New organisation Z Street

TORONTO-PHILADELPHIA-LOS ANGELES – By choosing the name Z Street, its founders have made sure that those who follow American-Jewish and Middle East politics know exactly what this new Zionist organization does not stand for. In a telephone conversation with the Jewish Tribune, co-founders Lori Lowenthal Marcus of Philadelphia and Allyson Rowen Taylor of Los Angeles discussed their motivation to create Z Street, which, among other principles, will defend the right of the Jewish people to live freely anywhere, including Judea, Samaria and East Jerusalem.

This is in sharp contrast to activist American-Jewish leftist organization J Street, which has been strongly supporting US President Barack Obama’s policies concerning the Arab-Israeli conflict, in contrast to the elected Israeli government.

The day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s policy address in June, for example, J Street Executive Director Jeremy Ben Ami expressed “regret” for the Israeli leader’s “failure to acknowledge Israel’s commitment to a full settlement freeze on the West Bank and in East Jerusalem,” including20natural growth.

Other Z Street principles include: renewing pride in the terms ‘Jewish state’ and ‘Zionism’; circulation of facts, rather than “deceptive ‘Palestinian’ narratives, and categorical rejection of agreements with, or concessions to, terrorists or their supporters who are dedicated to Israel’s destruction.

When the Jewish Tribune interviewed Marcus and Taylor, Z Street had been launched less than two weeks earlier and already had more than 16,000 hits on its web site at http://ziostreet.wordpress.com.

“I’m very, very nervous about Iran,” declared Marcus, who worries about the new American administration’s overtures to anti-Western leaders. “Evil smells weakness. And [Iranian leader] Ahmadinejad and [North Korean dictator] Kim Jong-il are evil.”

“Hitler said he was going to kill the Jews,” Taylor said. “Today Ahmadinejad says the same thing. What is it that people don’t get? I don’t want to be part of the silent majority. We have Holocaust museums, people talk about it, but somehow we’re still in denial.”

Inspiration to take emergency action came from the WWII era’s Bergson Group, a “band of warriors, led by Peter Bergson and Ben Hecht, [who] staged marches, rallies and theatre events,” according to Z Street’s web site. “They refused to mimic the [mainstream] Jewish leaders who shrank from their moral duty to demand the US gove rnment face the irrefutable facts of the [Nazi] plans, and then the execution of those plans, to murder millions. It would be an honour for Z Street to be compared to the Bergson Group…. The [present] policy implications are profound and the time is now.”

[The American Jewish establishment vilified the Bergsonites and thwarted their rescue efforts. For instance, when they organized a rabbis’ march to Washington to demand that US President Franklin D. Roosevelt act to save the Jews of Europe, Rabbi Stephen Wise, who was close to FDR, urged him to ignore the “horde.”]

“When people ask why a new organization, I say we’re not doing anything that the Bergson Group didn’t do before,” Marcus said, adding that she would work together with other groups that share a similar vision, such as Americans For a Safe Israel (AFSI) and Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), although the tactics might differ.

“Many people agree with me on the position they take, but they can’t remember the facts and defend it,” said Marcus, a lawyer and journalist. “They feel it in their hearts, but that isn’t enough. One of our main strategies is to fight with facts. We plan to have comedians as well. Humour has a way of helping people remember the facts.

“People have just been pouring in with comments of support and wanting to join. We have members in South America, Spain…so many in Australia. Even Gibralte r. Some have said they’re happy we’re mentioning the Bergson Group. They say they’ve been waiting for that to happen.”

Canadians are included among those who have joined Z Street. Its founders said they would be eager to speak to a Toronto audience and meet local activists to discuss new ideas.

“I had seen the play The Accomplice [about the Bergson Group] in LA and for me, that was the catalyst,” Taylor said. “The fact that groups supporting Obama’s foreign policy, with respect to Israel, are upset shows we’re having an impact,” she added, referring to statements they issued recently.

The first ‘off-line’ Z Street activity is a rally on Oct. 27 in Washington at Lafayette Park, directly across from the White House. According to Marcus, busloads of people are expected to join from across the continent and a gathering is being planned in Israel to coincide with the event.