John Kerry

J Street has also enlisted a high profile consultant to help with this battle: David Wade, a former State Department chief of staff and senior adviser to Secretary of State John Kerry. Wade argued to me that the battle over the Iran deal is shaping up as another installment in the war over who gets to own the term “pro-Israel.”

“This is a pro-Israel, pro-America deal, end of story, and winning this argument is exactly what J Street is here to do,” Wade told me. “The stakes are enormous. This really is the single most consequential foreign policy fight I’ve seen in twenty years in Washington. It’s a moment that really defines what it means to support Israel and to do what is in the security interests of the United States and Israel together.”