opponents of the Democratic Party. Its first major action was ensuring that then-vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin was disinvited from a Jewish community rally against the Iranian regime in New York City in the fall of 2008.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-MN) will address J Street on Monday evening.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He earned an A.B. in Social Studies and Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard College, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.