[ [link removed] ] [ [link removed] ]J Street[ [link removed] ]
Friends,

I feel like I can finally exhale.

I’m on text chains filled with joy at the images of twenty hostages –
whose stories we’ve come to know so personally – all of whom are now home
at last. The emotion is raw and overwhelming.

In Gaza, for the first time in far, far too long, families are sleeping
without the sound of bombs and drones overhead. Food and lifesaving
medical supplies are on the way to those who need them.

The images we will see over the next few days will paint a complex picture
of this moment: Israelis embracing loved ones they didn’t know if they’d
see again. The pain of families whose loved ones’ remains were not
returned and are still missing.

Palestinian families returning to the rubble to dig out what remains of
their homes and reckon with unfathomable loss.

Amid it all, something we can all agree on: This moment should have come
long ago.

It’s long been clear that strong American leadership – and firm pressure
on both sides – was the only way to end this war and get hostages home.

For many of us, the relief washing over is mixed with disbelief at how
fast things changed once the US President decided to lead, and that the
president’s name was Donald Trump.

The framework now being implemented is designed not just to stop the
fighting, but to pave a path to ending this conflict for good.

There is no guarantee of success. Firm American pressure must remain – on
both sides and on regional partners – to see this through.

The challenges are clear: Disarming and permanently sidelining Hamas,
stabilizing and rebuilding Gaza, and establishing safe, stable, peaceful
governance in Gaza. Preventing extremist forces in Israel from seizing any
pretext to restart this war or to pursue annexation of the West Bank,
where unchecked violence and displacement continue.

To pave the path to peace will demand imagination, courage, leadership,
patience and empathy. This will take time. It will not happen overnight.

It’s a path that leads to a future that looks nothing like the past: A
future of partnership and shared prosperity, where the states of Israel
and Palestine live side by side, secure in their dignity and humanity. A
Middle East working together to defeat extremism, nurture opportunity and
give the next generation something to believe in.

The other path requires far less of us: Only inertia, cynicism and rage.

It leads back to bloodshed and tears. Revenge, grievance and fear. Endless
arguments over who suffered more, whose God promised what, whose pain
justifies another round of killing.

As should be clear by now, our choice is simple: Either everyone wins – or
everyone loses.

Danger, of course, lurks on all fronts – abroad and at home.

Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other terror groups and extremists will try to
sabotage progress. Iran will look for openings to exploit.

Trump remains who he always has been, a threat to American democracy and
global stability. Israel will never sign a lasting peace as long as
Netanyahu and his ethnonationalist coalition remain in office.

But I refuse to focus only on the obstacles. History rarely opens doors of
opportunity, and we stand before one now. This moment requires change and
leadership on all fronts.

Israelis head to the polls next year. They must choose leaders who see the
opportunity before them: To secure their borders, normalize their place in
the region and restore Israel’s moral standing in the world.

There must be an honest debate about the path to real security – is it the
path of Sparta and living by the sword, or of lasting peace and finally
building the new Middle East?

Palestinians, too, need renewal. New leadership, new elections, real
reform. A process of state-building that unites Gaza and the West Bank and
ends Hamas’s reprehensible rule. Mahmoud Abbas should make way for a new
generation ready to finish the work he began.

The Arab world must continue to step forward – not just with vague pledges
but genuine regional partnership that includes both Israel and Palestine.
We don’t need endless, stalled talks between Israelis and Palestinians, or
more walls and weapons; we need a broader regional vision and process – a
true “23-state solution” built on a shared future.

The United States will play an indispensable role in pressing this
forward. All of us who care about Israel, Palestine and peace must join
together to press our leaders on this. We must find a new path in our
politics – an end to the blame games and hardened thinking that have
poisoned this debate for too long.

So many are so tired, so disillusioned, so angry, so cynical.
Understandably so. But on this “day after,” history is giving us another
chance – maybe a last chance – to choose hope over hate, courage over fear
and a commitment to the future rather than the past.

To all of those who have spent decades in this struggle: Let’s give this
another try. Let’s not squander this chance. The path we choose will
define not only the future of Israelis and Palestinians there, but the
kind of world we’ll build for all of us.

Let’s choose a better future, because we cannot afford to repeat the past.

Yours in hope,

Jeremy Ben-Ami
President, J Street

[ [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]