Secretary of State Antony Blinken was the keynote speaker at last week’s J Street conference. In what was undoubtedly the low point of the entire event, Blinken not only got a standing ovation as he walked on stage, he received another, albeit a less enthusiastic one, after he delivered his address.
Blinken’s speech was wholly disheartening to anyone paying attention. He paid only the barest lip service to any part of J Street’s agenda, let alone that of activists for Palestinian rights. In fact, his speech would not have been out of place at AIPAC.
If there is something to be encouraged by, Blinken demonstrated how wildly out of step he is with even a moderate group like J Street. Indeed, the policies and viewpoints he presented are out of step with the vast majority of Democrats. I examine the speech in the context of what was an interesting conference in my latest for Mondoweiss.