This week: Democrats and Republicans Unite Against Annexation 🇺🇸 | This week’s analysis on Word on the Street 🚧 | J Street’s Policy Center on Implementing the Gaza Ceasefire 📝 | Standing up to Bigotry in Politics 🛑 | We Were Strangers Too 🌎 | This Week’s Must-Reads/Listens 📖 | Our Pro-Democracy To-Do List 🗳️ | And much more.

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🇺🇸 Democrats and Republicans Unite Against Annexation: In a rare moment of bipartisanship, 46 Democratic senators – along with President Trump, Vice President Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio – came out in strong opposition to the the potential Israeli annexation of the West Bank, with the President reportedly saying that Israel would “lose all support” if it pursued annexation. 

• “This establishes a rare bipartisan consensus that annexation harms US foreign policy interests by undermining the Gaza ceasefire and threatening the possibility of a future peace between Israelis, Palestinians and the rest of the Arab world,” said J Street Chief Policy Officer Ilan Goldenberg. Read the full statement here >>

• “This is a tremendous show of unity across the Democratic caucus. Together, Democrats are sending a clear message to extremists in the Israeli government: If they think they can get away with annexation without consequences, it’s time to think again,” wrote J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami in response to the Senate letter opposing annexation. Read more >>

🚧 What Comes Next? This Week’s Analysis onWord on the Street: J Street publishes commentary, video conversations and policy pieces on our Substack throughout the week. Subscribe here >>

• There Is No Return to “Normal”:Israel’s global standing has undeniably been tarnished by its conduct in Gaza over the past two years. Many traditional allies are revisiting their relationships with Israel, and support for Israel among young American Jews is plummeting.
  
  “Permanent rule over millions of Palestinians without equal rights is not a formula for rebuilding the trust that once underpinned what was called an 'unbreakable' US–Israel relationship. That bond is being shredded before our eyes. Restoring it will require fundamental policy change – real seriousness of purpose to end the conflict,” writes Jeremy Ben-Ami. Read more >>

• How to Disarm Hamas: Hamas will not disarm itself. The only way to truly neutralize it is by showing Palestinians in Gaza that someone other than Hamas can protect and govern them. Ilan Goldenberg weighed in on a viable path to achieving this:
  
  “It begins with security. Counterinsurgency 101 teaches that the population sides with whoever can provide basic safety and order. That requires Palestinian forces on the ground who are not affiliated with Hamas but have credibility with the local population. The most realistic option is to use the model of the Palestinian Authority security forces – not because they’re ideal, but because they’re the only existing, semi-legitimate structure capable of the job.” Read the full piece here >>

• Can Trump’s Peace Plan Survive Reality? Donald Trump’s peace plan for the Middle East is ambitious – but will it actually happen? Ilan discussed the possibility of reaching Phase 2 and implementing an international security force in Gaza with Samantha Sutton – a Middle East insider who’s spent over a decade shaping US-Israel policy and leading delicate regional negotiations.
  
  “I think the role that the PA plays in all this is critical to the vision that you just laid out. And if the Israelis are still saying the PA can't be there, I just – I find it hard to believe that we will be able to build an entity that's a completely new entity. So, I think that the PA will have to be a part of this, and the PA security forces and the PA civil administration that is already there,” says Sutton. Listen to the full conversation here >>
  

📝 J Street’s Policy Center on Implementing the Gaza Ceasefire: As senior Trump Administration officials continue shuttling to Israel to ensure the Gaza ceasefire holds and advances to its next phase, the J Street Policy Center published three new analyses on what it will take for the agreement to succeed. 

• Sidelining Hamas by Beginning Phase II Implementation
  J Street Policy Fellow Frank Lowenstein and Policy Analyst Liam Hamama write, “Deploying a Palestinian technocratic government, Palestinian police force and the [International Stabilization Force] would significantly reduce Hamas’ influence, make a return to war less likely and lay the groundwork for progress on the most difficult issues.”

• Facilitating Gaza’s Humanitarian Recovery
  J Street Policy Fellow Larry Garber, former head of the USAID/West Bank-Gaza mission, writes, “Gaza remains in a humanitarian crisis despite the relief provided by the October ceasefire. Immediate, coordinated action through a joint US–UN–Israeli humanitarian operations center is needed to deliver aid, remove rubble and rebuild critical infrastructure.”

• The Key Role of Egypt, Qatar and Turkey
  J Street Policy Fellow Jen Gavito, former Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, writes, “The specific duties of Egypt, Qatar and Turkey (alongside the US) as guarantors of the agreement include holding the parties accountable, monitoring compliance, resolving disputes and enforcing the agreement. With differing objectives and strategic priorities, there is some risk of divergence among them.”

🛑 Standing up to Bigotry in Politics: J Street has long held that weaponizing the threat of antisemitism to stigmatize those with whom we disagree does nothing to protect Jews or Israel’s future and, in fact, often harms both. 

• In light of recent Islamophobic comments in the NYC mayoral race, J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami wrote, “When politicians weaponize fear and identity to win votes, it cheapens our politics, divides our communities and endangers us all – Jews, Muslims and every minority. These tactics don’t just cross a political line – they cross a moral one. We urge former Governor Cuomo to apologize for his remarks and call on all community leaders to keep the focus of this campaign on issues, not identity.” Read the full statement here >>

🌎 We Were Strangers Too: J Street National Director of Communal Relations Sam Berkman sat down with Naomi Steinberg, Vice President of Policy and Advocacy at HIAS, to discuss how Jewish values compel us to stand up for immigrants. Naomi delved into the intersection of Jewish and immigrant safety, and how HIAS is meeting this current political moment.

• “The core of who we are as a country in terms of welcoming refugees and being a safe place for asylum seekers has been abandoned and replaced with people who believe that refugee resettlement and asylum seekers and other immigrants are coming as part of this grand plot to replace white Christians. It is dangerous.” Watch the full webinar here >> 

📖 This Week’s Must-Reads/Listens:

• The Ceasefire Created Two Gazas. One Will Consume the Other.
  Moumen Al-Natour writes in The Washington Post, "On one side is a Gaza that is desperate for Trump’s plan to succeed; on the other is a Gaza that is being pulled back into the abyss once again. It is impossible for these two Gazas to exist simultaneously for more than a moment in time, and soon enough one will consume the other."

• When Will the Lives, and Deaths, of Palestinian Citizens of Israel Actually Matter?
  Nagham Zbeedat writes in Haaretz, "We live in fear, and the state treats it like background noise. This is not an isolated story. It's a pattern. Since 2018, crime in Arab towns inside Israel has continued to grow more brazen and more deadly, yet the police response remains dangerously apathetic. Arab citizens make up just over one-fifth of the population but the majority of murder victims."

• Listen: A Former Republican Explores the Meaning of “Pro-Israel” in 2025
  Jeremy and Ilan sat down with Joe Walsh, a former Tea Party Congressman who has since begun to align himself with the Democratic Party amidst Donald Trump’s unprecedented attacks on democracy. In discussing Trump’s role in achieving a ceasefire and peace deal between Israel and Hamas, Walsh says, “It seems like this could have been on the table a year ago and Netanyahu and Trump didn't want to do it.”

• Watch: Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff on 60 Minutes
  “The biggest message that we've tried to convey to the Israeli leadership now is that – now that the war is over – if you want to integrate Israel with the broader Middle East, you have to find a way to help the Palestinian people thrive and do better,” Kushner told CBS News reporter Lesley Stahl.

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