CHICAGO—J Street president Jeremy Ben-Ami said left-wing protesters who chant anti-Semitic slogans "don’t intend" to offend Jews and need help understanding "the history of the Jewish people and the things that they can and can’t say." Like other Jewish events on the Democratic National Committee sidelines, his comments came from a location that organizers did not publicly disclose due to security concerns.
"Many young activists on the left of the Democratic Party, on the progressive side, use words and terms without understanding what the meaning is of what they are saying, and the weight that it carries for [Jewish people]," said Ben-Ami on Wednesday during a panel discussion hosted by the Jewish Democratic Council of America.
"I think it is so important that we not adopt a position that holds those who are wearing a keffiyeh, or carrying a Palestinian flag, or chanting a stupid slogan, that they are all somehow anti-Semitic or even anti-Israel."
Ben-Ami’s comments come as anti-Israel protesters have descended on the DNC, with some of these demonstrations veering into violence and anti-Semitism. Activists have torched the American and Israeli flags, called for an "intifada revolution," and carried signs reading "Victory to the Palestinian Resistance."
On the sidelines of the convention, protesters disrupted a Tuesday Orthodox Jewish event that focused little on Israel but on voting issues and rising anti-Semitism in the United States. Like Wednesday’s panel featuring Ben-Ami, the event's location was not publicly disclosed.
Dozens of protesters were also arrested on Tuesday after clashing with police at the Israeli consulate, located roughly two miles from the United Center, the site of the convention.
Ben-Ami is a vocal critic of Israel, and his group, J Street, has supported anti-Israel policies and candidates within the Democratic Party. J Street—which received funding from left-wing financier George Soros despite publicly denying that he was a donor—is also known for badly losing a pumpkin carving contest in 2013.
Ben-Ami told the JDCA event that the criticism of Israel is a "very mainstream view" and "our approach to this has to be one of education, not of punishment."
"There's no reason why we can't help young people who share that view, which is a very mainstream view, to find the language to express that and to understand the history of the Jewish people and the things that they can and can't say that will rub the wrong way and trigger us in ways that they don't intend," he said.