Israeli Ambassador Ends Informal Boycott of J Street
The informal boycott imposed by Israel’s ambassador to Washington on the dovish lobby J Street ended Thursday with a meeting between Ambassador Michael Oren and Jeremy Ben-Ami, J Street’s founder and president.
Prior to Thursday’s meeting, the Israeli embassy in Washington maintained only low-level contacts with the dovish lobby and ambassador Oren declined an invitation to speak at the group’s inaugural conference last year. Oren also said, in a December gathering of the Conservative movement, that J Street presents a “unique problem” and that it is “significantly out of the mainstream.”
The meeting Thursday marked a new page in relations between J-Street and the Israeli diplomatic mission. Ben-Ami and other J Street officials were also invited to the embassy’s reception on Wednesday marking Israel’s 62nd independence day.
A brief statement by the Israeli embassy confirmed the meeting took place and said it was part of the “growing outreach of the embassy to Jewish organizations and interest groups.”
J Street’s statement offered more information. The meeting, according to J Street, builds on months of prior discussions aimed at “clarifying the Israeli government’s understanding of J Street’s views and included a forthright discussion of points of agreement and disagreement.”
Jeremy Ben-Ami said after the meeting that he applauds the ambassador’s commitment to build bridges to the pro-Israel pro-peace community. “The Ambassador clearly recognizes the importance of dialogue and communication between the State of Israel and those parts of the American Jewish community that are deeply pro-Israel but at times disagree with the policies of its government,” said Ben-Ami.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Ye debuts ‘Heil Hitler’ music video that includes a sample of a Hitler speech
- 2
Opinion It looks like Israel totally underestimated Trump
- 3
Fast Forward Student suspended for ‘F— the Jews’ video defends himself on antisemitic podcast
- 4
Culture Cardinals are Catholic, not Jewish — so why do they all wear yarmulkes?
In Case You Missed It
-
News In Edan Alexander’s hometown in New Jersey, months of fear and anguish give way to joy and relief
-
Fast Forward What’s next for suspended student who posted ‘F— the Jews’ video? An alt-right media tour
-
Opinion Despite Netanyahu, Edan Alexander is finally free
-
Opinion A judge just released another pro-Palestinian activist. Here’s why that’s good for the Jews
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.