scary support for J Street

160 members join J Street host committee

By Eric Fingerhut · September 30, 2009

J Street on Wednesday unveiled a list of 160 members of the House and Senate that serve as members of the honorary host committee for the group's first annual Gala Dinner on October 27 in Washington. That list includes 18 of the 44 Jewish members of Congress, including the dean of the Jewish delegation, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.)

Other Jewish names on the list include Sens. Al Franken (D-Minn.), Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Reps. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), Barney Frank (D-Mass.), Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), Steve Israel (D-N.Y.), John Yarmuth (D-Kent.), Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), Bob Filner (D-Calif.) Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Jared Polis (D-Colo.), Steve Kagen (D-Wis.), Susan David (D-Calif.) and Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.)

One prominent Jewish congressman whose name isn't on the list is Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.), a prominent pro-Israel member of Congress who was endorsed by the group last year. But that Wexler is still involved with the group -- he is scheduled to speak at the conference on a panel with other members of Congress.

"The depth and breadth of our host committee demonstrates the growing support in Congress and nationally for strong US leadership in pursuit of a peaceful, diplomatic resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian and Israeli-Arab conflicts," said Jeremy Ben-Ami, J Street's executive director.

The J Street press release is after the jump, and the full list of 160 is here:

One hundred and sixty members of Congress will serve on the honorary host committee for J Street's first annual Gala Dinner this October in Washington, DC.