The first Israeli government official ever to appear before J Street received a rousing, whistling, foot-stomping reception.
And that was it, as far as the welcome went.
The speech delivered March 26 during J Street’s annual conference by Barukh Binah, the deputy chief of mission at the Washington embassy, was a compendium of the Israeli government’s differences with the liberal pro-Israel group — and, accordingly, Binah left the stage to the lightest of applause.
Yet what was noteworthy was that he turned up at all — something made evident later in the evening when Ehud Olmert, the former Israeli prime minister, told the gathering that Binah’s appearance was “historic,” even if it was mostly about disagreement.
“The fact that the government decided to send him is the most important thing,” Olmert said, triggering a round of cheers, applause and table thumping from some 2,500 conference attendees.
Binah’s presence was emblematic of how J Street seems to have gravitated toward deeper identification with the country whose interests it has claimed to defend since its 2008 inception — as well as toward the mainstream pro-Israel community in the United States.
Israeli officials monitoring the event said they were surprised by a tone they considered more pro-Israel than expected.
They contrasted this year’s J Street conference with last year’s, when the group opened its gathering by honoring Peter Beinart, the journalist who made waves with an essay warning Israel that it was losing American youth; Izzeldin Abuelaish, the Gaza doctor who remained committed to peace in the wake of the 2009 deaths of three of his daughters from Israeli fire during Operation Cast Lead; and Sara Benninga, a founder of the Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity Movement, which protests Israeli policies in eastern Jerusalem’s Arab neighborhoods and condemns “ethnic privilege” in Israel.
This year, all three opening speakers were Israelis who are participants in the mainstream of the country’s political debate: Amos Oz, the novelist and peace activist; Stav Shaffir, a founder of the social justice protest movement launched last summer in Israel; and Michael Bitton, the mayor of Yerucham, a development town.
Sessions included officials of the Israel Project, an Israel advocacy group that consults with the Israeli government and one that J Street had once attacked as being unrepresentative of American Jews.
The shift did not escape the notice of Israeli officials. The decision by Jeremy Ben-Ami, J Street’s president, to pronouncedly distance himself from Beinart’s latest initiative — a call to boycott products made in West Bank settlements — was the deciding factor in sending Binah, Israeli officials said.
The point, a senior Israeli official said, was to establish a relationship with a group that the Israeli government has come to perceive as significant.
“A critical conversation is better than no conversation, because apathy is our enemy,” the official said. “They understand it’s a process — next time they may get the ambassador.”
To that end, Binah stoically slogged through a speech replete with rebuke, and the audience just as stoically bit its collective lip and refrained from interjecting, although there was an occasional derisive yelp.
“We need you to stand with us. It is as simple as that and someone ought to say it,” Binah said.
Binah suggested that J Street did not appreciate its potential to harm Israel in the organization’s capacity as a lobbying group.
“I respectfully submit that this relatively new role lays responsibilities before you which I am certain have not been adequately considered,” he said, adding that “when you bring lawmakers to Israel, please make sure they come out with a full picture.”
On its legislative tours of Israel, J Street has shown lawmakers Israeli measures in the West Bank that it contends hinder peace, but also has organized meetings with settlers and highlighted Israeli success stories in immigration and business.
Critics have attacked J Street over previous conferences that featured speakers and attendees who are more hostile to Israel. Asked about the criticism, Ben-Ami attempted to balance his organization’s support for a big tent and open dialogue with clear definitions of its stances.
“I don’t think it’s appropriate to use ‘apartheid’ in discussing Israel,” he said. “I don’t think it’s appropriate to use those words, and people who do don’t speak for J Street.”
J Street’s positioning has disappointed and angered some to its left. In particular, the organization has been criticized for its speaking invitation to Olmert, who is under indictment in Israel on corruption charges.
All in all, Israelis seemed more prevalent than in previous years. At one session composed of current and former members of the Knesset, Raleb Majadele, an Arab-Israeli lawmaker from the Labor Party, delivered his speech in Hebrew.
Such sessions notwithstanding, an Israeli official monitoring the event through live streaming said the conference seemed more about J Street finding its place in the American community than about Israel per se.
Some of the lines that drew the biggest applause at the conference had nothing to do with Israel.
Valerie Jarrett, a close adviser to President Barack Obama, devoted much of her speech to the administration’s domestic policies. Jarrett won loud cheers with her defenses of the president’s health care reforms and position on contraceptive coverage.