[ ]J Street[ ]
Friends,

It's been another breakneck week.

Netanyahu’s decision to withhold aid to Gaza, rather than advancing the
negotiations for the second phase of the hostage and ceasefire deal, is a
violation of international law that endangers the hostages and threatens
to plunge Israelis and Palestinians back into war.

Meanwhile, Trump’s address to Congress was every bit as unhinged and dark
as we expected. But it's clear he’s feeling some pressure – avoiding
mentioning unpopular issues, like his reckless bluster about the US
‘taking over’ Gaza.

Here’s what we’ve been focused on this week – see the full recap below.

Nate Wolfson
Director of Communications Operations

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🗣️ Trump’s Dark and Divisive Speech: In his address to Congress, Trump
spent most of his time boasting about DOGE’s dismantling of the federal
government, making wild claims about taking over Greenland and
scapegoating immigrants and trans people, with barely a mention of the
Middle East.

* Our Response: “A backlash is coming. Trump’s agenda is a brazen
overreach. It’s growing more unpopular by the day and will soon make
every problem our nation faces much, much worse,” J Street Director of
Government Affairs Hannah Morris wrote. “We must ensure that this
coming backlash translates into political power.” [ [link removed] ]Read Hannah’s
full thoughts >>

🔥 Netanyahu Wants War: Saturday should’ve brought renewed relief for the
hostage families and the guarantee that the ceasefire deal would continue
past its first phase. Instead, Israel and Hamas are locked in a
self-serving standoff and Netanyahu has stopped all humanitarian aid from
entering Gaza – so far with Trump’s support.

* Our Response: “We object in the strongest possible terms to Israel’s
decision today to withhold all aid to Gaza, which is a violation of US
and international humanitarian law as well as an act of collective
punishment targeted at civilians,” we wrote. “Coming at the beginning
of the month of Ramadan, it is much more likely to undercut any
pathway for an agreement to get the hostages out and instead lead to a
return to war.” [ [link removed] ]Read our statement here >>

* Expert Analysis: To understand the state of the ceasefire and what it
will take to get it back on track, J Street held a Policy Center
Briefing with renowned Israeli journalist and military analyst Amos
Harel and J Street Policy Fellow Yael Patir. [ [link removed] ]Watch here >>

* New Polling: The Israeli people overwhelmingly oppose Netanyahu
restarting the war. A recent [ [link removed] ]INSS poll found that 74% of the
Israeli public support a deal to return the hostages, an increase from
67% in January.

🏛️  J Street U Student Testifies On Antisemitism: On Wednesday, Meirav
Solomon, J Street U New England Vice President and junior at Tufts
University, testified before Congress at a contentious hearing on rising
antisemitism. Meirav stood strong and held her own against bad-faith
examination from Senate Republicans. This testimony is timely given
[ [link removed] ]reports about Trump’s destructive approach to the Department of
Education, which is a critical safeguard for Jewish students, and today’s
announcement that the government is pulling $400 million in federal grants
and contracts from Columbia University.

* "We must be honest about the most urgent threat to the Jewish
community. It is not student protesters but the bloody legacy of
Pittsburgh and Poway, Charlottesville and the Capitol riot," Meirav
told Senators.

[ [link removed] ]Watch and share her full testimony >>

🎗️ An Israeli Hostage’s Heart-wrenching Story: Eli Sharabi was recently
released after almost 16 months in Hamas captivity, most of them in
tunnels, where he was tortured and starved. Upon his release, he learned
that his wife and two daughters had been murdered on October 7.

* Eli has made it his mission to bring all the hostages still held
captive in Gaza home. [ [link removed] ]Watch and share his full testimony (subtitled
in English) here >>

📖 New from the Policy Center: The latest analysis and articles from J
Street policy experts.

* Starving Gaza Again Doesn't Serve Israel's Interest: J Street Policy
Fellow Larry Garber writes in Haaretz, “Israeli interests are not
served by allowing catastrophic humanitarian conditions to return to
Gaza. Nor are Israel's interests served if the U.S. simply walks away
from the negotiations or severs diplomatic interactions with and
programmatic support for the Palestinians.” [ [link removed] ]Read the full piece
here >>

* Emergency Arab Summit on Gaza: J Street Policy Center Contributing
Expert Jennifer Gavito writes that the Arab Summit proposal “is both
far from complete and far from perfect. What it offers, however, is a
starting point for negotiations. Arab leaders have called for an
international conference to further discuss and operationalize the
plan, providing the opportunity for both the United States and Israel
to help refine it in a way that it meets their legitimate
requirements.” [ [link removed] ]Read the full piece here >>

📚 Must-Reads: Our staff’s recommendations for weekend reads.

* A Call for Jewish Leaders to Take Action: In his latest Substack, J
Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami writes, “Today’s American Jewish
establishment seems painfully oblivious – or willfully blind – to the
threats Trump’s America and Bibi’s Israel pose to the values and
interests they purport to uphold. It is long past time for American
Jewish institutional leadership to use its powerful megaphone to give
voice to the majority of Jewish Americans who oppose where both
Trump’s America and Bibi’s Israel are headed.” [ [link removed] ]Read the full piece
on Word on the Street >>

* Students, There’s Still Hope: In a message to college students, J
Street U Director Erin Beiner writes, “We are facing more than just an
uphill climb – it’s climbing Mount Everest barefoot. We need to accept
that we are in a losing position right now, but please don’t accept
that we should give up hope." [ [link removed] ]Read here >>

* Soul and Survival: Rabbi Daniel Weiner writes in the Times of Israel,
“The radical extremism of a right-wing governing coalition composed of
the marginal and the malicious has exacerbated external threats with
internal conflicts that jeopardize Israel’s democratic character and
higher aspirations [...] Significant portions of Israeli society have
sounded the alarm bells in this moment – even calling on their fellow
Jews in the Diaspora to join them. J Street – the pro-Israel,
pro-peace, pro-democracy advocacy group–has heeded the call and has
urged others in the American Jewish community to do the same."
[ [link removed] ]Read here >>

Take Action ➡️

✡️ $5 Billion is at Stake: Voting for the World Zionist Congress begins
Monday – the results will determine how $5 billion is spent over five
years on programs impacting Israeli society and global Jewish life.

* It's an outrage that some of that money has gone to building West Bank
settlements in the past. We support policies that promote peace, not
bolster extremists, and that’s why we’re voting for the progressive
Hatikvah Slate.

Add your name. Spread the word.
[ [link removed] ]Pledge to vote for the Hatikvah Slate >>

📅  Mark Your Calendar for J Street’s 2026 National Convention: From
February 28 – March 3, 2026, our movement will meet in Washington, DC for
the largest gathering of our J Street community since 2022.

* Get ready for an incredible lineup of dynamic speakers – from the
United States, Israel, the Palestinian territories and more – to
participate in our programming, dedicated skill-building sessions and
interactive discussions. [ [link removed] ]Register today >>


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