Friends,
I’m taking off soon for the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, where I’m looking forward to being part of the excitement around the Harris-Walz ticket and the reshaping of the fall election.
Israel and Palestine will likely be part of the story as some on the extremes try to disrupt a successful Convention and sour the launch of a vital campaign in which the stakes couldn’t be higher.
The Democrats’ gathering will stand in sharp contrast to what we saw in Milwaukee last month. Kamala Harris and Tim Walz will lay out an agenda to move the American people – and the world – forward. Donald Trump and the MAGA movement only threatened to pull us back.
With Kamala Harris and Tim Walz now at the helm, I have no doubt that the Democratic Party will speak about the ongoing war in Gaza with nuance, and about both Israelis and Palestinians with empathy. The Trump agenda, on the other hand, has drawn zero red lines for Israel either in Gaza or on the West Bank, where, as we saw this week in the village of Jit, settler expansion and violence continues to spiral.
With so much at risk, J Street is all in on ensuring Trump never sees the inside of the Oval Office again. That’s why so many J Streeters are joining me in Chicago, along with our pro-Israel, pro-peace, pro-democracy allies who are ready to champion J Street’s values and priorities in the campaign, and over the next four years in Washington.
This coming week, we’ll show Chicago how our message is resonating with the Democratic Party and with the American Jewish community, and how J Street has become the mainstream voice of reason on Israel-Palestine.
As politicos, elected officials, journalists, advocates and voters gather to kick off the final sprint toward Election Day – and a sound defeat of Trump and MAGA extremism at the ballot box – we’ll be hosting a “Live from the DNC” conversation, co-sponsored with leading Jewish publication the Forward. We’ll be joined by their Editor-in-Chief Jodi Rudoren, pollster Jim Gerstein, and just-announced special guest Representative Susan Wild from the key battleground state of Pennsylvania. Register to join us here >>
We are also sponsoring a sold-out J Street reception for delegates and candidates, co-sponsoring a progressive foreign policy party and speaking on an official DNC program about Israel and the election. If you’ll be in Chicago, be sure to let us know. I hope to see you at one of our events!
Keep reading for a rundown of some of this past week’s key communications. To support our work, please consider a contribution of $18, $36 or $90 or any other amount here >>
As always, thank you for everything you do. None of this is possible without you,
– Jeremy Ben-Ami, J Street President
The Week in Review
J Street Is Now The Mainstream Voice For Jewish, Pro-Israel Americans
When we launched J Street in 2008, “established” institutions wrote off our intent to redefine what it means to be “pro-Israel.” We said you can believe in a secure, democratic Jewish homeland and promote dignity and self-determination for both Israelis and Palestinians. We said you can support the state and people of Israel while disagreeing with the policies and actions of the government of Israel.
Today, these views represent the overwhelming majority of the Jewish community and the Democratic Party.
Precisely as politics in the US and Israel have grown more polarized, J Street has staked its place as the voice of the nuanced middle of American Jewish opinion – a position we highlighted with a few important announcements this week:
- J Street now endorses more than 60 percent of Democrats in the Senate and House, a total of 154 Senators and Members of Congress including 19 newly endorsed incumbents this cycle alone.
- JStreetPAC has shattered our prior fundraising records, distributing nearly $10 million already to federal candidates – 50 percent more than we’ve ever raised at this point in an election cycle.
- Since endorsing the Harris-Walz ticket, JStreetPAC has brought in a staggering $3.4 million for their campaign, making J Street this election cycle’s biggest PAC bundler for the presidential ticket in the Jewish community.
All these numbers are ticking ever higher as I write this message – and as you read it.
The Vital Need for Nuance on Campus This Fall - and the Role of J Street U
The growing hunger for nuance and empathy – and the growing rejection of a black-and-white “us or them” approach – also extends to college campuses, where our J Street U students have made strides expanding their movement even during an incredibly polarizing academic year.
As Erin Beiner, our J Street U Director, wrote, “More often than not, J Street U leaders told me that both sides agreed on one simple truth: Israelis and Palestinians deserve peace. While many of their peers retreated into ‘pro-Israel’ or ‘pro-Palestine’ corners, our students blazed an alternative route.”
“Our students were filling rooms to capacity with their Jewish peers looking for an alternative to the alienating ‘Israel can do no wrong’ crowd on the right and the polarizing left that dehumanized all Israelis,” Erin writes. “Our student leaders who once felt alone on their campuses now had a crowd to gather, organize and build community with.”
Standing Up for Kamala Harris and Against MAGA, Trump and Antisemitism
Even as Trump continues to spew vile antisemitism and dine with Holocaust deniers, he attacks Jews who support Kamala Harris and Tim Walz using the vilest of antisemitic “dual loyalty” tropes.
J Street is organizing Jewish Americans to make clear that Donald Trump and these political games don’t speak for us. That’s why we’re circulating a petition pushing back against MAGA smears, and supporting Kamala Harris, Tim Walz and pro-Israel, pro-democracy leaders up and down the ballot. Sign here and show Washington where we stand >>
One thing is clear: Kamala Harris is a true ally to our movement. “Harris’s candidacy has injected new blood into the presidential race,” J Street Israel Director Nadav Tamir wrote. “This frightens the Trumpists and their Israeli allies who are targeting her, to ensure that she not prevent Trump’s return to the White House.”
Reckoning with Antisemitism: J Streeters Share Their Stories
When he was a child in Michigan, Rabbi Marc Israel remembers waking up on the first day of Passover to find a swastika had been scrawled on his lawn with baseball paint.
Almost 50 years later, he arrived at work to find his Maryland synagogue vandalized with large swastikas and a misspelled “Hilter was right.”
The vile antisemitism that Rabbi Israel experienced as a child is appalling. Even more alarming is the fact that the most recent attack was not an isolated incident. Far from it.
But even as the overwhelming majority of Americans are united in their concern over antisemitism, there are politicians bent on amplifying antisemitic tropes and anti-immigrant conspiracy theories to divide our communities and hoard power for themselves.
American Jews from across the country have found a home in J Street: one that fights antisemitism head-on while at the same time refusing that it be used as a weapon to stifle free speech and legitimate criticism of the Israeli government.
Learn about what our community is saying about antisemitism, how they're reckoning with the hatred, and how they’re fighting it >>
