WASHINGTON: There's a new Jewish lobby in town. But wait, before you roll your eyes, this one is worth knowing.

J Street, the self-described "pro-Israel, pro-peace" group, is a lot smaller and more liberal than its counterpart, the powerful American-Israel Public Affairs Committee. But like David and Goliath, it has succeeded in delivering a knock-out blow to the American Jewish debate on the Middle East.

This week, the lobby held its first national conference in Washington and attracted 1,500 attendees - far more than what its organizers expected.

J Street was created, say its founders, for those American Jews who believe it is crucial to work for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Too many in the US Jewish community feel their liberal and progressive views are being ignored, say J Street's founders, and that for over 50 years AIPAC has been intolerant any kind of Jewish criticism of Israel.

"AIPAC has succeeded in ruling almost any criticism of Israel out of bounds, especially in Congress," John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt wrote in 2006.

"The bottom line," Mearsheimer and Walt wrote, "is that AIPAC, a de facto agent for a foreign government, has a stranglehold on Congress, with the result that US policy towards Israel is not debated there, even though that policy has important consequences for the entire world."

Now this young renegade lobby wants to break that stranglehold, which has caused quite an uproar in the American Jewish community.

A veteran of Bill Clinton's White House, Jeremy Ben Ami, J Street's executive director, lived in Jerusalem for three years in the mid 1990s before retuning to the US. He told reporters that the same kind of spirited political debate that goes on in Israel should also happen here, and that President Barack Obama is trying "to save Israel from itself" by promoting a two-state solution.

The result is that J Street has been accused of being disloyal, anti-Israel, pro-terrorist and pro-Palestinian.

Critics of the organization, and there are many, say that some of J Street's positions undercut Jewish unity and could harm Israel's interests, such as the group's opposition to Israel's invasion into Gaza last winter and its reluctance to endorse harsher sanctions against Iran at this time.

On the UN's Goldstone Report, which investigated Israel's incursion into Gaza last winter, J Street didn't condemn the document as did other pro-Israel organizations, but said Congress and Tel Aviv needed to set up a commission to further explore the accusations.

This did not please Tel Aviv.

The Israeli ambassador to Washington, Michael Oren, said he had "concerns" about unspecified "policies" of lobby and refused an invitation to speak at the conference.

The Israeli Ambassador's refusal to attend the conference - while his presence is standard at the yearly AIPAC conference - signaled a significant diplomatic flap.

Oren's response even upset some Israelis, in particular Netanyahu critics who say he's dragging his feet on peace. A number of centrist and left-wing Israeli political parties, as well a several other prominent pro-peace Israelis that include retired generals and the writer Amos Oz - took out a full-page ad in Israel's Ha'aretz newspaper this week congratulating J Street for its positions.

In an interview, Ben-Ami said that the fact that many Jews choose not to automatically support decisions made by the Israeli government does not make them any less pro-Israel.

Also significant were the number of sponsors present, including Americans for Peace Now, Rabbis for Human Rights-North America, the Shalom Israel Fund, Israel Policy Forum, New Israel Fund, Meretz USA, One Voice, Brit Tzedek V'Shalom, and Ameinu, to name a few.

"So many organizations are here because (Jeremy Ben-Ami) took the time to explain the lobby and garner support for it, to bring them in and not alienate them. He's created an organization that feels inclusive, not competitive," said Ron Skolnik, Executive Director for Meretz USA.

But not all American Jewish organizations are so pleased with the ambitious young lobby.

Lenny Ben-David, a former official at the Israeli embassy in Washington now with AIPAC, sent out a letter last week attacking J Street for accepting money and partnership from Arab-Americans, which he intimated were anti-Israel.

Michael Goldfarb, a blogger for the Weekly Standard and a communications director for Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign, personally called members of J Street's honorary congressional "host committee" to accuse the group of insufficient support for Israel, which resulted in 12 of the 160 Congressmen to withdraw their membership.

J Street said it expected such attacks. "The smear campaign" represents "business as usual" for many right-wing American Jewish organizations, said Daniel Levy, a former Israeli peace negotiator, and one of the J Street's founders, told reporters.

In its 18 months of existence, J Street has attracted the attention of the highest levels of the US government and diplomacy, and has the blogosphere buzzing about its influence on the future of US-Israel relations.

The lobby has received visible support from the White House, which sent National Security Adviser General James Jones, one of the most senior US officials to address the conference.

Jones called for a "secure, Jewish state of Israel" side by side with a "viable, contiguous state of Palestine" that "ends the occupation began in 1967 and unleashes the full potential of the Palestinian people." For this he received a standing ovation from the audience.

Jones concluded by saying that by securing a lasting peace with the Palestinians - and thereby removing an excuse for radicalization in the region that threatens US interests.

Other speakers included current and former members of the Israeli parliament, including former Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben Ami, Security-Service Chief Ami Ayalon, former Defense Minister Amir Peretz and former Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit, all members of the peace camp in Israeli politics

As for the 1,500 delegates who attended the conference; vocal disagreements were overheard by this correspondent over just how to obtain Middle East peace.

There appeared to be broad consensus on issues such as Palestinian rights or the need for the US to push the Israelis and Palestinians toward negotiations.

Both young and old at the conference were united on some core issues. References to the creation of a Palestinian state frequently garnered loud applause at sessions, while talk of a Jewish homeland received little crowd reaction.

But a generation gap was apparent on other subjects: Older conference goers appeared to be virtually unanimous in expressing support for a two-state solution, calling themselves Zionists and saying that while they back more US pressure on the parties, they reject cutting aid to Israel if it does not accede to US demands.

Delegates under 40, especially college students, appeared to be much more equivocal on the idea of two states for two peoples.

Such disparity caused Ben-Ami to say he hoped that by engaging younger activists to come and debate the issue, the organization could convince them to back a two-state solution.

And, while many in the audience supported a two-state solution, they did not want the US to cut-off its aid to Israel.

Thinking about aid possibly being cut off to Israel is like "worrying about a meteor striking Earth. It could happen," one person there told reporters, "but it is so unlikely that it's silly to worry about."