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<\/a><\/p>\nJeremy Ben-Ami, president of J Street, speaks at the group’s national conference in 2018. (Michael Brochstein\/SOPA Images\/LightRocket via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The letter, which J Street shared with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on Thursday, accused Leiter, a Netanyahu appointee and former settler leader, of using language that \u201cdehumanizes fellow Jews\u201d during his remarks in Washington, D.C., on Monday.<\/p>\n
J Street is the leading liberal pro-Israel lobby, and has increasingly staked out positions that have departed from other mainstream pro-Israel groups. Last month, the group announced its opposition to continued U.S. military aid to Israel, which Leiter decried in his remarks.<\/p>\n
The signatories wrote that while Judaism embraces vigorous debate, disagreements must be conducted with \u201chumanity, humility and respect for the dignity of every Jew.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt this painful and polarized moment in Jewish life, leaders on both sides of the ocean bear a heightened responsibility to lower the flames rather than fan them further,\u201d the letter read. \u201cWe therefore call on you to retract your remarks and issue a public apology to the many American Jews, rabbis, cantors and communal leaders who have been hurt by them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among the signatories were New York Rep. Jerrold Nadler, former U.S. ambassadors to Israel Daniel Kurtzer and Tom Nides, National Council of Jewish Women CEO Jody Rabhan, Union for Reform Judaism President Rabbi Rick Jacobs and Rabbi David Saperstein, the director emeritus of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.<\/p>\n
J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami told JTA that his initial reaction to Leiter\u2019s comments was \u201csimply dismay on behalf of Israel and on behalf of the Jewish community.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a shame, because Israel, right now, needs all the friends it can get, and it really needs diplomats who seek to open doors and not slam them in people\u2019s faces,\u201d Ben-Ami said.<\/p>\n
The Israeli Embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment from JTA.<\/p>\n
The comments from Leiter follow a long history of criticism of the lobby from pro-Israel officials. In 2017, former U.S. ambassador to Israel David Friedman called the group \u201cworse than kapos,\u201d a reference to Jews who aided the Nazis during WWII.<\/p>\n
While Ben-Ami said that the latest attack was \u201cnot new,\u201d he felt spurred to craft a communal rebuke of Leiter\u2019s rhetoric because he felt it was \u201cbreaking\u201d not just the US-Israel relationship, but the relationship between the \u201cAmerican Jewish community and the Israeli Jewish community.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWithin 24 hours we had hundreds and hundreds of people, and I think it just shows what a raw nerve Ambassador Leiter has touched here, and just what a big mistake it is for the Israeli government to write off the majority of Jewish Americans who are deeply critical of the government but supportive of the state and the people,\u201d Ben-Ami said of the number of signatories.<\/p>\n
While Ben-Ami said that J Street had long been invited to meet with former Israeli ambassadors, he claimed that since Leiter arrived, the group had been \u201cblacklisted by the Embassy, and there\u2019s been no engagement whatsoever.\u201d<\/p>\n
The letter comes as J Street has also faced scrutiny from across the political aisle, with the Zionist Organization of America calling for Hillels, Jewish Community Relations Councils and federations to cease relations with the group, while the student government of Sarah Lawrence College rejected an application to form a chapter of the group on its campus.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s going to be people to our left who are intolerant and you know engage in similar tactics to folks on the right who are intolerant and try to shut out those they disagree with, and that is just as disturbing,\u201d Ben-Ami said.<\/p>\n
Looking ahead, Ben-Ami said that he hoped the letter would serve as a reminder that Jewish leaders need to make room for ideological differences rather than treat dissent as disloyalty.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe message more broadly here is, we need to embrace the diversity of opinion,\u201d Ben-Ami said. \u201cWe need to embrace our disagreements and recognize that that is indeed part of Jewish tradition.\u201d<\/p>\n