[ [link removed] ] [ [link removed] ]J Street[ [link removed] ]
This week: Home at Last 🎗️ | Join Nationwide No Kings Rallies This
Saturday 👑 | Building a Movement Grounded in Democracy🎙| What Comes Next ❓
| Fighting Back Against Project Esther 📣 | The End of “Managing the
Conflict” 🚧 | Reserve Your J Street 2026 Convention Ticket 🎟️ | This
Week’s Must-Reads/Listens 📖 | Our Pro-Democracy To-Do List 🗳️ | And much
more.

🎗️ Home at Last: Finally, all the living hostages held by Hamas have
returned to Israel and their families after over two years in captivity.
In Gaza, Palestinians are finally returning home after years of
displacement and beginning to pick up the pieces of their lives. There is
a long road ahead, but for the first time in a long time, there is a real
chance to move toward a lasting peace – if our leaders seize this moment.

* Committing to a Future of Peace:“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,” J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami wrote. [ [link removed] ]Read here >>

* If You Watch Something Today, Let it Be This: Just after the
announcement of the ceasefire last week, we convened a few
extraordinary conversations here at J Street. Our speakers – Israelis
and Palestinians, activists and journalists, parents and doctors, and
even a hostage negotiator – came together to challenge us to reflect
on what peace really means to those who have endured so much
heartbreak. [ [link removed] ]Watch and share here >>

* Keeping the Peace: After unfathomable loss, a fragile ceasefire. It
took far too long – and far too many lives – to reach this point. Now
comes the true test: Keeping it. [ [link removed] ]Read, sign and share the petition:
No Return to Gaza War >>

[ [link removed] ]ALT TEXT FOR IMAGE

👑 Join Nationwide No Kings Rallies This Saturday: Tomorrow, millions will
gather in rallies across the country in the largest nationwide day of
protest so far this year, coming together to denounce Trump’s assault on
our democracy and stand up for our freedoms. J Street is proudly
mobilizing our community and standing up for our Jewish, democratic
values.

* [ [link removed] ]Find Rally Meetup Locations >>
* [ [link removed] ]Download Protest Signs >>
* [ [link removed] ]RSVP to a No Kings rally >>

🎙 Building a Movement Grounded in Democracy: Jeremy Ben-Ami joined The
Contrarian’s Jen Rubin for a wide-ranging conversation on topics including
the government shutdown, the Supreme Court’s latest Voting Rights Act
case, to the return of hostages and the dangerous rhetoric coming from the
right. [ [link removed] ]Watch here >>

❓ What Comes Next? Word on the Street with Rep. Adam Smith:Jeremy and J
Street Chief Policy Officer Ilan Goldenberg sat down with Congressman Adam
Smith, Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, about what
comes next after the ceasefire. [ [link removed] ]Watch the full conversation here >>

📣 Fighting Back Against Project Esther: This week, the Nexus Project
released The Shofar Report: A Call to Defend Democracy and Confront
Antisemitism, which offers recommendations to strengthen democratic
institutions, invest in antisemitism education and build cross-community
alliances. The Shofar Report is a comprehensive response to the Heritage
Foundation’s Project Esther, which seeks to weaponize claims of
antisemitism to undermine democracy and promote a right-wing agenda.
[ [link removed] ]Read and share the full report here >>

* Fighting for Us Means Fighting for All: “For Nexus, democracy and
Jewish safety are inseparable, and protecting democracy is a
foundational strategy for combating antisemitism,” the report states.

* US Foreign Policy Hinders Effort to Combat Antisemitism: “Implying, as
Trump does, that Israel is an extension of all Jewish Americans fuels
the misdirection of anger over Israeli government actions toward
Jewish Americans. And allying the United States with far-right
movements around the world boosts antisemitism in this country and
around the world,” writes J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami in the
report.

🚧 The End of ‘Managing the Conflict’: Since the Second Intifada, the
Netanyahu government pursued a policy of weakening Palestinian moderates
and rewarding extremists – with the end goal of containing Palestinian
aspirations for statehood and representation. October 7 shattered the
illusion that conflict management could replace conflict resolution.

* Now, Israel Faces a Choice: “It can double down on occupation and an
increasingly militarized approach to the Palestinians that leaves
Israel internationally isolated – a path Netanyahu recently described
as a ‘super Sparta.’ The alternative is to use this moment to begin
building a pathway towards a different future that we at J Street call
the 23-state solution,” writes Ilan Goldenberg. [ [link removed] ]Read more >>

🎟️ Reserve Your J Street 2026 Convention Ticket: From working to lock in
this ceasefire to fighting for our democracy at the ballot box, J Street’s
work has never been more important. Our 2026 convention will feature
pro-peace leaders from Israel and Palestine, pro-democracy champions in
the House and Senate, and challengers looking to defeat MAGA incumbents up
and down the ballot. Don't miss out on the largest gathering of our
pro-Israel, pro-peace, pro-democracy movement next year! [ [link removed] ]Learn more
and register here >>

📖 This Week’s Must-Reads/Listens:

* [ [link removed] ]The Hostages Are Home. The Fight for Their Future Is Far From Over
Sam Berkman, J Street Director of Communal Relations, writes in The
Forward, “If we are sincere about preventing another Oct. 7, and that
massacre's two years of brutal aftermath, we cannot become complacent.
We must ensure that the murders of Oct. 7, the suffering of the
hostages and the killing of thousands of Gazan civilians are the last
great tragedies of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
* [ [link removed] ]Can the Israel-Hamas Deal Hold?
“Deal, schmeal,” former Palestinian negotiator Hussein Agha tells Ezra
Klein. “In our region, in our part of the world, deals do not matter.
What matters is what can be achieved, how soon it can be achieved and
what it will lead to. And this deal, if it stops the slaughter
permanently in Gaza and the prisoners have been released, that by
itself is a big achievement. Everything else is padding.”

“The next stages – disarming Hamas, bringing in an international
stabilization force, bringing in a new Palestinian technocratic
government, full Israeli withdrawal, etc. – that’s where there’s
divergence,” says former White House official and Iran Deal negotiator
Rob Malley. “Neither Hamas nor Israel has an interest in that.”

* [ [link removed] ]Mr. Trump, on the Middle East, Please Move Fast and Break Things
Thomas Friedman writes in the New York Times, "If Trump wants to
translate his 20-point plan into regional peace, he has to start by
once and for all breaking the twisted, codependent relationship
between Netanyahu and Hamas – who have helped to keep each other
politically viable for over two decades." 

🗳️ Our Pro-Democracy To-Do List:

[16][ ]  [ [link removed] ]NEW Give Voice to Our Community: No Return to Gaza War >>>

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

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

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

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

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

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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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