Friend,
Today, J Street leaders from across the country are gathering in Washington DC.
I’ll be sharing some thoughts with them on this moment and our movement’s role, and I wanted to share those thoughts with you here too.
We’re coming together at perhaps the most trying moment of our lives. We face mounting threats to our democracy at home and our place in the world. One can’t help feeling we’re just steps away from something darker still.
In the Middle East, the ceasefire and hostage deal is at risk, bringing anguish for hostage families, further deprivation for families in Gaza and the risk of a return to the horrors of this war.
Our emotions are reeling.
Shock at where we are in 2025 as a country, as a Jewish people, as J Street, as members of what I call ‘Team Democracy.’
Fear of the damage that ‘Team Autocracy’ – Trump, Bibi, MAGA, Musk, Putin et al – could do to America, Israel and the world.
A fair degree of despair and depression as we try to fathom how things got this bad this fast.
Anger at those trying to dismantle democracy and the liberal world order – and at missteps and capitulations in strategy, tactics, messaging and more made by our own team.
Given we are witnessing the early stages of fascism taking hold of our country, all of these emotions are fair and reasonable. Our challenge is to transform them into action.
More on that in a bit. First, at this impossibly difficult moment, I want to register a note of gratitude for the movement and home we’ve built.
17 years ago we named J Street after a missing road in Washington. Still, all these years later, no other organization provides Jewish and pro-Israel Americans with a home to fight for the future of not only this country, but the state of Israel and the soul of the American Jewish community.
At a vital moment in history, we are the voice of the moderate mainstream of our community.
There will be groups in the Jewish community willing to vocally oppose Trump, but many pull their punches when it comes to Netanyahu and occupation.
There will be so-called ‘pro-Israel’ groups who claim to speak for us as Jews, but choose to mute their critiques of MAGA because they view Trump as somehow “pro-Israel” – or see aligning with the MAGA movement as the safest path forward.
J Street is really the only significant political group in organized Jewish life that is vocally, whole-heartedly anti-Trump, anti-Bibi and anti-occupation – while committed to the future of Israel and its role in Jewish life in the 21st century.
- We are the largest source of political power in the Jewish community backing up American elected officials standing up to both Trump and Bibi and all of Team Autocracy.
- We provide a home for clergy who are a powerful voice for peace, and democracy in our communities.
- We provide students with support and backup in a painful moment on campuses.
- We are strong and growing, with more supporters and reach than ever before.
Our success in breaking the monopoly of the “pro-Israel-at-all-costs” wing of our community is the single greatest contribution we have made in the larger effort to defeat Team Autocracy.
Together, we’re showing that there’s no contradiction in being pro-Israel and pro-democracy; pro-Israel and pro-peace; pro-Israel and pro-human rights; and yes, even pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian.
So what can we do to turn our shock, fear and anger into action?
(1) Let’s take one more moment to acknowledge our despair and depression about just how bad things are. And then let’s move forward. Despair is not a strategy. We must channel our emotions into action.
(2) Let’s commit to specific actions we as citizens can take:
Show up: At protests. At meetings with representatives. At rallies and town halls, especially where it’s vital to have a visible Jewish presence – whether we’re standing up to Bibi and Smotrich or speaking out about the future of our country.
Vote: And not just here in our elections, but in the World Zionist Congress elections right now where our Hatikvah Slate can – with a few tens of thousands of votes from folks like you – become a dominant voice in how billions of dollars are spent in Israel.
Talk: Not only to ourselves, but to those we must rally to our side. We must understand where they are coming from and find a way to make the case for them to vote differently in 2028. We have to build our movement through addition, not division.
Donate: Support organizations that are our partners in this battle. I’m particularly committed to legal organizations that bring critical court cases to check Trump’s power.
(3) Let’s stay true to J Street’s core mission and focus on winning the next elections.
Specifically: Winning the House in 2026 as well as key Senate races where J Street is going to be called on to defend allies who will be under fierce attack.
We cannot write off making political contributions because we lost a few close races last time. Being angered by the outcomes in the last cycle should drive us to engage more.
Remember: Hardcore MAGA support here – just like hard-core Bibi/Ben Gvir/Smotrich support in Israel – is really only around 30 percent. Team Democracy can beat them, but only if we work together.
(4) Let’s spend this time engaging directly with elected officials and candidates to ensure they really understand what the majority of Jewish Americans believe and what our politics really are.
We cannot allow out-of-touch, right-wing groups to speak in our names. We must ensure the right lessons are learnt from the last four years, and we cannot repeat our mistakes.
Perhaps the most devastating consequence of losing in 2024 is that there isn’t a way for Democrats in Congress to stop Republicans from enacting a lot of their agenda.
But Congress can slow things down and put sticks in the spokes of the legislative process where they can.
We also can help our allies frame messages and votes so that they provide a solid platform on which to run in next cycle’s campaign. We have to remember that this is a marathon, not a sprint – and we only win if we’re in the fight for the long-run.
There is no near-term finish line where the struggle between democracy and autocracy will be “won” permanently.
No clear finish line in the 75-year struggle over whether Israel can be both Jewish and democratic or in the 250-year struggle to make the United States a more perfect union. Nor in the battle through the centuries – millennia even – over what it really means to be Jewish.
The loss we just experienced is but one chapter in a much longer story. The struggles we are waging are long, and the pendulum does swing.
Donald Trump only won 49% of the vote. So too in Israel, Netanyahu’s ultra-right coalition garnered about 48% in 2022.
Both of these master manipulators understand how to turn the slimmest of wins into the appearance of overwhelming victory and power. Their goal is in part to intimidate opponents into giving up the fight.
We must refuse to declare ‘game over’ on democracy, on Israel, on the future of the planet based on a handful of painful setbacks.
The backlash will come. There are already early signs. There will be a very real opportunity to take back the House in 2026. And then it’s on to 2028 when Team Democracy will have a chance to make our case again to a divided American electorate.
In Israel, it’s also clear: If elections were held tomorrow, the current coalition would be out and a sensible center-right, center-left coalition could be formed.
As our J Street delegation recently heard both in Israel and in the UAE, there remains – amid all the pain and catastrophe – a historic opportunity before us.
There’s a confluence of interests across the region that creates an opening our parents and grandparents only dreamed of for Israel to achieve peace and security for itself and all its neighbors. For Palestinians to achieve freedom, self-determination and an end to occupation and hopelessness.
That’s a future we’re going to continue to fight for, and I’m so grateful to have you on our side.
Onward, together, in hope and determination.
Yours,
Jeremy Ben-Ami
President, J Street
