[ ]J Street[ ]
This Week: Iran and Israel Reach a Ceasefire 🧯 | Tell Congress: Take Back
Your War Powers ✍️ | The View from Israel 🇮🇱 | The Situation in Gaza and
the West Bank 👁️ | Don’t Miss Out on Substack 💡 | This Week’s Must-Reads 📖
| Our Pro-Democracy To-Do List 🗳️ | And much more.

🧯  Iran and Israel Reach a Ceasefire: On Tuesday, we welcomed the
announcement of a much needed, US-Qatar brokered, ceasefire between Israel
and Iran. This is, first and foremost, a welcome reprieve for Israeli and
Iranian civilians, with millions living in fear and strikes over the
12-day war killing dozens in Israel and hundreds in Iran.

* “We remain deeply concerned about the status of Iran’s enriched
material and other elements of its nuclear program. It is unclear
precisely what has been destroyed and what might remain, underscoring
longstanding concerns about the limits of military action to
verifiably and permanently set back Iran’s nuclear program,” we wrote
in response.

* “It is essential that this moment of de-escalation leads to renewed
negotiations between Iran and the US, as the clearest path to
preventing the Iranian regime from developing nuclear weapons is the
pursuit of a verifiable, enforceable nuclear agreement.” [ [link removed] ]Read and
share our full statement >>

✍️  Tell Congress: Take Back Your War Powers. While some seek to point to
tactical gains from a US strike in Iran, Trump’s choice to risk all-out
war with Iran – for uncertain impact on Iran’s nuclear program, without a
long-term strategy or congressional approval – is a frightening indictment
of how our national security decisions are being made.

* We're rallying our movement to support Senator Kaine’s bipartisan War
Powers Resolution in Congress – a move which would ensure that any
further military action against Iran is debated and voted on by
Congress, as the Constitution requires. [ [link removed] ]Add your name to our
petition >>

🇮🇱 The View From Israel:

* Gaza, Iran and My View From Tel Aviv: J Street Israel Executive
Director Nadav Tamir writes, “There’s still broad support for Israel’s
strikes on Iran, what you might call ‘rallying around the flag’ in
America. We must acknowledge that the threat posed to Israel by Iran’s
nuclear program, missile arsenal and support for destabilizing groups
across the Middle East is a real, profound danger to Israel’s security
– one that is felt by all Israelis. But among the hostage families I
speak with, there’s also real distress that this has overshadowed
their plight.” [ [link removed] ]Read here >>

* Getting Home to War-Torn Israel, By Any Means Possible: J Street
Director of Israel Operations Eve Lifson describes her complex journey
home from a Paris Peace conference as Israel launched strikes on Iran.
“On June 12, 400 Israeli and Palestinian civil society leaders landed
in Paris for a peace conference, sponsored by ALLMEP and hosted by the
Paris Peace Forum, under the patronage of President Macron. I was one
of them. That night, Israel launched strikes on Iran – and the entire
premise of the conference began to unravel.” [ [link removed] ]Read here >>

* How the US Entry Into the Iran War Reshaped Israeli Perceptions – And
Validated Netanyahu’s Gamble: J Street Policy Fellow Yael Patir
writes, “While the public appears to appreciate the strategic risk
Netanyahu has taken, there is also growing frustration with the lack
of a clear exit strategy and his perceived detachment from the
mounting human toll of the conflict.” [ [link removed] ]Read here >>

* Knesset Votes on Ousting Ayman Odeh: The Knesset held an impeachment
hearing on Tuesday to oust Knesset Member Ayman Odeh of the
Arab-majority Hadash-Ta'al. “[Ayman Odeh] believes in a future where
both Palestinians and Israelis can live in dignity and peace – and
that is something we should all support,” [ [link removed] ]we wrote. “This move to
expel him from the Knesset is straight out of the far right's
authoritarian playbook.” [ [link removed] ]Read more >>

👁️  The Situation in Gaza and the West Bank: While the world’s attention
turned to Iran, the war in Gaza rages on. Hostages are still held captive
by Hamas as hundreds of starving Gazan civilians have been killed while
trying to reach distribution centers managed by the Trump and Netanyahu
backed ‘Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.’

* We Cannot Tolerate Repeated Killings As Families Try To Reach
Humanitarian Aid: Every week the same headlines. Starving Palestinians
are [ [link removed] ]shot and killed while trying to collect aid. This is a painful
violation of our values and a searing indictment of the so-called
‘Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.’ [ [link removed] ]✍️ Tell Netanyahu to stop blocking
aid >>

* An Endless, Directionless Quagmire: On Wednesday, 7 Israeli soldiers
were [ [link removed] ]killed by explosives in Gaza – more horrific casualties as
the Netanyahu government continues to send young soldiers to the front
lines of a war with no clear aims, which should have ended long ago.

* Hostage Families Call for Diplomacy to Save Their Loved Ones: Kobi
Ohel, whose 24-year-old son Alon was taken hostage from the Nova music
festival, sends a message to Prime Minister Netanyahu. "I'm demanding,
requesting and begging the Israeli prime minister: We need to save
Alon's life and the lives of the other hostages today. They'll be
saved through diplomacy. I know that it's only through an agreement
that Alon will be returned." [ [link removed] ]Read more >>.

* Israeli Settlers Rampage Through the West Bank: On Wednesday, dozens
of settlers set fire to property in a West Bank village and threw
stones at residents. [ [link removed] ]Read more >>

* Dig Deeper: The J Street Policy Center released an explainer on
the West Bank Violence Prevention Act (H.R. 3045) – legislation
designed to inhibit and punish violent Israeli settlers and
Palestinian terrorist groups for actions that undermine peace and
the viability of a two-state solution. [ [link removed] ]Read here >>

💡  Don’t Miss Out on Substack 

* Substack Live: On this week’s Substack Live, Jeremy and Ilan discussed
the aftermath of the Israel-Iran war and the NY mayor's race. Catch
Substack live every Wednesday at 4pm Eastern / 1pm Pacific and
subscribe to get notified. [ [link removed] ]Watch the recording >>

* Coffee with Contrarians: Jeremy Ben-Ami joined Jennifer Rubin and
Norman Eisen to discuss Trump’s decision to strike Iran and why
diplomacy remains the only way to block Iran’s path to a bomb.
[ [link removed] ]Watch now >>

* Now What? Jeremy writes, “Some advocates of military force may – I
fear – have been conceiving of this as a video game in which the US
simply needed to push a button and destroy Fordo and a big ‘game over’
sign would start flashing, with Iran permanently neutralized and peace
breaking out across the Middle East. Rather than ‘Game Over,’ the
American strike only means the game moves to the next level.” [ [link removed] ]Read
the full Word on the Street Substack >>

📖  This Week’s Must-Reads:

* [ [link removed] ]Israel Has Proved Its Military Might. It’s Not Enough (🎁 Gift
Link), Ami Ayalon writes, "The Israeli strategist Yehoshafat Harkabi
once observed that in military doctrine, the enemy is a target to
destroy, but in statesmanship, the enemy is a political entity to
engage. Israel’s tragedy today is that its leaders see only targets.
Statesmanship – the work of building a future beyond the battlefield –
has all but disappeared."

* [ [link removed] ]Maybe It is Time for Israel to Mature, J Street Israel Executive
Director Nadav Tamir writes, "Trump’s approach is no longer about
unconditional support. If Israel wants the full backing of the US, it
must be willing to shoulder more of the burden, whether in the form of
military investments or of diplomatic concessions."

* [ [link removed] ]'It's a Killing Field': IDF Soldiers Ordered to Shoot Deliberately
at Unarmed Gazans Waiting for Humanitarian Aid (🎁 Gift Link), "’It's a
killing field,’ one soldier said. ‘Where I was stationed, between one
and five people were killed every day. They're treated like a hostile
force – no crowd-control measures, no tear gas – just live fire with
everything imaginable: heavy machine guns, grenade launchers, mortars.
Then, once the center opens, the shooting stops, and they know they
can approach. Our form of communication is gunfire.’"

🗳️  Our Pro-Democracy To-Do List:

[20][ ] [ [link removed] ]Tell Congress: take back your war powers >>

[22][ ] [ [link removed] ]Tell Netanyahu to stop blocking aid >>

[24][ ] [ [link removed] ]Call your Member of Congress and tell them you oppose the Gaza
war >>

[26][ ]  [ [link removed] ]Host a vigil for immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers with
HIAS >>

[28][ ]  [ [link removed] ]Find pro-Israel, pro-democracy, pro-peace candidates at
JStreetPAC.org >>

[30][ ] [ [link removed] ]Sign up for J Street’s 2026 National Convention >>

* Until July 11, use code INDEPENDENCE for 20% off any General Admission level
ticket.



[ [link removed] ]Check out and share the regularly updated Pro-Democracy To-Do List on
our website >>

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