J Street founder, Jeremy Ben-Ami, thanked the Biden State Department for the “open door” access in an email from 2021 that allowed J Street to influence U.S. policy towards Israel. J Street had direct access to Wendy Sherman, the former Deputy Secretary of State.
J Street is funded by billionaire leftist George Soros. The organization advocates a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinian people. J Street also condemns Israeli military retaliation against Hamas in response to the attacks on October 7, 2023.
J Street was instrumental in framing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the “Iran Nuclear Deal”. The plan under President Obama, gained support from five other nations: the U.K., Germany, France, China and Russia to lift economic sanctions against Iran. In return, Iran would allow nuclear inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to ensure their uranium enrichment program was only used for energy production. Additionally, Iran’s stockpile of uranium was to be reduced by 98%.
However, by July 2015, Iran already had enough enriched uranium to produce eight to 10 nuclear bombs. Sanctions cost Iran $160 billion of oil revenue between 2012 and 2016 crippling their economy and military spending. In addition to lifting sanctions, JCPOA released over $100 billion of frozen assets to Iran.
Donald Trump removed the U.S. from the JCPOA in 2018 saying the agreement was “defective at its core” and reinstated economic sanctions on Iran. Trump’s plan was to halt Iran’s quest for nuclear weapons and to discourage Iran from engaging in regional conflicts. Trump reinstated sanctions which led to a recession in Iran. The value of Iran’s currency fell to record lows and the country had record inflation.
President Biden reversed Trump’s Iranian policies and ended economic sanctions in February 2022. Since then, Iran has reinstated its nuclear weapons program, sponsored terrorist attacks on Israel through Hamas and Hezbollah and supported the Houthi rebels in Yemen.
J Street petitioned the Biden administration against Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of Israel’s war against Hamas and interfered with the timing and events surrounding the Jerusalem Day holiday in 2021. Jerusalem Day is an Israeli holiday that commemorates the reunification of West Jerusalem and East Jerusalem following the Six Day War in 1967 and is celebrated in May. The celebration includes thousands of Israeli citizens marching with Israeli flags through Jerusalem.
In 2021, amid terrorist attacks on Israeli citizens, J Street advocated that the State Department pressure Netanyahu to keep the Flag March out of Arab neighborhoods during the celebration. Jerusalem Day was rescheduled from May to June and Jews were not allowed to go to the Temple Mount.
🇮🇱 What drives the annual Jerusalem Day Flag March? Year after year, tens of thousands of young religious-Zionist men and women make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, eagerly joining together to commemorate Jerusalem Day. This momentous occasion marks Israel’s historic capture of… pic.twitter.com/AcSnSr8fOZ
— India Naftali (@indianaftali) May 19, 2023
Reed Rubinstein, a director with the watchdog group America First Legal stated that the Biden administration is allowing anti-Israel groups like J Street to interfere with Israel’s domestic affairs because of their access to top State Department officials.