The J Street Education Fund is an advocacy group associated with the lobbying organization J Street focused on Jewish-American issues and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in particular. The group has left-of-center stances on a variety of issues and is the sister organization to J Street and the J Street PAC, all which routinely face criticism from Jewish-Americans and Jews around the world for stances perceived as hostile to Israel.

­History

The J Street Education Fund is the educational arm of J Street, a left-of-center lobbying organization that works to represent left-progressive Jews who do not feel properly represented by other Jewish-American advocacy organizations, such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Both groups were started by Jeremy Ben-Ami, a policy advisor in the Clinton administration, and Daniel Levy, who had served as an advisor to previous Israeli cabinet ministers and had worked as an author of the Geneva peace accord. ^{1 2}

Funding

In 2017 J Street Education Fund reported $7,087,603 in revenue, with $5,993,237 coming from contributions and grants and $1,129,106 coming from program service revenue. They had $7,001,164 in expenses, with net assets of $373,017. ³

The group has received $3.7 million in grants from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Rockefeller Brothers Fund is one of the few major philanthropic organizations that funds groups involved in the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions campaign targeting Israel for economic and social isolation,⁴ though J Street and J Street Education Fund do not endorse BDS. ⁵

Other notable foundation funders of J Street Education Fund include the Skoll Global Threats Fund, the Tides Foundation, the Sandler Foundation, the Ploughshares Fund, and the Nathan Cummings Foundation. ⁶

Activities

J Street Education Fund spent over $2 million on conferences and meetings in 2017, including J Street’s signature annual conference which routinely draws several thousand attendees as well as high profile speakers. ⁷

The 2019 annual conference schedule included several Democratic Presidential primary candidates, including U.S. Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO), South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D), former Obama administration Cabinet member Julian Castro, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT). Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) were also scheduled to speak. ⁸

Controversies

Jewish activist Isi Leibler wrote in the Jerusalem Post that “J Street’s approach is arrogant and paternalistic. Its leaders have the chutzpah to claim that they know better than Israelis what is good for Israel.” ⁹

David Weinberg, the president of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategic Studies, argued in the Algemeiner that J Street is no longer a pro-Israel organization due to its hard left stances. He claims that J street is now an “organization that spends almost all its time and money besmirching Israel, smearing the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and other leading American Jewish organizations, boosting US-Iran relations, and backing political candidates for whom promoting the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement is a badge of honor.” ¹⁰

Leadership

Jeremy Ben-Ami is the president and cofounder of the J Street Education Fund and its sister organizations. He previously worked as an advisor in the Clinton administration. ¹¹ Ben-Ami has come under fire for controversial remarks, such as referring to the Jewish establishment as a “multi-headed hydra.” ¹² Ben-Ami also has been accused of being deceitful when it comes to J Street receiving funding from controversial donor George Soros. ¹³

1. Terris, Ben. “Jeremy Ben-Ami, Winning a Place at the Table for J Street.” The Washington Post, March 26, 2015. Accessed October 15, 2019. https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/jeremy-ben-ami-winning-a-place-at-the-table-for-j-street/2015/03/26/1acb118e-d33e-11e4-8fce-3941fc548f1c_story.html.
2. McGreal, Chris. “Who Speaks for America’s Jews? J Street Lobby Group Works to Loosen Big Beasts’ Grip on Congress.” The Guardian, October 23, 2009. Accessed October 15, 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/oct/23/j-street-america-israel-lobby.
3. J Street Education Fund, IRS (Form 990), 2017, Part I
4. Rosen, Armin. “How Rockefeller Brothers Fund Came to Lend Its Legitimacy and Money to Groups That Push Boycotting Israel.” Tablet Magazine, May 26, 2017. https://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/235453/rockefeller-brothers-fund-gets-behind-bds.
5. “J Street Opposes the Global BDS Movement And Defends Americans’ Constitutional Right to Engage in Boycott.” J Street, July 18, 2019. https://jstreet.org/press-releases/j-street-opposes-bds-defends-americans-right-to-boycott/.
6. Data compiled by FoundationSearch.com subscription service, a project of Metasoft Systems, Inc., from forms filed with the IRS. Queries conducted October 28, 2019
7. J Street Education Fund, IRS (Form 990), 2017, Part IX
8. JStreet.org. “Confirmed Speakers.” Accessed October 22, 2019. https://jstreet.org/conference/program-2/speakers/#.Xa-_wuhKiM9.
9. Leibler, Isi. “Candidly Speaking: J Street Is Not a Pro-Israel Organization.” The Jerusalem Post, October 7, 2013. Accessed October 17, 2019. https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Candidly-Speaking-J-Street-is-not-a-pro-Israel-organization-328099.
10. Weinberg, David. “Is J Street Still Pro-Israel?” The Algemeiner, December 23, 2018. Accessed October 17, 2019. https://www.algemeiner.com/2018/12/23/is-j-street-still-pro-israel/.
11. Terris, Ben. “Jeremy Ben-Ami, Winning a Place at the Table for J Street.” The Washington Post, March 26, 2015. Accessed October 15, 2019. https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/jeremy-ben-ami-winning-a-place-at-the-table-for-j-street/2015/03/26/1acb118e-d33e-11e4-8fce-3941fc548f1c_story.html.
12. JStreet.org. “Myths and Facts: Our Staff and Leadership.” Accessed October 17, 2019. https://jstreet.org/about-us/myths-facts-about-j-street/our-staff-and-leadership/#.XaiT1uhKiUk.
13. Good, Chris. “J Street’s Half-Truths and Non-Truths About Its Funding.” The Atlantic, September 24, 2010. Accessed October 17, 2019. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/09/j-streets-half-truths-and-non-truths-about-its-funding/63541/.