Ben-Ami told Meredith a little about congressional members and other politicians who are fearful of deviating from a stance on Israel endorsed by the hard liners because of the severe and inevitable repercussions. He said that term “pro-Israeli” has been hijacked and he is absolutely right. Jimmy Carter is a prime example. There shouldn’t be a shred of doubt in anyone’s mind that Jimmy Carter is pro-Israel, yet he has suffered intolerably as a result of the hard line pro-Israel interests that attacked him after publishing his book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. Those attacks have been renewed at the announcement of his plans to meet with Hamas and he has even been garnering criticisms for that decision from the presidential candidates despite a recent Ha’aretz poll revealing 64% of Israelis are in favor of direct talks with Hamas.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/958473.html

But we wouldn’t know that from reading American press which is ironically less free to criticize Israel than Israeli press thanks, in part, to the tremendous efforts undertaken by treacherous media watchdog groups such as CAMERA.

The future looks grim for J Street; I suspect that the PAC will endure a rigorous up hill battle to moderate discourse on Israel before being swallowed by the radical elements.

Thanks for the interview, Meredith!