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
🗣️ 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.” 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.” 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. Watch here >>
- New Polling: The Israeli people overwhelmingly oppose Netanyahu restarting the war. A recent 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 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.
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.
📖 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.” 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.” 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.” 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." 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." 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.
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. Register today >>
