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:
- 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;
- 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
- 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 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
