[ ]J Street[ ]
Friends,

I know I speak for all of us at J Street when I say we are shaken and
horrified by the attempted assassination of former President Trump on
Saturday. We’re pained by the death and injuries of fellow citizens as
they gathered with their families for a political rally – something many
of us have done before.

For those of us who’ve experienced assassinations and attempts in both
Israel and the United States, this moment echoes some of our darkest days.
As President Biden said last night: “We cannot and must not go down this
road in America.”

In recent memory, we’ve lived through the shootings of Reps. Gabrielle
Giffords and Steve Scalise, a savage attack on Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s
husband Paul, threats against election officials, a violent attempted
insurrection, and now an assassination attempt against former President
Trump.

None of this violence is remotely acceptable. We condemn it without
equivocation.

But condemning political violence does not mean one has to stop speaking
out about the stakes of the moment. It does not mean we cannot be clear in
our assessment of the dangers posed by one or another political leader or
party.

Indeed, it would be a disservice to all that is at stake – for the
democratic future we believe in – if a horrendous event such as Saturday’s
attack derailed our country’s ability to have an open and honest
conversation about the choice ahead and its implications.

J Street intends to participate vigorously in that discussion.

Today, Republicans will gather in Milwaukee for a national convention in
which they will make their case to the country. We applaud those
Republican elected officials who are calling on the Party to lower the
temperature and hope they will hold at bay those looking to exploit the
moment, spread conspiracy theories and fracture our nation further.

At J Street, we continue to believe the party being led by Donald Trump –
fueled by the MAGA movement and guided by Project 2025 – seeks to take the
United States and the world as a whole down a path that risks the core
values and interests that J Street was created to promote.

While we are not always 100 percent aligned with the policies of the Biden
Administration, we also clearly recognize that a second Democratic
administration would chart a course that is night-and-day better than the
alternative being presented in Milwaukee.

Saturday’s horrific attack cannot be allowed to derail the vital work of
our democracy. If we silence our voices, violent extremism is the only
winner.

We can and must continue to make the case for a foreign policy grounded in
our shared values, principled diplomacy and negotiated conflict
resolution. To stand up for the values and guiding principles that have
made this country a welcoming home for our community – an openness to
immigration, a process for assisting refugees, a rejection of
discrimination of any sort. To advocate that US support for Israel cannot
come in the form of a blank check to the Israeli right.

The election this November is, in fact, about the very soul of our country
and poses in stark relief the choice the world faces between democratic
values and autocracy. These are the most vital issues of our lifetime.

Healing our nation’s rifts and backing away from the abyss of political
violence do not necessitate sacrificing our right to vibrant and necessary
debate on these critical issues, a debate we must – and will – continue to
engage in, with the civility and respect the moment demands.

Yours in partnership,

Jeremy Ben-Ami
President, J Street

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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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