[ ]J Street [ ]
Friend --

This week’s Israeli election -- an unprecedented third contest in under a
year -- brought good news and bad news.

The good news: Once again, after engaging in a vitriolic, hate-filled
campaign attempt to win an outright 61-seat majority for his right-wing
bloc, Benjamin Netanyahu came up short.

Thanks in part to a historically successful night for the majority-Arab
Joint List party, Netanyahu still lacks a clear path to forming a
governing coalition. That’s the same position he was in both before and
after the first two elections of the past year. In some ways, we’re right
back where we started.

The bad news: Even with Netanyahu on the brink of standing trial for
corruption, his opponents were unable to deliver a political knockout
blow. That means that, whether he succeeds in forming a government,
whether his opponents somehow manage to form a government or whether
Israel heads to an astounding fourth election, he likely will remain in
power as prime minister for at least the next few months.

It means that the chances are still very high that, with a green light
from President Trump and in coordination with Ambassador Friedman,
Netanyahu will take steps at some point in the coming weeks to advance
illegal, unilateral annexations of Palestinian territory in the West Bank.

That’s why our work leading the fight against annexation is now more
important than ever. It’s why we’re pushing Congress, presidential
candidates and Jewish leaders across the country to stand up against
annexation and settlement expansion. It’s why we’re leading a campaign to
make sure the Democratic platform commits to supporting Israeli security
AND opposing the occupation.

And it’s why we’re reaching out to ask for your support to make sure that
we succeed. [ [link removed] ]Please chip in what you can to help us build urgent
opposition to any move by Netanyahu that could permanently damage
prospects for Israeli-Palestinian peace.

Our work can’t generate new political leadership for Israel -- only the
Israeli people can do that. But by focusing on our own politics, we can
help ensure that Donald Trump is defeated this November, doing everything
we can to elect the eventual Democratic nominee. We can help ensure that
the next president enters office with a clear mandate to oppose
occupation, undo the damage of the Trump administration’s disastrous
policies and firmly lead the way toward a just, viable and lasting
Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement.

It’s not going to be easy. At last week’s AIPAC conference, we saw crowds
give standing ovations to Vice President Pence, Ambassador Friedman and
Prime Minister Netanyahu. We heard not a word of opposition to annexation.
One wouldn’t have known that it was an imminent possibility had it not
been for Netanyahu boasting about his plans to move the process forward.

We took away a loud and clear message that AIPAC and its allies would
rather have four more years of Donald Trump than see him replaced by any
candidate who will oppose occupation and stand up for peace. But we know
that doesn’t reflect the views of the vast majority of American Jews.

We know that the majority of Jewish Americans oppose Trump and are worried
about Israel’s direction under Netanyahu. We’re ready to mobilize that
majority to defend democracy, promote diplomacy and achieve a better
future for Israelis and Palestinians.

[ [link removed] ]But we need your help to make sure we have the resources we need to
prevail.

[ [link removed] ]CHIP IN $9 NOW

[ [link removed] ]CHIP IN $36 NOW
[ [link removed] ]CHIP IN $100 NOW

[ [link removed] ]CHIP IN $250 NOW
[ [link removed] ]CHIP IN $500 NOW

[ [link removed] ]ANOTHER AMOUNT

Thanks for all that you do,

Jeremy Ben-Ami
President, J Street


[ [link removed] ]DONATE
[ [link removed] ]Facebook [ [link removed] ]Twitter
© 2020 J Street | [ [link removed] ]www.jstreet.org | [email protected]

J Street is the political home for pro-Israel, pro-peace 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.



You can unsubscribe from this mailing list at any time:
[link removed]