Welcome, Bibi: Blinken To Headline Anti-Israel J Street Conference

Biden Administration

Move seen as shot at incoming Israeli prime minister Netanyahu

U.S. secretary of state Antony Blinken and Israeli prime minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu / Getty Images Adam Kredo • December 1, 2022 4:50 pm

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to headline a conference held by one of the foremost anti-Israel groups in the country, a move that is being interpreted as a shot at Israel’s newly elected government led by incoming prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Blinken on Wednesday announced that he will serve as the headline speaker at the annual conference for J Street, which as recently as last month trashed Netanyahu, accusing the incoming prime minister of “building and bulldozing [his] way to permanent, undemocratic control of the West Bank.” The group also advocates conditioning U.S. aid to Israel, routinely attacks the Jewish state for defending itself against Palestinian terrorism, and employs notoriously terrible pumpkin carvers. It is funded by liberal anti-Israel billionaire George Soros, though the organization initially tried to hide this fact, as well as by far-left groups such as the Ploughshares Fund, one of the chief proponents of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.

The conference kicks off this weekend, with Blinken set to address the confab on Sunday, alongside former Bernie Sanders adviser and longtime Israel critic Matt Duss, Daily Beast writer Wajahat Ali, a cadre of pro-Palestinian activists, and several Democratic members of Congress, including Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D., Md.) and senator-elect Peter Welch (D., Vt.).

Blinken’s decision to attend J Street’s headline event is eliciting concerns at Foggy Bottom and sparking outrage among friends of the Jewish state already aggrieved at the Biden administration’s decision last month to launch an unprecedented FBI investigation into the death in Israel of a Palestinian-American journalist. Israel determined that the journalist was unintentionally shot by its security forces during a standoff with Palestinian terrorists.

Multiple sources, both within and outside the State Department, who spoke to the Washington Free Beacon said Blinken’s decision to attend J Street’s conference is part of an effort by the Biden administration to undermine the new Netanyahu government and distance itself from the incoming prime minister’s conservative coalition.

“It’s repugnant that while Israelis are being repeatedly targeted by terrorists, and the [Department of Justice] launches an unwarranted and politicized investigation of our ally, the secretary of state thinks it’s a good idea to elevate an organization that spends its time demanding aid to Israel be conditioned and criticizing the Jewish state for defending herself,” Sandra Parker, the chairwoman

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