J Street founder’s 3 wishes for 2015

By Jeremy Ben-Ami

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a victory for those seeking political limits on art and speech in communal institutions, Washington’s Jewish Community Center has fired the artistic director of the acclaimed Theater J. His ouster caps a successful campaign by a small group of activists to shutter the theater over the content of its programming related to Israel.

There’s nothing wrong with disagreements and arguments over Israel. Everyone’s got an opinion – and usually a strong one.It’s a pattern we know too well – from small communal film festivals and book fairs to the giants of the arts world like the Metropolitan Opera. Small numbers of vocal opponents of art or speech that questions Israeli policy launch campaigns to threaten funding in order to shut down programming with which they disagree.

But the right way to deal with speech or art you don’t agree with is to counter it with other speech and art, not to shut it down.

My first hope for 2015 is that leaders of our communal institutions grow the backbone to stand up to the bullies trying to shut down debate, and that our community – from left to right – develops greater tolerance for opinions contrary to our own.

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In March of 2013, President Obama asked Israelis to consider the way the world looks to Palestinians living under occupation: “Put yourself in their shoes. Look at the world through their eyes.”

Sadly, in my travel and talks about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, I find diminishing rather than increasing willingness to see the world through the eyes of the other.Frankly, it’s a common plea by Jewish people to the rest of the world. Look at what has happened to us; understand the centuries of discrimination and suffering; recognize the legitimate fear of rockets, terror and violence that Israelis face at every turn.

I deeply believe in President Obama’s basic premise – that nearly all parents, be they Palestinian or Israeli, want the same thing for their children: to succeed, to prosper, to find security, and to have opportunity.

My second hope for 2015 is that activists on all sides of this issue take a step back and consider for just one moment how the world looks through the eyes of those on the other side of the divide.

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For many in J Street, I know, 2014 was a year of deepening despair.

But I end the year on a note of hope.This summer’s war in Gaza and the failure of the Kerry peace effort caused some to give up, not just on efforts to promote peace, but on Israel itself. They fear that the conflict will never end and that Israel is sliding ever further to the right politically.

Elections are coming, and the overwhelming majority of Israelis recognize that their country is on the wrong track.

Israel’s leading CEOs got together this year with the leading Palestinian CEOs to say clearly to their leaders that it’s time to “break the impasse.”

Large numbers of leading former generals and security figures are speaking out publicly about the need to save Israel from international isolation and to assure its long-term security by ending the conflict with the Palestinians and the Arab world diplomatically.

These leaders recognize that the only winner when one gives up is one’s opponent; the only loser is the cause you are fighting for.

We too must recognize that if we wish for change, we must help bring it about.

My third and final hope for 2015: that those who believe in the mission of J Street will keep hope alive and re-commit to bringing the change we seek.

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Ben-Ami is founder and executive director of J Street