Friends,
In less than 70 days since Donald Trump took office, it’s become very dark, very fast. Dark for America and our democracy. Dark for Israel and the Jewish peoples’ hopes for a secure, democratic future for their national home.
Every day brings a new nightmare. Students rounded up on our streets by masked federal agents. Federal agencies and programs we’ve supported shut down. The fundamentals of our democracy that have protected us challenged.
And, painfully for the Jewish community, some of the most anti-democratic steps here are being justified in the guise of “fighting antisemitism.”
In Israel, Netanyahu and his allies are running a parallel authoritarian playbook – tightening their grip on power and planning on annexing their way to their dream of a ‘Greater Israel.’
To paraphrase Thomas Paine, these times are truly testing our souls. And they are testing our willingness to stand up for our principles and our ability to fight for them strategically.
J Street is ready to meet the test. We’re proud to stand with you on the ramparts of democracy.
We're ready to fight the Trump/Netanyahu/MAGA agenda and call out the dangers they pose to the US, to Israel and to the Jewish people. If this matters to you, pitch in to help us do the work to meet the moment.
In Israel, reservists are called again for duty, and rockets are flying from Gaza and Yemen. On the West Bank, lawless settlers continue an unrestrained rampage – this week attacking the Oscar winning co-director of No Other Land – to the horror of young Jewish activists who put their bodies on the line to intervene.
In Gaza, renewed fighting has lifted the death toll to over 50,000, according to the Hamas-run health authorities. All aid and commercial traffic has been halted for weeks, and civilians are once again trapped between a barbaric ruling terrorist authority and a renewed Israeli offensive.
Rather than working on getting hostages out and hammering out a post-war plan, Netanyahu’s government is drawing up plans for reoccupation of Gaza and mass expulsions.
After the head of the Shin Bet intelligence agency raised concerns about this approach, Netanyahu fired him. Now, he is determined to fire the Attorney General as well, claiming she is also obstructing his agenda.
At the same time, the government’s top legislative priority this week was passing a key plank of the ‘judicial coup’ to allow far greater political influence over the judiciary.
The parallels between Trump and Bibi’s attacks on judges and due process are painful – as is the exploitation of very real anxieties as a pretext to trample democratic protections.
If there is a silver lining to be found, it is seeing brave activists taking to the streets.
We see it in Israel where over a hundred thousand protesters have come out to rail against Netanayhu’s anti-democratic, pro-war agenda.
We see it In Gaza, where thousands of Palestinians have taken to the streets to protest against the nihilism of Hamas and to call for peace.
And I hope we’ll start to see it this week here at home, with massive protests planned in every state on April 5. I’ll be there, standing up for American democracy. I hope you will too.
J Street is going to play a vital and unique role in the opposition to Trump/Bibi/MAGA. We’ll be representing the majority of Jewish America that opposes both what’s being done here at home to tear down our democracy and what Netanyahu is doing in Israel.
The threats in both countries are deeply interrelated. Consider this:
- The Republican Party has abandoned the goal of Palestinian statehood, a direct green light to radical extremists who believe the time for annexation of the West Bank and Gaza has come.
- The US is about to send an Ambassador to Israel who doesn’t acknowledge there is such a thing as a Palestinian, undercutting the prospects for peace.
- The much-needed fight against antisemitism is being turned into the pretext for the far right’s assault on American higher education, in a move straight out of the authoritarian playbook.
- MAGA forces, who themselves provide cover to antisemites, are using our community’s pain to propel their war on immigrants, constitutional protections and the rule of law – all pillars of the American Jewish experience.
When all these challenges come together to threaten what has made America great for the Jewish community – it is time for Jewish communal leaders to stand up, make their voices heard and to fight for the future we’re leaving for our children and grandchildren.
I urge you to join J Street in this fight. Make your pro-democracy to do list.
Show up. At rallies. In your representatives’ offices. At town halls.
Support. The groups that are willing to fight – in courts, at the ballot box, in your communities.
Contribute. We don’t have billionaire backers like Elon Musk behind us, so we rely on folks like you to fund our work.
Be political. Vote. The future will be decided in upcoming elections – from Wisconsin this week to state and local elections in November, to the House and Senate in 2026 and the White House in 2028.
Across the landscape, we are witnessing capitulation after capitulation to Trump’s weaponization of the powers of the state. Social media and corporate media executives are bending the knee. Major universities and corporate law firms too.
We cannot fail to stand up and speak out – even and especially for the rights of those we do not see eye to eye with. At J Street, we’re committed to fighting for the rights and freedoms that have allowed our community to find refuge and build a future here in the United States. Other Jewish leaders and institutions must do the same.
This is truly the test of our times. And together we must – and we will – meet the moment.
Yours,
Jeremy Ben-Ami
President, J Street
