Newly Appointed Consul General in NY: J Street is ‘Un-Jewish’
J Street expressed “deep concern” of the appointment of Dani Dayan, a former leader settler leader, as Israel’s Consul General in New York on Monday.
“Dayan is but the latest appointment to a senior diplomatic post of an adamant opponent of the two-state solution, whose posting will serve to inflame opponents of Israel’s policies,” J Street president Jeremy Ben-Ami said in a statement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the appointment of Dayan as Consul General of New York after he was initially tapped to become Israel’s Ambassador to Brazil, but rejected by the Brazilian government.
“Though the Prime Minister of Israel continues to express his concern that Israel does not become a binational state, he is sending as his envoy to New York a man who served for years as chairman of the settlers’ council and who revels in predicting the demise of the two-state solution,” J Street said in its statement.
But it appears that there’s no love lost between Dayan and J Street.
During an interview with i24News’ “FaceOff” program on Saturday, Dayan said the following: “I prefer the attitude of AIPAC to that of J Street, that endorses all the anti-Israel candidates – the more anti-Israeli you are, the more you are endorsed by J Street. That’s un-Jewish.”
Dayan also discussed Donald Trump’s speech at AIPAC’s annual policy conference last week.
“Mr. Trump, neither his style nor his substance are my cup of tea. I suppose that if I were to be an American citizen, he wouldn’t be my first choice for president. Maybe not my choice at all,” Dayan told i24News host Tal Shalev. “Having said that, we do not have the privilege, the prerogative not to relate to him to what he is now: the front-runner of a major political party for the presidency. Israel has to deal with him. Israel has to make sure that if he [becomes president of the U.S.], he will be pro-Israeli.”
Dayan will replace outgoing Ambassador Ido Aharoni, who has served as Israel’s representative in New York since February 2011.