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Hi J Street Community,

I’m Talia Winiarsky, a senior at Northwestern University and student
leader with J Street U.

Since October 7, Jewish college students like me have been treated as
national symbols. Reporters wanted quotes, relatives in Israel called me
in panic as though I was living in a war zone and the Trump Administration
pointed to campuses like mine with manufactured horror, seizing on
students’ real pain and fears to score political points.

Some moments on campus have been difficult. Occasionally, when talking to
those on the far left, I hesitate before mentioning that my dad is Israeli
or that I lived in Israel for a year. And when I wrote in the school paper
that it isn’t antisemitic to advocate for human rights for Palestinians, I
was harassed online by the right. Antisemitism on both the left and the
right is indeed real – it should be taken seriously and confronted.

But here’s the part you won’t see splashed across headlines: Most days, I
walk across campus wearing my Magen David, greeted only by the fierce
Chicago wind and smiling friends. I have honest, good-faith debates with
peers and professors – the kind the media, politicians and establishment
Jewish organizations ignore because alarmism sells and nuance doesn’t.

But J Street doesn’t ignore it. J Street U creates the space for that
nuance – a community where students can wrestle with hard questions,
debate openly and still feel safe.

[ [link removed] ]That’s why I’m asking you, Right Now, to support J Street and J
Street U. Your gift empowers students like me to tell the real story – and
to be heard.

[ [link removed] ]Click to contribute!

When the Trump Administration froze $790 million in funding to
Northwestern over alleged antisemitism, some Jewish organizations
responded weakly – but J Street didn’t. J Street U was there to help us
speak for ourselves, loudly and boldly, instead of letting politicians and
influencers define our reality from afar.

J Street trusted us and lifted our voices when so many others dismissed or
willfully distorted them to serve their self-fulfilling narrative. J
Street U staff helped me organize events on my campus, connected me to
like-minded students to strategize with and helped me publish an opinion
piece in a national news outlet.

When concerned members of the Jewish community ask how they can support
students, the first thing I say is: Listen to us. Listening leads to
understanding, and understanding to empathy – the kind of world I want to
help build.

J Street U has not only given me the platform to use my voice, but the
space to create the world I want to live in. Where Jewish students and our
Muslim friends are safe on campus. Where Jews and Palestinians have
self-determination.

Someday, I want to tell my children the story of how we fought for a just
future for Israelis and Palestinians. I have no doubt that J Street will
have been an important vehicle for that advocacy.

[ [link removed] ]If you can, please donate now to support this work.

Thank you for listening – and for standing with us.

Talia Winiarsky
J Street U, Northwestern University


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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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