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This week: Standing Up to American Fascism 🛑 | TikTok Isn’t Building
Settlements in the West Bank 🔨 | Charting a Practical Path 🛣️ | Word on
the Street 🚧 | This Week from the Policy Center 📝 | Save Your Seat at the
J Street 2026 Convention 🎟️ | Mark your calendars for Repro Shabbat! 🕯️|
This Week’s Must-Reads/Listens 📖 | Our Pro-Democracy To-Do List 🗳️ | And
much more.

We’re proud to be powered by supporters like you. Like many advocacy
groups, J Street relies on End-of-Year donations for nearly half of our
annual grassroots fundraising. Your support makes our work
possible. [ [link removed] ]Can we count on you to chip in? >>

🛑 Standing Up to American Fascism: This week, amid vile attacks on the
Somali immigrant community, the Trump Administration released a National
Security Strategy that read more like a right-wing political manifesto
than a defense of American interests and values. J Street remains
committed to standing up for immigrants – drawing on our own history of
being refugees and outsiders – as we live out our Jewish values.

* “This is how authoritarian movements grow. They dehumanize. They
divide. And they erode the very foundations of democracy. History
teaches us where that road leads.”

* “From the beginning, J Street was built around the idea that our
values must shape the world we build. And, as we fight to protect
Israel’s democratic future from leaders like Itamar Ben-Gvir and
Bezalel Smotrich, we must fight the forces of fascism taking root in
America,” J Street Vice President and Chief of Staff Adina
Vogel-Ayalon [ [link removed] ]wrote on the J Street blog.

✍️ [ [link removed] ]Stand Against Fascism: Read and sign our petition here >> ✍️

🔨 TikTok Isn’t Building Settlements in the West Bank: Some argue that the
global backlash among young people against Israel is the result of a bad
PR campaign – rather than decades of destructive, anti-democratic policy.
J Street Director of Multimedia Strategy Becka Wall responded to this
argument on J Street’s blog:

* “The effort to scapegoat TikTok feels a lot more like an attempt to
shift responsibility than grapple with it. [...] Facebook didn’t turn
a blind eye to settler violence. Snapchat didn’t block food and
medical supplies from families in Gaza. Instagram didn’t veto Security
Council ceasefire resolutions. Twitter didn’t provide a blank check
for Netanyahu’s war, long after it became clear that the civilian toll
was unjustifiable,” Becka wrote. [ [link removed] ]Read the full piece here >>

🛣️ Charting a Practical Path: J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami and Chief
Policy Officer Ilan Goldenberg sat down with Dan Shapiro, former US
Ambassador to Israel, to discuss how US leverage shapes Israeli policy and
debate the best way for Democrats to amend their messaging on the
conflict.

* “Setting up a litmus test for Democrats about what they should say or
what they shouldn't say – it's really a means of subtraction, not
addition […] I think we should be careful about trying to banish from
Democratic politics people who share some views we might disagree with
[...] It's a very strange way to try to build a majority when you have
to win,” Dan said. [ [link removed] ]Watch the full conversation here >>

🚧 Word on the Street: J Street publishes commentary, video conversations
and policy pieces on our Substack throughout the week. [ [link removed] ]Subscribe here
>>

* A Generational Divide: Jeremy ponders the stark generational divide on
Israel among American Jews and how best to keep young people engaged
when the Israel of today looks vastly different the fledgling state
older generations understood it as.

“The country cannot and should not be an object of blind devotion. It
is one country among roughly 200 in the real world, run by real people
– imperfect people. And, as with all human efforts, it requires
constant attention and repair.” [ [link removed] ]Read the full piece here >>

📝 This Week from the Policy Center: J Street’s Policy Center published
analyses this week on the potential paths ahead for Israel and the region.

* [ [link removed] ]How the International Stabilization Force for Gaza Could, Over
Time, Replace and Disarm Hamas

J Street Chief Policy Officer Ilan Goldenberg attended the 2025 Doha
Forum in Qatar this past week, where the next move in the American
20-point peace plan was at the top of mind for all attendees. Ilan
offers a realistic outline to move forward with the peace plan and
create a sustainable, disarmed Palestinian governing body in Gaza:

“At its core, the theory is simple: You cannot transform Gaza
politically unless you transform Gaza’s security reality. Basic
counterinsurgency 101 says you need a legitimate, functioning
alternative to the existing monopoly on force. Right now, that
monopoly is Hamas. As long as Hamas remains the primary security
provider – deciding disputes, enforcing order, intimidating opponents
– no political shift will take root.”

“The best option is probably to pull from multiple sources at once and
see what begins to cohere. Some forces are already being trained in
Egypt and Jordan under PA auspices. Some former PA security officers
remain inside Gaza and could return to service. There are also 'blue
police' – basic municipal police officers who worked under Hamas but
aren’t necessarily ideologically tied to it, and may shift allegiances
once a credible alternative emerges.” [ [link removed] ]Read more >>

🎟️ Save Your Seat at the J Street 2026 Convention: From working to press
the ceasefire forward to defending 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 >>

🕯️Mark Your Calendars for Repro Shabbat! J Street is proud to be
partnering with NCJW on Repro Shabbat, coming up February 13-14. Repro
Shabbat provides an opportunity to honor the Jewish value of reproductive
freedom and discuss our community’s fight for reproductive health, rights
and access. Check out NCJW’s [ [link removed] ]Repro Shabbat Resource Page, and stay
tuned for more announcements!

📖 This Week’s Must-Reads/Listens:

* [ [link removed] ]With a Mass Jewish-Arab Movement Behind Him, Alon-Lee Green Is
Reshaping the Israeli Left
"Standing Together attracts this level of attention from the state's
enforcement arms – and from its less official foot soldiers – because
it proposes an alternative that threatens the dominant narrative
enabling the right's rule: that Jews and Arabs cannot live together
here, and certainly cannot cooperate to build a new, bloodless future
for both peoples," Yana Pevzner writes in Haaretz.

* [ [link removed] ]An Undemocratic Israel Poses a Grave Threat to Diaspora Jews
"But perhaps even more significant, the presumed compatibility of
‘American interests’ and ‘Jewish aim’ has collapsed. Brandeis could
not have imagined that the two would conflict because it was
inconceivable for him that Jewish aims as embodied by Zionism could
run contrary to the principles of democracy as most Americans
understood them" Joshua Leifer writes in Haaretz.

* [ [link removed] ]Netanyahu the Great Pretender
"The truth is that the far-right government led by Netanyahu wants to
play a double game, pretending to be committed to a plan that includes
a pathway to a Palestinian state to please President Trump, while
simultaneously sabotaging progress toward achieving that goal,"
Executive Director of J Street Israel Nadav Tamir writes in Times of
Israel.

🗳️ Our Pro-Democracy To-Do List:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[31][ ]  [ [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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