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

This Week: As the World Meets in New York, Gaza Pulls Focus 🗽 | The
Fallout of Netanyahu’s UN Speech 🎙️ | This Week in Congress… 🏛️ | Moral
Clarity in the Days of Awe 🕯️ | Jeremy Joins BoomerLennials Podcast 🎧 |
Rabbis Across the Country Speak Out ✡️ | This Week’s Must-Reads/Listens 📖
| Our Pro-Democracy To-Do List 🗳️ | And much more.

🗽 As the World Meets in New York, Gaza Pulls Focus: The UN General
Assembly this week has already been a landmark moment for the history of
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A wave of Western countries has formally
recognized Palestinian statehood, with Trump and Netanyahu responding in
furious, belligerent speeches.

* The Truth About This Year’s UN Meeting: Netanyahu would have us
believe Israel stands alone – a “Super Sparta” besieged by enemies and
abandoned by allies. It’s a narrative that keeps him in power as
Israel’s sole defender while he drives an endless war of devastation
in Gaza. In reality, however, the world is rallying around a
comprehensive, pro-Israel, pro-Palestinian, pro-peace plan to end the
war, free the hostages and work toward a future of freedom and
security for both peoples, writes J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami.
“Tragically, the one man standing in the way is the one most needed to
move it forward: Benjamin Netanyahu.” [ [link removed] ]Read more about the New York
declaration >>

* Netanyahu Isn’t the Only Israeli in New York: Hostage families flew to
the UN as well to meet with leaders and demand an immediate war-ending
hostage deal. “I’m calling for greater international pressure to end
this war and secure a hostage deal,” writes Yehuda Cohen, whose son
Nimrod is still being held hostage. “This is not a war for the Israeli
people or a war for the freedom of hostages like my son. It is an
endless war for Netanyahu’s political survival. He is betraying
Israel, and he is betraying my son.” [ [link removed] ]Read and share Yehuda’s full
piece >>

* 🔍 Dive Deeper: J Street Policy Analyst Liam Hamama discusses five
things to watch for in this year’s UNGA. [ [link removed] ]Read more >>

🎙️ The Fallout of Netanyahu’s UN Speech: On this week’s Word on the Street
Live, Jeremy and Ilan sat down to unpack a whirlwind week at the UN –
starting with Netanyahu’s speech just hours before. His message was sadly
familiar: Rejection of Palestinian recognition, vows to “finish the job”
in Gaza and framing everything as a “clash of civilizations” rather than
reconcilable political conflicts. [ [link removed] ]Watch here >>

🏛️ This Week in Congress…

* Overwhelming Majority of House Democrats Rally to Oppose Annexation:
This week, 178 House Democrats signed onto a letter warning Prime
Minister Netanyahu against West Bank annexation. Led by
Representatives Brad Schneider and Jamie Raskin, the letter was signed
by the entire current and former House Democratic leadership. [ [link removed] ]Read
more >>

* Landmark Congressional Letter in Support of Palestinian Statehood: 47
House Democrats have signed onto a letter led by Representative Ro
Khanna to Secretary of State Mark Rubio, urging US recognition of
Palestinian statehood. The letter coincides with Prime Minister
Netanyahu’s speech to the UN General Assembly and follows the
recognition of Palestinian statehood by several G7 members this week.

* “In light of the explicit efforts being made by the far right in
Israel to bury the idea of a Palestinian state, actions like this
letter are vital to affirm the global commitment to Palestinian
self-determination” J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami tells The
Guardian. [ [link removed] ]Read more >>

🕯️ Moral Clarity in the Days of Awe: "This year, none of us can step into
synagogue without carrying the unbearable weight of Gaza,” Jeremy writes.
“The devastation and moral wounds before our eyes demand more than crumbs
cast into a river. They call us to cast away our silence, our evasions,
and our failure to act." [ [link removed] ]Read the full Word on the Street post >>

🎧 Jeremy Joins BoomerLennials Podcast: This week, Jeremy joined the
BoomerLennials podcast to share his Rosh Hashanah reflections: “‘Never
again’ means standing against oppression and standing against violence and
standing against the mistreatment of minority communities, and that's
going to apply as well to the way the Israelis treat the
Palestinians.” [ [link removed] ]Listen to the full episode here >>

✡️ Rabbis Across the Country Speak Out: This year, rabbis across the
country face a challenging task – celebrating the start of a new year,
acknowledging the deep pain of this moment, and rising to the call for
moral clarity and spiritual leadership. Here are a couple of sermons we
felt were particularly powerful.

* Rabbi Sharon Brous, IKAR, Los Angeles: “If the soul of our people is
to be redeemed, it will not flow from the annexationist zealots in the
Knesset nor from their rabbinic brethren issuing rulings from batei
midrash, from houses of study that have been hastily constructed on
stolen land in the West Bank.” [ [link removed] ]Watch and share (sermon begins at
2:26:00) >>

* Rabbi Jon Roos, Temple Sinai, Washington, DC: “Look through the
machzor and you will not find much about apples and honey, but the
words ‘King’ and ‘Peace’ and references to community are all over the
book. Jewish history and the stories of those Jewish holidays are all
about fighting against authoritarian rulers and never acceding to
them." [ [link removed] ]Watch and share (Rosh Hashanah morning services, sermon
begins at 1:00:30) >>

* Rabbi Lizzi Heydemann, Mishkan, Chicago: “We do the Jewish people and
the Jewish state no favors by keeping our heads down as if we don’t
look it’s not happening. Because the consequences of empowering
state-sponsored Jewish extremism imperil all of us.” [ [link removed] ]Watch and
share >>

* Rabbi Elliott Tepperman, Bnai Keshet, New Jersey: “We must make sure
that the Jewish religion is not submerged and shredded by the power of
the Jewish state. Netanyahu has acted criminally in ways that have
harmed the Jewish people and stained the reputation of Israel, but
most importantly, have led to an atrocity of Palestinian death.”
[ [link removed] ]Watch and share >>

* If you want to share a Rosh Hashanah (or Yom Kippur) sermon, please
feel free to reach out at [ mailto:[email protected] ][email protected]! We may not be able to
respond directly to everyone, but appreciate any submissions you have.

📖 This Week’s Must-Reads/Listens:

* [ [link removed] ]We Can’t Ignore Settler Violence in the West Bank
Chair of J Street Cleveland Gregg Levine writes, "J Street believes in
a secure Israel alongside a free and independent Palestine. We support
Israel’s right to defend itself, and we also insist that it act in
accordance with democratic values and international law. Occupation,
unchecked settler violence and creeping annexation make peace
impossible and does lasting harm to Israel’s moral standing and
long-term security."

* [ [link removed] ]It’s Time to Impose Conditions on Aid to Israel
Jon Finer and Philip Gordon write in Politico, "Under these
circumstances, with Hamas decimated and humanitarian conditions in
Gaza beyond intolerable, we believe it is long past time for more
decisive U.S. action to try to end the war. And that includes the most
meaningful and material step the United States could take — arguably
the only one of consequence — which is to finally leverage the
billions of dollars it provides to Israel annually for security
assistance."

* [ [link removed] ]Our True Friends in the US Are in the Democratic Party
J Street Israel Executive Director Nadav Tamir writes, "The US is in a
period of polarizing leadership and rising political violence that
could push the world’s greatest power into yet more chaos and
instability. In this moment, we must remember: Our true friends are
not those who exploit Israel to attack their opponents, nor those who
give Netanyahu a blank check in Gaza. They are the ones who have stood
by us consistently – and still do – even when their support comes with
tough love that many Israelis would rather not hear."

* [ [link removed] ]Arab League Summit in Doha Leaves Israel With a Choice
Nimrod Novik writes, "The moment seems to call for Arab leaders to
grant a series of in-depth interviews to Israeli TV channels and
saturate social media with Israeli-public-targeted articulations of
three themes: the promise of the regional offer, the destructive
nature of Israel’s conduct, and what it would take for the regional
opportunity to materialize."

🗳️  Our Pro-Democracy To-Do List:

[19][ ]  [ [link removed] ]Tell Congress: Support the West Bank Violence Prevention Act
>>

[21][ ]  [ [link removed] ]Find a No Kings Rally to attend on October 18 >>

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

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

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

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

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

 💡 More Resources:

* Follow us on Social:

* [ [link removed] ]Instagram
* [ [link removed] ]Facebook
* [ [link removed] ]BlueSky
* [ [link removed] ]Threads
* [ [link removed] ]X
* [ [link removed] ]TikTok

* Watch our Webinars and Listen to our Podcast:

* [ [link removed] ]YouTube
* [ [link removed] ]Spotify
* [ [link removed] ]Apple Podcasts

* Read More on Our Website:

* [ [link removed] ]JStreet.org
* [ [link removed] ]J Street Policy Center
* [ [link removed] ]J Street U
* [ [link removed] ]J Street Israel


[ [link removed] ]MAKE A ONE-TIME DONATION »
[ [link removed] ]MAKE A MONTHLY RECURRING DONATION »
[ [link removed] ]Threads [ [link removed] ]Facebook [ [link removed] ]Instagram [ [link removed] ]Twitter
© 2025 J Street | [ [link removed] ]www.jstreet.org | [email protected]

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.



You can unsubscribe from this mailing list at any time:
[link removed]