This Week: Tell Netanyahu To Stop Blocking Aid ✍️ | American Jews Reject Trump’s Exploitation of Genuine Fears About Antisemitism ✊ | Marking Yom Hazikaron and Yom Ha’atzmaut 🕯️ | The View From Capitol Hill 🏛️ | Last Chance to Vote Hatikvah! ✡️ | Next Week: The People’s Peace Summit 👐 | This Week’s Must-Reads (And Watches!) 📖 | Our Pro-Democracy To-Do List 🗳️ | And much more.
✍️ Tell Netanyahu To Stop Blocking Aid: For 61 days, the Netanyahu government has blocked all humanitarian aid from every entry point into Gaza. The impact is devastating: Women enduring C-sections without anesthesia. Parents scavenging through garbage to feed their kids. Surgeons operating without antibiotics.
- Take Action: This week, a letter is circulating in Congress calling for an urgent end to the siege and for efforts to return to the ceasefire/hostage deal framework. In the face of President Trump’s damaging indifference, we’re working to rally as many lawmakers as possible to demonstrate the moral leadership that our president won’t. Add your name >>
✊ American Jews Reject Trump’s Exploitation of Genuine Fears About Antisemitism: One hundred days into the Trump Administration, Trump has made his playbook clear: Attack democratic institutions, arrest and deport political enemies and justify his authoritarian agenda by claiming he’s protecting American Jews.
- Over 550 Rabbis and Cantors Condemn Trump’s Use of Antisemitism as a Political Wedge: The statement, backed by J Street and T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, calls out the Trump Administration’s cynical attempt to exploit legitimate fears of antisemitism as a pretext to “divide Americans, undermine democracy, and harm other vulnerable communities.” Read more >>
- Standing United to Defend Our Values: J Street joined with the Muslim Public Affairs Council to issue a joint statement condemning Trump’s use of antisemitism to suppress free speech and civil liberties: “We are confronting a dual crisis: The alarming surge in antisemitism, anti-Muslim bigotry, racism and hate-driven rhetoric across the country; and the dangerous escalation of state repression, often disguised as a response to these very forms of hate.” Read more >>
🕯️ Marking Yom Hazikaron and Yom Ha’atzmaut: This week marked both Israeli Memorial Day and Israeli Independence Day.
- On Yom Hazikaron we wrote, “Today, we mourn all who have lost their lives in war, terror and in this bitter cycle of ongoing conflict. We cannot let the countless lives lost be in vain. We owe it to them to fight for a future free of bloodshed – where both peoples can live in safety, dignity and peace.” Share our message on BlueSky >>
- On Yom Ha’atzmaut J Street Vice President and Chief of Staff Adina Vogel-Ayalon shared, “The Israel I once knew and still fiercely love – a place built on ideals of equality, community and justice – feels increasingly distant from the Israel I see today.” Read more here >>
🏛️ The View From Capitol Hill:
- Sanctioning Settler Violence: J Street welcomed Reps. Jerry Nadler, Adam Smith and Jim Himes’ introduction of legislation to codify President Biden’s groundbreaking sanctions against groups and individuals promoting violence in the West Bank. “It’s incredibly significant to have such senior members of Congress, including respected Jewish and national security leaders, show unity on legislation like this.” Read more >>
- Antisemitism Awareness Act Collapses in Committee: A bill that risks giving Donald Trump and his allies a powerful new tool to target dissent, silence protest and erode democratic freedoms – stalled in the Senate following a markup that added language to the bill that makes clear that people cannot be labeled antisemitic simply for speech or protests critical of Netanyahu and the war in Gaza.
✡️ Last Chance to Vote Hatikvah! Voting for the World Zionist Congress closes this Sunday, May 4 – and because so few of the millions eligible to vote actually take the time to cast a ballot, your vote is incredibly powerful. By taking the time to vote for the Hatikvah Slate, you can help ensure $5 billion in funding goes toward building a better future for all, instead of supporting extremists and fueling settlement growth. Vote here >>
👐 Next Week: The People’s Peace Summit: Next week, 60 Israeli civil society and peace organizations – Jewish and Palestinian – will host The People’s Peace Summit in Jerusalem to demand a different future and to transform the Israeli peace camp into a cohesive and powerful force for change. Join or host a global solidarity action in your area >>
📖 This Week’s Must-Reads (And Watches!):
- Hope in the Darkness: J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami writes, “This week, as I met scores of people in living room salons and other small gatherings, I kept getting the same questions: Is there any hope? [...] Time after time, I found myself highlighting three points of light I see on the horizon.”
- Change is coming in Israel.
- Israel has a historic opportunity to end the Arab-Israeli conflict.
- American Jews aren’t buying what Trump is selling.
Read the full piece on the Word on the Street Substack >>
- To Be Free in Our Own Land: J Street Israel Executive Director Nadav Tamir writes, “This Independence Day will not be joyful. How can we rejoice as the government has abandoned 59 of our sisters and brothers? How can we celebrate national independence when our personal independence is being stripped from us?” Read more >>
- Watch the Israeli-Palestinian Joint Memorial Day Ceremony: As always, this year's joint memorial ceremony, led by our friends at Combatants for Peace and The Parents Circle – Families Forum, was incredibly powerful and a vital reminder that from Israel to the US, we are far from alone in the difficult work of peace. In case you weren't able to tune it, you can watch the full ceremony here >>
🗳️ Our Pro-Democracy To-Do List:
💡 More Resources:
- Watch our Webinars and Listen to our Podcast:
- Read More on Our Website:
