About J Street

J Street is on the frontlines of the world’s most “intractable” problem. An upstart lobby in Washington, D.C., J Street dares to assert what to many seems obvious: that a two-state solution is Israel’s only future, and any peace deal will require robust American participation. It sees itself playing David to the Israel Lobby’s Goliath, and, less than five years old, has been making surprising gains. While the narrative of our film is underscored by the urgency of the Israel-Palestine conflict, our film is less a polemic than an urgent political story told with the intimacy of cinema vérité. We feel the pulse of an organization, taking viewers to high-level strategy meetings, and long nights on the road. It is here that our characters come to life and the J Street story unfolds.

To be clear, “we” are an independent film company with no affiliation to J Street, though the organization has given us extraordinary access.

The arc of our story begins in the fall of 2010. President Obama has asserted that a two-state solution can be reached within one year. Optimism and energy are high in the J Street offices. Jeremy Ben-Ami, J Street founder and President, sees it all through a lens he calls the “Rulebook” in American politics: if you’re to remain a viable politician, you can only speak one way about Israel – with platitudes about the two countries’ “special relationship.” Yet these slogans leave little room for action to help end the deadlock with the Palestinians. The dynamic in America must shift.

Experts frame the stakes for us. We hear from Ehud Olmert, former Israeli Prime Minister; Thomas Friedman, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist; Lawrence Wilkerson, former Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell; Ami Ayalon former head of Israel’s Secret Service, the Shin Bet. They explain the urgency of a two-state solution – not just for the Palestinians, but for the Israelis. Across the board there is consensus that time is running out.

We follow Ben-Ami as he walks to the White House. His mission is clear: to open up political space in this conversation so that Washington can take a more vigorous role in forging a two-state solution. His grandparents were some of Israel’s earliest pioneers and helped found the city of Tel Aviv. His father fought in Israel’s wars of survival. Every generation has had its time and place, Ben-Ami believes, and now his generation’s time has come. “Our job is to define the borders and make the peace.”

By the end of 2010, J Street is getting a lot of press. They are ascending to relevance. CNN’s Christiane Amanpour calls them the new rivals to the established and powerful lobby group AIPAC. A witty exchange on the Colbert Report shows that Ben-Ami, a former Domestic Policy Advisor on President Clinton’s staff, is no novice. Now the blow-back in the Jewish community reaches its height. J Street is accused of fragmenting the Jewish-American voice, of airing dirty laundry, or opening “daylight” between Israel and the United States. Alan Dershowitz debates Ben-Ami before an impassioned crowd at a synagogue in Connecticut, going so far as to accuse J Street of being a cover for people who are anti-Israel.

On the other side of the country, Carinne Luck drives through the Oregon rain. She is in charge of organizing J Street’s local branches and is on her way to speak at an event in Eugene. In her early 30s, she is a firebrand, her tight curly hair radiating from her head as if to reflect her energy. Yet in a moment of contemplation, as the drops pelt her windshield, she reveals how difficult slogging through political mud can be. “We’re out in front,” she says, “and sometimes the attacks get personal and nasty.” We see how the attacks test other members of J Street in venues across the country.

At a local J Street event at a synagogue in Fort Lauderdale, protestors hold signs calling J Street traitors. Police are present in an attempt to keep the calm. “If it were up to groups like J Street, the Nazis would have won,” one demonstrator says. Inside, the mood is no less inflamed. In front of the crowd is Amy Spitalnick, J Street’s press liaison. Granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, former head of her synagogue youth group, Spitalnick came to J Street because of a sense of idealism and the lack, until now, of a home for her progressive ideas. She is in her early 20s, fresh-faced and less seasoned than her responsibilities might imply. As one vocal critic in the crowd tries to hijack the conversation and shout Spitalnick down, we see her on the edge of her composure.

Then a synagogue in Newton, MA suddenly rescinds its invitation to host a J Street event. Yet despite (or because of) the controversy, the organization’s growing significance becomes apparent: the new venue, an elementary school auditorium, is so packed that spectators must sit on the floor. Ben-Ami addresses the vocal audience, stressing the importance of drawing a distinction between those who are anti-Israel and those who challenge some policies of the Israeli government. After the event, it is dark. Leaving the massive crowd behind, Ben-Ami sits alone in the car, exhausted.

We are behind the scenes as challenges continue to test the organization: the U.S. midterm elections; controversial UN resolutions about settlements and (later) Palestinian observer-statehood; responses to the Arab Spring; a session in the Knesset debating J Street’s “pro-Israel” credentials; finally, the presidential election of 2012. On a J Street leadership mission to Israel, there is a fierce debate within the group about how to position J Street publicly. How can they best position themselves to have the greatest impact in the American political system?

And here is the ongoing, implicit struggle that our film explores. Does hugging the center of the American Jewish community preclude taking positions that will actually move the center toward the peace camp?

2012 turns to 2013. Obama has been reelected, and everyone is looking for a signal that he will take on the Israel-Palestine conflict during his second term. The nomination process of Chuck Hagel for Secretary of Defense – strong advocate for a negotiated two-state solution who at times has been critical of the pro-Israel lobby – sparks a firestorm of controversy as conservative voices call him anti-Israel and anti-Semitic. Yet this time, J Street leads a chorus of voices defending the nominee. AIPAC is silent and the critics ultimately back down, demonstrating that when a President is committed, and other Jewish groups have his back, the “Rulebook” can be changed.