[ ]J Street[ ]
Friends,

The anger, outrage and heartbreak our community has suffered these past 11
months reached a breaking point this past weekend.

Who among us could watch coverage of Hersh Goldberg-Polin’s funeral and
not break down in tears listening to his grieving parents?

Who among us isn’t sickened by Hamas’ cold-blooded and inhumane depravity
– by the knowledge that the horror of this war could be stopped tomorrow
if Hamas would lay down its arms and release the hostages?

Who among us is not overwhelmed by anger and grief over the loss of
innocent lives and the long-term suffering that has been inflicted by
Israel’s response to October 7 on the people of Gaza, a response that
began as justified self-defense but has only made Israel less secure?

Who among us is not outraged by Netanyahu’s policies and actions that
gamble with hostages’ lives and demonstrate indifference to the fate of
civilians trapped in this terrible war? A war that could – if it doesn’t
end soon – spark further regional escalation and put even more lives at
risk.

A national leader’s primary responsibility is to protect the nation and
its people. And Netanyahu has failed at this most fundamental and profound
task. His government’s legacy is one of undeniable strategic, military and
intelligence failure leading up to and since October 7. Even more – and it
brings me no pleasure to write these words – he has done immense damage to
the special US-Israel relationship, eroding a pillar of trust that has
stood strong through decades of good times and bad.

To make matters even worse, the Prime Minister has refused to accept any
responsibility for the consequences of his actions.

There will come a day when he will face the Israeli electorate, and they
will render the verdict on the damage he has done to the state and people
of Israel.

But today, the question before us is how do we change course now? How do
we bring this war to a close, reunite the remaining hostages with their
families, protect the lives of innocent Palestinians in Gaza, prevent
further loss of Israeli lives – and put the region on track to a better
future?

Specifically, what more can President Biden and the United States do
today?

The time has come for the US and the other mediators to put a final
bridging proposal on the table – and to ask the sides for a yes or a no.
We understand the Biden Administration shares this view.

When they do, the US must ensure that Egypt and Qatar, as well as all
others with influence on Hamas, bring maximum pressure to bear on the
terror group to accept the terms.

At the same time, President Biden needs to spell out clearly, and
initially privately, to Prime Minister Netanyahu the costs if he continues
to block a ceasefire and hostage release deal.

President Biden will need to be explicit. He should:

 1. Pledge a thorough review of every single arms shipment scheduled from
the US to Israel and make clear that certain offensive weapons will be
withheld if Israel chooses to continue to pursue the illusory goal of
“total victory” rather than take good-faith steps to end the war;
 2. Promise to clearly and publicly assign accountability for the failure
of negotiations – i.e., to lay the blame for failure squarely on
Netanyahu’s doorstep if he says no to the deal as presented in this
round of negotiations (and on Hamas’s doorstep if they reject it); and
 3. Inform the Prime Minister that this is an inflection point in
US-Israel relations. Rejecting this deal and pursuing the war further
will have a lasting impact on both the scope of US assistance to
Israel and the protection it will provide in international fora.

Innocent Israelis and Palestinians can no longer wait for unreasonable and
unrealistic new conditions to be stacked on top of the deal on the table –
by anyone. President Biden must act swiftly before more lives are
senselessly lost to this war.

J Street stands with the hundreds of thousands of Israelis who are
striking and demonstrating in the streets to call for a deal to end the
war and bring the remaining hostages home.

We stand with the security officials – from former IDF Chiefs of Staff
Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot, and ex-Deputy Chief of Staff Yair Golan to
current heads of the major intelligence agencies – all of whom are making
clear that Netanyahu’s eleventh-hour demand for an Israeli presence on the
Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border is not essential to
Israel’s security needs and is only undermining chances of reaching an
agreement.

We stand with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant who, in a shouting match in a
cabinet meeting last week, pressed the Prime Minister to soften his
demands – calling it a “moral disgrace” to continue to delay a deal.
Referring to the deaths of the hostages this weekend, security officials
and negotiators “warned Netanyahu and the cabinet ministers about this
exact scenario but they wouldn’t listen,” Barak Ravid [ [link removed] ]reported.

We stand with all those Israelis who are heartbroken by Hamas’ heinous
murder of the six hostages. And we also stand with those same Israelis who
are outraged with Prime Minister Netanyahu for continuing to put his
personal and political interests ahead of the urgency of a ceasefire –
constantly shifting the goalposts and undermining his own negotiating
team.

Not one more Israeli nor one more Palestinian civilian should suffer the
pain these six hostages and their families endured this week. A ceasefire
deal is the only way to bring the remaining hostages home alive, end this
war and open the door to a broader, regional diplomatic initiative to
achieve meaningful security, redevelopment and cooperation.

It is a failure of duty not to close a deal and close it now.

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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