Friends,
Another frightening week in Washington, DC under Trump 2.0.
Among the lowlights: The galling suggestion that the US “take over” Gaza and force out millions who call the land home, withdrawal from the UN Human Rights Council and sanctions on international court officials.
All these actions embolden extremists, undermine the fragile ceasefire and hostage deal, and put a broader regional peace, security and normalization deal further and further out of reach.
We’re not pulling any punches as we oppose Trump's destructive actions and underscore their risks. For more details, check out our recap below.
– Jen Abrahamson, Vice President of Communications
✍️ J Street Rejects Trump’s Horrific Gaza Vision: In under 24 hours, J Street has collected thousands of signatures from Jewish Americans urging their representatives to denounce Trump’s proposed US-backed destruction of Palestinian society in Gaza.
- National Mobilization: We’re building grassroots support for a letter circulating in Congress condemning Trump’s horrific vision for Gaza. We must push back against efforts that embolden extremists and seek to set a new baseline for acceptable policy. Read, sign and share our petition >>
- Our Message: Trump is dressing up illegal forced displacement as a real estate proposal – and undercutting a fragile ceasefire in the process. As security experts have already warned, it’s a potent recruiting tool for anti-Israel and anti-American terror groups. Read and share our response >>
📰 J Street in the News: In on-the-record interviews and background conversations, J Street has worked hard this week to give voice to our community’s values.
- The New York Times: “If Trump thinks that somehow the US owning Gaza and allowing Israel to annex parts of the West Bank facilitates a [normalization deal with Saudi Arabia], he’s completely wrong.”
- The Forward: “We call on leaders around the world, political leaders in this country and, of course, Jewish communal leaders in this country to express in no uncertain terms that these proposals are absolutely unacceptable – legally and morally.”
- Haaretz: “There aren't adequate words to express our disgust at the idea of forcible displacement of Palestinians with the assistance of the United States of America.”
- Axios: “A coalition of over 100 reform and conservative Jewish organizations, including J Street, is denouncing President Trump over his 'scapegoating' of immigrants and transgender people, and says his empowering of Elon Musk 'to force ideological conformity' threatens the country's 'democratic norms.'”
- The Guardian: J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami said Trump had two choices, either going for the ‘dealmaker route’ or the ‘screw it path’. But “if he’s going down the screw it path – and I don’t really care what anybody thinks, and I want Greenland and Panama and they can have the West Bank – then we’re in a different world.”
Subscribe to J Street’s Daily News Roundup and never miss a beat >>
🔵 Watch our Emergency Briefing: Almost 1,000 J Streeters across the country joined us Wednesday for an emergency, rapid-react briefing to Trump’s comments.
- Jeremy hosted the briefing with Israeli political correspondent Tal Shalev and Frank Lowenstein, former Special Envoy for Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations. Watch it here >>
⚠️ Fascism Rising: Jeremy’s latest Substack post about the rise of fascism in America and why the Jewish community must respond appears to have gone somewhat viral.
- “It’s well past time for the leadership of the Jewish community to mobilize around the very real threat the ethnonationalist right poses in this country and globally,” Jeremy wrote. “Will you fight back against right-wing threats to our democracy and way of life with the same intensity you campaign against Israel's critics on the left?” Read the full post and subscribe to Jeremy’s Substack >>
🚨 USAID Executive Overreach: The past few days have seen chaos in DC and around the world as Donald Trump and Elon Musk have attempted to illegally dismantle USAID and choke off US foreign assistance – actions that are already causing pain, instability and misery around the world while damaging US influence and interests – including in the Middle East.
- A Five-Alarm Fire: “Withdrawing humanitarian and security support in Gaza, Lebanon and the West Bank threatens to undermine two fragile ceasefires that are keeping millions of civilians safe and preventing a return to war and chaos.” Read our statement >>
⚠️ Trump Seeks to Flood the Zone, J Street Responds: This week saw a slew of damaging, counterproductive executive orders on issues that matter to us – from UNRWA funding to sanctions against international courts to the US withdrawal from the UN Human Rights Committee.
- “The Trump Administration’s slew of executive actions this week range from the purely symbolic to the deeply damaging.” J Street’s Director of Government Affairs Hannah Morris wrote today in a rundown of recent actions. Read her full response here >>
Must Read 👇
🗣️ Will Establishment Groups Speak Up? January 6 rioters pardoned. Elon Musk’s Nazi-like salute. Mass deportations of families. Former AIPAC legislative director Douglas Bloomfield writes about the discomforting silence of American Jewish organizations in the wake of Trump’s anti-democratic, extremist-emboldening actions.
- “The real threat to American Jewry is not the powerless activists on campuses but the powerful politicians systematically chipping away at the democratic foundations treasured by American Jewry,” Bloomfield wrote in the Jerusalem Post.
- “[Establishment groups] are not protecting Jewish community interests by their silence but acting out of fear of being targeted by Trump and his followers or, the worry of all organizations, being ignored, not getting their phone calls returned.” Read and share the full piece >>
Our Challenge to You❗
Stand for Our Values on Shabbat: Take a stand as Trump endangers the communities we care for most, and join J Street in standing shoulder to shoulder with the National Council of Jewish Women and HIAS, two organizations doing incredible work to fight the good fight.
- Mark your calendar for February 21-22 for Repro Shabbat. Host your own gathering or join a pre-planned event in your community. Find what suits you and honor the Jewish value of reproductive freedom. Learn more from NCJW >>
- One week later, join us for Refugee Shabbat on February 28-March 1. Register to join hundreds of communities around the world in standing up for refugees, asylum seekers and forcibly displaced people. Find out how you can participate >>
