J Street Thanks Obama, Kerry

The left-wing Jewish lobby J Street took out a full-page ad in The New York Times on Wednesday to thank President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry for speaking “hard truths” to Israel.

J Street called Obama and Kerry “true friends of the state of Israel” and predicted that “History will applaud your courage in addressing the conflict in both practical and moral terms.”

J Street termed Kerry’s speech, in which he focused on the Israeli presence in Yehuda and Shomron as the obstacle to peace, “powerful” and “lucid,” and claimed that most Israelis and most of the world agrees with Kerry.

Israeli leaders rejected Kerry’s speech, as did Congressmen and Senators from both the Republican and Democratic parties. A spokesman for British Prime Minister Theresa May called Kerry’s criticism of the Israeli government “inappropriate” and deplored his decision to emphasize one issue over everything else.

J Street had previously praised the Obama Administration’s abstention on an anti-Israel resolution at the UN Security Council last month.