[ [link removed] ]End the War | Free the Hostages | Surge Aid

This Week: Netanyahu Launches Gaza City Ground Invasion ⚠️ | Raising the
Alarm Over Rampant West Bank Violence 🚨 | The New York Times on Trump,
Netanyahu and an Israel Without Restraint 💰| We Must Reject Political
Violence ☮️ | Are Campuses Antisemitic? 🎙️| Has Israel Become a Pariah
State? 🇮🇱 | This Week’s Must-Reads/Listens 📖 | Our Pro-Democracy To-Do
List 🗳️ | And much more.

⚠️ Netanyahu Launches Gaza City Ground Invasion, Deepens Israel’s
International Isolation: On Tuesday, the Israeli government launched a
full ground invasion into Gaza City – which has put hundreds of thousands
in grave danger and forced hundreds of thousands more to flee. Over
100,000 reservists have been called up for what may be a months-long
operation.

* Defense Minister Katz [ [link removed] ]proclaimed that ‘Gaza is burning’ –
continuing a string of appalling comments. We [ [link removed] ]share the alarm of
hostage families who fear this will place their loved ones in mortal
danger.

* Finance Minister Smotrich [ [link removed] ]described Gaza as a "real estate
bonanza," saying that a “business plan is on President Trump's desk.”
Joking to a live audience, he said "we've done the demolition phase...
now we need to build.”

* Prime Minister Netanyahu [ [link removed] ]boasted that Israel will become “Super
Sparta” – a hyper-militaristic, self-reliant society, isolated from
the rest of the world. “This is not a vision for Israel’s future that
its supporters in our community can recognize,” [ [link removed] ]we wrote in
response. “It’s a plan only to deepen Israel’s path to pariah status
and accelerate its moral and political decline.” When Israeli stocks
immediately dipped after his speech, Netanyahu was forced to
[ [link removed] ]clarify he had “full confidence” in Israel’s economy.

* Our Response: “It has become inescapably clear that for the extremists
at the helm of the Netanyahu government, the goal is not the release
of hostages nor the defeat of Hamas, but the destruction of Gaza and
indefinite occupation of the Strip [...] The US must stop fueling this
destruction, prohibit our weapons from use in Gaza and press urgently
for negotiations that can free the hostages and bring this nightmare
to an end. [ [link removed] ]Read and share the full statement>>

🚨 Raising the Alarm Over Rampant West Bank Violence: On Thursday, we held
a briefing on the situation in the West Bank, where the rate of settlement
construction, home demolitions and rampant settler terrorism is worse than
we’ve ever seen. 

* We were joined by Eid Hathaleen, a peace activist from Umm al-Khair
whose cousin was murdered by a violent settler in July, and Yehuda
Shaul, a former IDF soldier and leading Israeli anti-occupation policy
expert. [ [link removed] ]Watch and share >>
* This week, J Street leaders were on Capitol Hill calling attention to
the spiral in the West Bank and demanding action – including by
rallying support for the West Bank Violence Prevention Act. [ [link removed] ]Sign
our petition, share with your friends and call your senators here >>

💰 The New York Times on Trump, Netanyahu and an Israel Without Restraint: 

* [ [link removed] ]Trump’s Laissez-Faire Stance Gives Netanyahu Free Pass for Gaza
Escalation [🎁 Gift Link]
“At the start of the Trump Administration there was real hope that he
would pick up on the cease-fire that he and Biden negotiated together
and use his leverage to end the war in Gaza,” J Street Policy Chief
Ilan Goldenberg tells the New York Times. “Sadly that has not
happened. Instead, at every step of the way he’s given Netanyahu a
blank check.”

* [ [link removed] ]Netanyahu and an Israel Without Restraint [🎁 Gift Link]
With the assault on Gaza City, Netanyahu has piled defiance on
defiance and thumbed his nose at the international community and the
moral consensus, writes Roger Cohen. “He’s lost it,” Itamar
Rabinovich, a former Israeli ambassador to the United States told
Cohen. “There are no more red lines.”

* [ [link removed] ]In the West Bank, Trump Is Not Standing in Israel’s Way [🎁 Gift
Link]
Dr. Phillip Gordon, former national security adviser to Vice President
Kamala Harris, calls for greater international pressure to stop West
Bank annexation. “The government of Mr. Netanyahu should know that it
can have flourishing relations with the rest of the world, or total
control of the West Bank – but not both.”

☮️ We Must Reject Political Violence: Jeremy Ben-Ami reflects on the
uptick of political violence in his latest Substack piece. “We must refuse
to join the loudest fringes in the gutter. We must insist on civility, on
moderation, on the possibility of community even in the face of division.
We must remember to always acknowledge the humanity of those on the other
side of our debates. The survival of our democracy depends on it.”
[ [link removed] ]Read more>>

🎙️ Are Campuses Antisemitic? In the latest Word on the Street Live, Jeremy
spoke with three college students from the University of Michigan, Harvard
University and Princeton University. They discussed the debate over campus
antisemitism, rollbacks of DEI programs and student efforts to protect
free speech. [ [link removed] ]Watch the full Word on the Street Live>>

[ [link removed] ]Word on the Street Live Gif

🇮🇱 Has Israel Become a Pariah State? Israeli chess players withdrawing
from a tournament in Spain because they couldn’t compete under their flag;
the Netherlands threatening to boycott Eurovision if Israel participates
(five countries have now announced they won’t participate if Israel does);
a Belgian festival boycotting the Munich Philharmonic over its incoming
Israeli conductor; an international cycling team abbreviating its name to
avoid the word “Israel” and the protests it triggers. Europe – Israel’s
largest trading partner – is starting to consider official economic
measures.

* “The government’s response – usually a tweet or statement from the
foreign minister accusing longtime partners of aiding Hamas, falling
for propaganda, or being antisemitic – is tone-deaf. Punitive measures
like threatening to close consulates in Jerusalem or suspend
diplomatic ties are even worse,” J Street’s Chief Policy Officer Ilan
Goldenberg writes. [ [link removed] ]Read more >>

📖 This Week’s Must-Reads/Listens:

* [ [link removed] ]Israel’s War in Gaza Must End: For Israel’s Future and Our Shared
Humanity, We Only Need Apply US Law
J Street Rabbinical Cabinet member Rachel Timoner writes in New York
Daily News, “Precisely because we care deeply about Israel’s
existence, precisely because we want Israel to have a future,
precisely because we care about the safety and well-being of Israelis,
American Jewish leaders must change our position. There must be
consequences for the Netanyahu government.”

* [ [link removed] ]Israel's Qatar Attack Was a Costly Failure
Barak Ravid writes in Axios, “A week after Israel’s missile strikes in
Qatar, it’s clear not only that the assassination attempt against
Hamas leaders failed, but that it backfired. The strike increased the
feeling inside the Trump administration and around the world that
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is reckless and has
become a destabilizing force in the region.”

* [ [link removed] ]Israel Is Orchestrating an Economic Collapse in the West Bank
Foreign Policy’s Jessica Buxbaum writes, “As the West Bank’s economic
trajectory plummets, there’s likely little that can be done to prevent
a total collapse.”

* [ [link removed] ]Tony Blair’s US-Backed Proposal for Ending the Gaza War and
Replacing Hamas
Jacob Magid writes for the Times of Israel, “US President Donald Trump
has authorized Tony Blair to rally regional and international
stakeholders around the former UK prime minister’s proposal to
establish a postwar transitional body to govern the Gaza Strip until
it can be handed over to the Palestinian Authority, four sources
familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel.”

🗳️  Our Pro-Democracy To-Do List:

[22][ ]  NEW! [ [link removed] ]Tell Congress: Support the West Bank Violence Prevention
Act >>

[24][ ]  NEW! [ [link removed] ]Find a No Kings Rally to attend on October 18 >>

[26][ ] [ [link removed] ]Tell Congress: Recognize Palestinian Statehood >>

[28][ ]  [ [link removed] ]Order J Street Merch >>

[30][ ] [ [link removed] ]Tell Secretary Rubio: Stop punishing Gaza’s children >>

[32][ ]  [ [link removed] ]Tell Jewish leaders: We must speak out to end the war >>

[34][ ] [ [link removed] ]American Jews say: Bring them home. End the war >>

[36][ ] [ [link removed] ]Order or download posters or yard signs to share our message
>>

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

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

 💡 More Resources:

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J Street is the political home for pro-Israel, pro-peace, pro-democracy
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advocate policies that advance shared US and Israeli interests as well as Jewish
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