THE NOV. 17 Metro article covering Temple Beth Avodah’s decision to cancel an event featuring J Street president Jeremy Ben-Ami called attention to a controversial and important debate in the Jewish community about what it means to be pro-Israel. However, the article’s headline, “Newton synagogue cancels talk by critic of Israel,’’ referring to J Street as a “critic of Israel’’ likely left many readers with a skewed picture of events. It echoes the misinformed rhetoric of those whose denunciations of J Street led to the cancellation of the event in the first place.
J Street was founded as a pro-Israel movement to support American leadership in securing a two-state solution, which would guarantee Israel’s continued security and survival as a democratic home to the Jewish people. In order to achieve this goal, we must foster debate in the Jewish community on tough issues. Being pro-Israel requires us to think critically about what policies will bring us closer to peace instead of simply tuning out differences of opinion.
This incident underscores the dangers of allowing a vocal handful of people to dominate the conversation and halt what should be a healthy exchange of ideas and much-needed debate in the Jewish community. If we hope to best secure Israel’s future, we must continue to speak openly and engage the differences of opinion in the Jewish community. That is what it means to be pro-Israel.
Jillian Slutzker
Somerville
The writer is a member of J Street.
