[ ]J Street[ ]
Our Weekly Recap: Trump attacks higher education 📚 | Our roadmap for Gaza
🧭 | Stand for your values, vote Hatikvah ✡️ | Jews say no to Project
Esther 🛑 | Mark your calendar for Conference 📅 | And more.

📚 Trump Attacks Higher Ed in Our Name: The Jewish people’s history tells
us that attacks on education and politically motivated arrests are often
the dangerous first steps of authoritarianism.

This week, Trump announced plans to lay off nearly half of the Department
of Education – including those working to counter antisemitism – and
slashed funding to dozens of colleges while arresting and attempting to
deport a student protest leader without due process. 

Let’s be clear: While addressing the very real issue of antisemitism and
poor university responses may have been the pretext for these actions,
this has little to do with protecting Jewish students – many of whom rely
on the grants that have been cut – and everything to do with
anti-democratic efforts to force the MAGA political ideology on the
nation’s education system.

* Sounding the Alarm: “Hedging our bets or remaining silent to curry
favor with this regime for short-term gains – as some Jewish
organizations may be choosing to do – is unacceptable,” J Street
President Jeremy Ben-Ami wrote. “To those waiting for the definitive
moment to sound the alarm over the threat to our democracy, now is the
time.” [ [link removed] ]Read our full statement here >>

* J Street U Students Respond: “If the administration was serious about
fighting antisemitism, it would listen to Jewish students; it would
seek to calm campus tensions rather than escalate them; and it might
start by throwing out the slew of bigots and conspiracy theorists it
has promoted to top positions in its own ranks,” J Street U wrote.
[ [link removed] ]Read and share here >>

* Democrats Push Back: In a J Street-endorsed letter led by Reps.
Jayapal, Raskin and Scanlon, over 100 Democrats opposed the Trump
Administration’s attack on the First Amendment and democracy in its
detention of lawful permanent resident Mahmoud Khalil. [ [link removed] ]Read the
letter here >>

🚨 Take Action: If you agree that protecting education, civil rights and
open dialogue is vital to the ability of Jewish students to thrive, [ [link removed] ]add
your name here >>

🧭 Our Roadmap for Gaza: While Netanyahu refuses to negotiate Phase II of
the hostage and ceasefire deal to protect his political survival, and
Trump floats outrageous proposals for resettling two million Gazan
civilians in Africa, our Policy Center has laid out a viable path to free
the hostages, surge aid into Gaza and end the cycle of violence for good.
[ [link removed] ]Read the Policy Center’s full report here >> 

* Playing Politics with People's Lives: The Netanyahu government has
blocked all humanitarian aid and cut off all electricity to Gaza.
While Netanyahu has claimed that cutting off aid is a negotiating
tactic – as though punishing a civilian population can be an
acceptable ‘tactic’ – in reality, he is likely [ [link removed] ]seeking to delay
negotiating the second phase of the ceasefire, which his extreme
coalition would take issue with.

* Israelis Fight for the Deal: Over 50 families of Israeli hostages
filed an emergency Supreme Court petition against Netanyahu’s decision
to cut off electricity to Gaza, saying the policy poses “direct
consequences for hostages' wellbeing.”

Every week, thousands of Israelis continue to take to the streets,
demanding an immediate hostage release. “The evolution and endurance
of Israel's pro-hostage deal protests, coming after nearly a year of
pro-democracy protests, is a phenomenon in itself,” Dahlia Scheindlin
writes. [ [link removed] ]Read here >>

✡️ Stand for Your Values, Vote Hatikvah: Voting is now open for the World
Zionist Congress, and we’re rallying our community to vote for the
Hatikvah Slate: A progressive slate of candidates – including J Street
President Jeremy Ben-Ami – who will oppose efforts to direct the billions
of dollars the Congress allocates towards anti-democratic, pro-settlement
projects.  

* Spread the Word: “Those of us in the more liberal and progressive
wings of the community are far less organized and engaged – so it will
take word-of-mouth from you – yes, YOU – to let five or ten of your
friends and family know about these elections and to get them to take
the 60 seconds to actually vote,” Jeremy writes in his latest
Substack. [ [link removed] ]Read the full piece here >>

Vote Hatikvah: For $5, you can decide the fate of $5 billion.
[ [link removed] ]Vote for the Hativkah slate here >>

🛑 This Purim, We Say No to Project Esther: Chag Purim Sameach! In the
interest of making noise in the face of bigotry and hatred, we are calling
out the Heritage Foundation’s ‘Project Esther,’ which helped lay the
foundation for Trump’s attacks on education and progressive organizations
while providing a roadmap for an even darker future.

* Project Esther’s Antisemitism: “Documents from Project Esther reveal a
disquieting strategy. It reportedly seeks to identify and pressure
individuals it labels as “masterminds,” including Jewish figures such
as philanthropist George Soros and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker. This
language evokes long-standing antisemitic tropes of Jewish control and
manipulation,” Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum and J Street’s Deputy Director
of Jewish Communal Engagement Emily Kaiman write. [ [link removed] ]Read the piece
here >>

🤝 Netanyahu’s Global Far-Right Alliance: Netanyahu has always had a
kinship for strongmen, and he’s recently been taking that even further,
formalizing relationships with far-right parties in Spain, Sweden and
France – parties with antisemitic and fascist roots.

* Our Analysis: “The leader of the Jewish state has emboldened and
excused these nefarious actors, due to their shared commitment to
right-wing pro-Israelism, including support for Israeli territorial
maximalism, opposition to Palestinian statehood, and impunity for the
crimes of occupation,” J Street Policy and Research Coordinator
Avraham Spraragen writes. [ [link removed] ]Read and share >>

🌱 J Street U’s Seeds of Partnership Tour: J Street U concluded a four-stop
tour with [ [link removed] ]Seeds of Partnership, a Jewish-Arab leadership program in
collaboration with Standing Together. The tour featured events with J
Street U chapters at the University of Arizona, UCLA, UC Davis and UC
Berkeley. Two Israeli citizens, one Jewish and one Palestinian, shared
stories and experiences from the front lines of peacebuilding work in the
region.

[13]seeds for peace partnership students

📅 Mark Your Calendar: We’re thrilled to announce that J Street’s 2026
National Convention returns February 28-March 3, 2026. Our conventions are
an opportunity to rally our movement together in person, meet with the
next generation of political leadership and shape the conversation on our
issues – and you won’t want to miss out.

* An incredible lineup of high-profile speakers – from the US, Israel,
the Palestinian territories and beyond – will join us for keynote
addresses, political advocacy training sessions and important, robust
discussions about the way forward. [ [link removed] ]Get your early bird ticket
pricing today >>


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J Street is the political home for pro-Israel, pro-peace, pro-democracy
Americans who want Israel to be secure, democratic and the national home of the
Jewish people. Working in American politics and the Jewish community, we
advocate policies that advance shared US and Israeli interests as well as Jewish
and democratic values, leading to a two-state solution to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.



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