Friend,

For the past couple of months, I’ve been writing a weekly commentary on Substack called Word on the Street, providing my latest thinking on all things at the intersection of Israel-Palestine, the American Jewish community and US politics.

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This week, you can read how I think President Trump needs to approach Prime Minister Netanyahu if he hopes to move the Gaza ceasefire from phase one to phase two.

Moving forward, we’ll be using the Substack to share other resources from video webinars to J Street Policy Center analyses. Don’t miss out and subscribe today.

While I have your attention – and with news developing fast – I also wanted to be sure you saw J Street’s statement yesterday welcoming the second release of hostages and the surge of aid to Gaza that’s been taking place, as well as our Policy Center analysis on the integrity of the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire which, as of today, has been in place for 60 days.

You’ll hear more from J Street tomorrow about Trump’s first week – including his outrageous comments to “clean out” the two million Palestinians who call Gaza home. In the meantime, I hope you find a moment to give this piece a quick read.

– Jeremy Ben-Ami, J Street President

President Trump: Don’t Get Played by Netanyahu on Gaza

You helped seal a deal that at least for now stopped the fighting, brought hostages home and started aid flowing. Seeing it through will require zero tolerance for the Prime Minister's usual games.

Politically, the timing of the Gaza ceasefire, coming a day before the inauguration, couldn’t have been better. Deserved or not, the incoming Commander-in-Chief staked a claim to at least some of the credit for stopping a war his predecessor hadn’t been able to for sixteen months.

His team – particularly Steve Witkoff – do seem to have brought some much-needed pressure to bear, and the President’s early weeks now promise pictures of hostage families reuniting and aid finally reaching families in Gaza.

It’s a meaningful early deliverable, particularly to young voters, minority voters and anti-war voters – some of the surprising elements of Trump’s 2024 winning coalition.

But now comes the massive risk that it all crashes down in a matter of weeks … [Read more]

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