[ [link removed] ] [ [link removed] ]J Street[ [link removed] ]
Friend,

Few issues unite the pro-Israel community more than opposition to the Iranian regime and concern at the thought of it having a nuclear weapon.

Iran funds terror groups and militias to destabilize Israel and the region and to extend terror globally. Its nuclear program goes well beyond civilian needs. A nuclear bomb would be an existential threat to Israel and trigger a regional arms race.

Over the past five days, the Jewish community has also come together in our shared concern for family, friends and colleagues hunkered down in Israel and scrambling to bomb shelters.

We share these concerns even if we disagree on the best way to meet the threat and prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.

J Street has long maintained that the best way to stop Iran from getting a bomb is a verifiable, enforceable diplomatic agreement. As an example of this, President Obama’s 2015 Iran deal put inspectors on the ground, cameras in facilities and blocked the Iranian path to a weapon.

Diplomacy, not military force, achieved that outcome.

We supported President Trump’s initial inclination to pursue renewed diplomacy with Iran over the nuclear program and were anxious for its success.

Had diplomatic efforts failed, J Street had never ruled out the use of military force as a last resort. But negotiators had not hit a dead end – and despite that, Israel launched last week’s attack, without credible evidence that anything necessitated the attack at this precise moment. In fact, reporting indicates that planning began months ago – not in recent days.

Now, the US is considering joining the attack – particularly as Israel alone lacks the military capacity to finish what it started by taking out the Fordow facility – something we all always knew as well.

We have serious questions about the wisdom of a rumored American attack on the fortified Iran nuclear site at Fordow. Among our questions:

What’s the benefit? Does this end Iran’s nuclear program or simply incentivize it to restart quickly and in even more fortified locations and without inspections?
What are the risks? Of regional escalation? Of US troops being drawn in?
What’s the strategy? Israel’s initial strike may have achieved short-term tactical successes, but it seems there is no strategy to address the Iranian program for the long-term.
In our view, these questions have not been satisfactorily answered.

The strategy is too unclear, the risks too high and “success” too short-term.

So even now – especially now – we are urging our leaders in Washington to find the offramp to stop this conflict from spiraling, protect civilians in harm’s way and restart diplomacy.

And that is why we are also supporting congressional vehicles in both the Senate and the House that make clear that before President Trump takes America to war with Iran, there must be a Congressional vote to authorize military action.

Right now, in this dark, difficult moment, we owe it to the millions caught in the crossfire to advocate a wiser path.

With all those in danger in my thoughts,

Jeremy Ben-Ami
President, J Street

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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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