[ ]J Street [ ]
Friends,

On Sunday, seven high-profile leaders of Israel’s pro-democracy movement –
including several former Prime Ministerial aides – published a [ [link removed] ]searing
op-ed in the Haaretz newspaper.

The title: AIPAC Is, Again, Siding With the Enemies of Democracy. This
Time in Israel.

“AIPAC is trying to offer an alternative reality and is effectively
turning from a pro-Israel organization to one that promotes the
anti-democratic overhaul and the de facto annexation of the West Bank, led
by Netanyahu and aided by the most extreme, racist and violent elements of
the Israeli far right,” the pro-democracy protest leaders wrote.

“The time has come for proponents of democracy in Israel and in the US to
realize that AIPAC’s leadership is steering the organization away from its
original pro-Israel mission, and toward an ultra-right-wing organization.”

Their message underscores what’s truly at stake in our struggle to
redefine what it means to be pro-Israel in American politics.

[ [link removed] ]Please consider reading and sharing this important op-ed with your
networks >>

As the protest leaders note, AIPAC has marked out an increasingly
right-wing definition of “pro-Israel” that includes funding
insurrectionist lawmakers and whitewashing clear and present threats to
Israel’s democratic future – be it from this government’s attempted
takeover of the judicial system or the settlement movement’s ongoing
takeover of the West Bank.

It’s a path which empowers Israeli and American leaders with values
antithetical to our own. Leaders who pursue a vision for Israel that’s
unrecognizable to the majority of American Jews – unrecognizable when
compared to the vision of Israel’s founders, who declared independence for
a Jewish state built on “freedom, justice and peace” that would ensure
“complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants.”

I refuse to accept that this is the only way to support Israel’s future,
and polls show the overwhelming majority of Jewish Americans and
pro-Israel voters agree.

If you do too, please consider a contribution of $18, $36 or
$90 – or any other amount – to help us fight for a just,
free and democratic future for Israel. [ [link removed] ]Select a contribution here – and
click “make it monthly” if you’d like to make a monthly contribution
instead >>

Friends – AIPAC’s vision is having a very real impact on our
politics here in the United States, thanks to a well-resourced lobbying
team, a network of loud, right-wing allied groups and a Super PAC funded
in significant part by deep-pocketed Republican donors.

The strength of this black-and-white, with-us-or-against-us pro-Israel
narrative means that too many in Washington are hesitant to embrace the
pro-democracy movement. Too hesitant to offer meaningful opposition to the
settlement movement, support equal rights or even utter the word
“occupation.”

On the Republican side, it’s even worse. The bipartisan consensus which
opposed settlements in the Bush era has crumbled, replaced by the MAGA
movement’s full embrace of Netanyahu’s drive toward annexation.

But as the stakes become clearer and clearer, the pushback from our
community is becoming broader and stronger. Together, we’re expanding our
pro-Israel, pro-peace, pro-democracy movement at record pace.

Together, we’ll continue to welcome new supporters into the fold. We’ll
continue to advocate in our communities, on college campuses and in
Washington.

Only together – by uniting our voices and pooling our resources – can we
rise to this critical moment. [ [link removed] ]Please consider chipping in
$18, $36 or $90 – or setting a
sustaining, monthly contribution – to help fund our work >> 

Thank you, sincerely, for your support.

Yours,

Adina Vogel Ayalon
Chief of Staff, J Street

[ [link removed] ]PS. To help grow our movement and amplify our advocacy, please consider
setting a recurring donation by clicking ‘make it monthly’ on this page.
Your recurring donation of any amount makes a real difference when we all
pitch in.


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© 2023 J Street | [ [link removed] ]www.jstreet.org | [email protected]

J Street is the political home for pro-Israel, pro-peace, pro-democracy
Americans who want Israel to be secure, democratic and the national home of the
Jewish people. Working in American politics and the Jewish community, we
advocate policies that advance shared US and Israeli interests as well as Jewish
and democratic values, leading to a two-state solution to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.



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