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This week: What Bibi and Hamas Don't Want You to Know ⚠️ | A Dialogue
About Dialogue ➡️ | Democrats Need to Change the Way They Talk About
Israel 🗣️ | Save Your Seat at the J Street 2026 Convention 🎟️ | This
Week's Must-Reads/Listens 📖 | Our Pro-Democracy To-Do List 🗳️ | And much
more.

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groups, J Street relies on End-of-Year donations for nearly half of our
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⚠️  What Bibi and Hamas Don’t Want You to Know: Since the beginning of the
US-backed ceasefire took effect in Gaza, over 350 Gazans have been killed
by Israeli fire and bombings, while Hamas and other militants have killed
three Israeli soldiers. 

* “The truth: Both the Netanyahu government and Hamas want this horrific
status quo to be frozen in place: Hamas so it can stay in power, and
Netanyahu so he can use Hamas as a foil, keep an occupying force in
Gaza and prevent progress toward a Palestinian state,” J Street Chief
Policy Officer Ilan Goldenberg wrote in an email to supporters.

* “Every crossing of the poorly defined yellow line bisecting Gaza
cannot result in Israel shooting first and asking questions later
after civilians have been killed. Hamas was supposed to begin
disarming and allow others to come in. Instead, it has violently
reasserted control over its half of Gaza. Israel was supposed to allow
the Rafah crossing to open; it hasn’t. The Netanyahu government has
loosened its restrictions on aid, but the amount getting in remains
insufficient,” writes Ilan Goldenberg in Word on the Street. [ [link removed] ]Read
and share here >>

✍️ [ [link removed] ]Demand that the US use its leverage to end to the horrors >> ✍️

➡️ A Dialogue About Dialogue: A Peter Beinart lecture at Tel Aviv
University sparked backlash from both Israeli right-wing groups opposed to
his views and pro-Palestinian activists who accused him of violating their
boycott of Israeli institutions. 

* “Tel Aviv University is arguably the most open-minded major university
in Israel. Its community is made up of exactly the people who rarely
hear Peter’s arguments in Israeli media or political discourse.
Reaching them – challenging them – is not 'normalizing' injustice. It
is modeling the kind of pluralist engagement any open, democratic
society requires," J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami wrote on Word on
the Street. [ [link removed] ]Read the full piece here >>

* Jeremy joined Peter Beinart’s podcast for a productive conversation
about his visit to Tel Aviv University and the backlash he received
from the BDS movement:

“There isn’t going to be an end to this if there isn’t a coexistence
movement – if there isn’t an effort to bring Israelis and Palestinians
together at the people-to-people level,” Jeremy said about the
necessity to engage with Israeli society about the conflict. [ [link removed] ]Listen
to the full conversation here >>

🗣️ Democrats Need to Change the Way They Talk About Israel: Ben Rhodes of
Pod Save the World joined Jeremy and Ilan to discuss his recent piece
about the Democrats’ failure to address the Gaza war and the urgency to
respond to a rapidly shifting electorate.

* “We need Palestinians to have a voice in our party and in these
debates and in these discussions […] The core unifying point of the
Democratic Party is a belief in equality and multi-racial democracy
– if we see Palestinians as equally human as Israelis and
Americans, it logically leads to different policies. And that
doesn't come at the expense of Jewish identity. It should not have
to even come at the expense of caring about Israel,” Rhodes said.
[ [link removed] ]Listen to the full Word on the Street here >>

🎟️  Save Your Seat at the J Street 2026 Convention: 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] ]This Is the Story of How the Democrats Blew It on Gaza
"During the Biden presidency, it was short-handed the 'hug Bibi'
strategy — the idea that smothering Mr. Netanyahu with unconditional
support would give the U.S. leverage to influence his actions" [...]
"This approach made Democrats hypocrites when defending a 'rules-based
order,' racial equality and democracy. It alienated elements of their
base and placed them out of step with younger voters. And in an age of
authoritarianism, fealty to an Israeli strongman who routinely
humiliated them made Democrats appear weak," writes Ben Rhodes in the
New York Times.

* [ [link removed] ]The End of the Israel Exception
"For the United States, this long-overdue adjustment is a strategic,
political, and moral imperative. From preventing Israel’s annexation
of the West Bank to forging a common strategy to address Iran’s
nuclear program, a normal U.S.-Israeli relationship would produce
better outcomes than an exceptional one that too often incentivizes
dangerous Israeli behavior and depletes Washington’s global
influence," Former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for
Israeli-Palestinian Affairs Andrew Miller writes in Foreign Affairs. 

* [ [link removed] ][Watch] JSU Leader Talia Winiarsky Speaks at Chicago’s Annual
Luncheon
“If Jews want the right to self-determination in their ancestral
homeland, then why would Palestinians not? If Jews have wanted to
return to the state of Israel after millennia of exile, why would
Palestinians not? It is because of my Zionism, not in spite of it,
that I believe in a Palestinian state. Because I believe that
Palestinians share many of the same feelings that my ancestors had. I
lean on this history to guide me towards a just future.”

🗳️ Our Pro-Democracy To-Do List:

[11][ ]  [ [link removed] ]NEW: Tell Washington: We Cannot Look Away from Gaza >>

[13][ ]  [ [link removed] ]NEW: Tell President Herzog: Don't Pardon Netanyahu >>

[15][ ]  [ [link removed] ]NEW: Renew your J Street Membership for 2026 >>

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

[19][ ]  [ [link removed] ]Tell Congress: Stop Demolitions in Umm al-Khair >>

[21][ ]  [ [link removed] ]Tell Congress: No Excuses. Aid Must Flow Freely. >>

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

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

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

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

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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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