Victoria Nuland, acting U.S. deputy secretary of state, was slated to meet with the board of directors of J Street at the U.S. State Department on Wednesday. “Closed press coverage,” a public schedule from Foggy Bottom stated.
No more information was available from the State Department schedule. JNS sought comment from J Street but did not hear back.
Earlier this month, Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, a union, joined the J Street board.
J Street self-identifies as “the political home and voice for pro-Israel, pro-peace, pro-democracy Americans.”
On Oct. 7, J Street said “Hamas’s murderous actions must be met with unequivocal condemnation from the entire international community.”
“We hope for their swift and decisive defeat, and urge the U.S. government to do everything possible to assist the State of Israel in confronting this threat, defending its citizens and preventing a slide into even further conflagration and suffering for Israelis and Palestinians,” it added.
In recent days, J Street has also issued press releases expressing deep concern “for the safety of Palestinian civilians and the over 100 hostages who are now caught in the massive Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, subject to a siege cutting off supplies of water, food, fuel and electricity, and awaiting an imminent ground invasion.”
It stated that Israel’s “call for the over 1 million civilians of northern Gaza to be evacuated within 24 hours is simply untenable—it is impossible to achieve within that timeframe and itself could lead to further catastrophe.”
