Friends,
Yesterday, I attended Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s address to a joint session of Congress honoring 75 years of Israeli independence.
On my way there, I proudly joined hundreds of people, including many J Streeters, for a rally at the Capitol in support of Israel’s democracy organized by our friends at UnXeptable.
With the extreme Netanyahu government pressing ahead with its dangerous judicial overhaul, I’m deeply proud of the role our movement is playing in the struggle for Israel’s democratic future: A battleground stretching from religious pluralism and judicial independence within the Green Line, to the push for freedom, equality and self-determination for all those beyond it.
In a week when many in Congress were busy turning Israel into a political football – looking to score partisan points and silence substantive debate – we stayed focused on the unfolding realities on the ground, and on the very real dangers facing both Israelis and Palestinians.
On Tuesday, just as President Herzog was meeting with President Biden, hundreds tuned in to a webinar we hosted with two inspiring protest leaders and activists – Mika Almog, speaking live on the ground from protests in Tel Aviv, and Israeli-American Offir Gutelzon, co-founder of the UnXeptable movement, live from just outside the White House.
Offir told us about the ongoing pro-democracy protests in both Israel and the US: “We’re giving a stage for people who understand the risk to the Jewish homeland…who know that it’s okay to criticize this extreme right-wing government and stand up for Israeli democracy.”
Mika echoed him: “It’s a battle for our lives; it’s a battle for our future; and we’re also very much aware that this is not an internal Israeli matter. This is a battle regarding the future of the entire Jewish people and the next page in our history books.”
At J Street, we know that their struggle is our struggle.
That’s why our pro-Israel, pro-peace, pro-democracy movement continues to push for the White House and Congress to confront the ongoing crises head on, instead of looking the other way and pretending there’s nothing to see. It’s why we continue to make clear that this moment calls for much more than “business as usual.”
As I sat in the Capitol yesterday, I was moved by President Herzog’s personal, multigenerational story of connection between the US and Israel – dating back to Israel’s founding. The relationship between the two countries has been, and must continue in the future to be, grounded in shared values as well as interests.
I was reminded all through the speech of how much those shared values are now threatened, and how vital it is that we defend them – whether from insurrectionists here in the States or from far-right religious nationalists in Israel.
And I felt the missing element of the speech was a call to action: The moment is now to fight for the future we want for ourselves, for Palestinians, for Israelis, for all our children.
We can’t fall back on easy platitudes or oversimplified slogans, or let our elected leaders do the same. We have to keep standing up and speaking out for democracy, for Israeli-Palestinian peace, and for an end to the conflict and occupation.
We have to do everything we can to ensure that the liberal democratic vision of Israel’s founders wins out over the extreme, autocratic, ethno-nationalist agenda of Netanyahu, Smotrich and Ben-Gvir.
I’m committed to that work. J Street is committed to that work. And we won’t take our eye off the ball.
Thank you,
Jeremy Ben-Ami
President, J Street
