[ [link removed] ] [ [link removed] ]J Street[ [link removed] ]
[ [link removed] ]End the War, Free the Hostages, Surge Aid

Dear friends,

Just hours after the October 7 attacks, I was called up for reserve duty,
and we were at war.

For four months, I helped lead delegations of senior officials on tours of
the kibbutzim that were massacred near the Gaza border, including J Street
delegations. We bore witness to the barbarity and devastation of Hamas’
atrocities – an aftermath of grief and destruction that words can’t truly
capture, and which will haunt Israelis for generations.

We owe it to the victims to ensure such horror can never be repeated. To
get every hostage home. To end this long and bloody conflict for good.

The transition back to ‘normal life’ was unbearable. Returning to work and
daily routines felt impossible while the war raged on and hostages
remained in captivity. Restaurants, music, even ordinary gatherings felt
out of reach – life around me continued, but I could not.

The first time I felt a flicker of myself returning was at a protest.
Standing in the streets, surrounded by thousands of voices, I remembered
there are still ways to fight for a better future.

For the past year and 8 months, I’ve been leading the Women’s Protest for
the Return of the Hostages ([ [link removed] ]@WomenDemandLife) together with a group of
10 amazing women. This isn’t our day job, we’re all volunteers, but it is
the most important work of our lives.

We began in January 2024, weeks after the temporary ceasefire and hostage
deal collapsed. We have been demanding the return of all the hostages
through a deal. We hold giant portraits of the hostages, images that have
become powerful symbols of the struggle to bring them home. Returned
hostages told us that from captivity, they saw us holding their pictures.
It gave them hope.

The struggle to bring them home and end this war is not only a fight for
hostage families – it’s a fight for Israel’s soul. For who we are and who
we aspire to be. It is our moral duty to bring everyone home and stop the
bloodshed. I know so many Jews around the world feel this in their hearts
as well.

This past Tuesday, hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets
in a day of disruption with a clear call: Bring all the hostages home and
end this catastrophic war.

Around me were rabbis grieving the abandonment of the hostages, reservists
enraged that this war is being waged for political survival, and peace
advocates holding up images of the children killed and starving in Gaza.
So many corners of our fractured society were there.

We know what this takeover of Gaza means: More hostages will die, more
civilians will suffer, more soldiers will be sent to their deaths, and
Israel will be isolated further – not to bring anyone home or secure our
safety, but to fight an ideological war and prop up Netanyahu’s coalition.

This is a betrayal of our Jewish values. A betrayal of our founding ideals
of justice, solidarity and peace.

In recent weeks, a new wave of protest has swept across Israel. It began
on August 5 with Hostages’ Night, when roads were blocked for hours and
thousands mobilized across the country. It continues with biweekly
Disruption Days, when thousands go on strike, skip work and fill the
streets. The country is boiling.

And in the face of this, last Tuesday – while hostages starved in tunnels
and the public demanded their release – Netanyahu and his partners in
abandonment cut short a critical cabinet meeting that could have ended the
war, so they could dine in luxury restaurants with political operatives
from the West Bank.

Before Passover, we met with Gadi Moses, a former hostage. He told us that
on the rare occasions he was able to glimpse a television during his
captivity, he saw the protests – and they gave him strength. Other
released hostages have said the same: The protests were oxygen. They knew
they had not been forgotten.

These protests are not just political acts; they are moral ones – rooted
in Jewish values of justice, compassion and the sanctity of life. Many of
us protest because our people’s history and our values compel us. We stand
in the long tradition of Jewish peace advocacy, fighting not only for
Israeli lives but for the ethical soul of our society.

Last week, we went up to Jerusalem to demonstrate outside the Prime
Minister’s Residence. We held those giant portraits. As Netanyahu’s convoy
passed, they tried to block us from view – but they cannot silence us.

It’s overwhelming to stand in a sea of hundreds of thousands of people and
hear their voices rise together. Poll after poll shows that the majority
of Israelis demand an end to the war and a deal to bring the hostages
home.

The numbers speak for themselves, living hostages are brought home through
agreements. The government is acting against the will of its people. On
Friday afternoon we received the news of the recovery of the body of Ilan
Weiss z”l, a kidnapped victim who was murdered after rushing to defend
Be’eri. His wife and daughter were released in the November 2023 deal.

On Saturday night, we received more heartbreaking news – the recovery of
the body of Idan Shtivi z”l, a Nova concertgoer, and the death of the
900th fallen soldier.

In this most painful moment, the Weiss family asked us to deliver their
message: No to military operations to retrieve bodies, yes to agreements
that bring everyone home – the living and the fallen.

I ask you, our friends and partners in America: Do not look away.

Speak the truth: military pressure kills hostages, public pressure will
bring them home.

A year after six hostages were murdered in Hamas captivity, we remember
the continued false promises. The Rafah invasion would bring hostages
home, we were told, only to receive more devastating news that hostages
who were kidnapped alive and abandoned to their deaths.

Do not buy into the spin that says calling for an end to this war or the
return of the hostages is somehow “helping Hamas” or “anti-Israel.” It is
the most Jewish, the most pro-Israel position imaginable.

Our protests have power, which is why Netanyahu tries to silence us with
smears.

The protest is rising to a new level this week, led by the courageous
mothers of the hostages. Beginning Wednesday, we will stand day and night
in Jerusalem, as close as possible to the decision-makers. We will not
leave the street outside Netanyahu’s residence until this war is ended and
a path to life and hope is restored.

We need you to be bold, to be courageous and to stand with us – to demand
that this war end, that the hostages come home, and that we finally begin
to imagine a future beyond endless bloodshed.

Yours in determination,
Hilit Sagie


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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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