Friends,

On Sunday, seven high-profile leaders of Israel’s pro-democracy movement – including several former Prime Ministerial aides – published a 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.

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. 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. 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

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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