[ [link removed] ] [ [link removed] ]J Street[ [link removed] ]
Friend,

As pro-Israel, pro-peace and pro-democracy Americans, today of all days,
we remember what is at stake and what we are fighting for. 

Five years ago, rioters incited by the President of the United States
stormed the Capitol and threatened the very institutions and values upon
which our country was built. 

Today, those forces are back in power. 

Deporting immigrants to prisons where they are tortured, deploying the
National Guard on our city streets as a means of intimidation, attacking
universities and excising expertise from the US government.

Meanwhile, just this week, Trump violated basic international norms and –
without congressional approval or any plan for the day after – invaded a
country and abducted its president. Not in defense of American lives. Not
in response to a national security threat. Not to pave the way for a
democratically elected government (he had a chance to do that and instead
embraced Maduro’s cronies). But to openly and brazenly make an imperialist
oil grab. 

In Israel, these same forces are at play. Netanyahu attacks the judiciary,
and blocks and politicizes any effort to understand the failures that led
to October 7. Meanwhile, he is working with the right-wing ideologues in
his government to pursue a massive, illegal, violent land grab in the West
Bank while barring most international aid organizations from entering
Gaza. 

And as Netanyahu pursues his authoritarian agenda, Trump stands alongside
him, applying pressure on the Israeli government to grant Netanyahu a
pardon to avoid accountability for his corruption. 

Internationally, Trump and Netanyahu are embracing an anarchistic
"might-makes-right" approach, which will only lead to chaos, blowback and
destruction. 

Friend, we know Jews are safest when our values thrive both at
home and abroad. Democracy, peace, freedom, justice and protection of
minority rights. These are not only the building blocks of democratic
government, but principles Jews helped fight for in the modern, post-war
world, precisely because we know what happens when they fail. 

And in 2026, they are the values that we will be fighting for.

The good news is that the tide is turning. 

2026 is the year we have the opportunity to take back power from these
authoritarian forces. Elections later this year in both the US and in
Israel offer both countries the chance to turn resistance into political
power.

This will not be easy. We are going to need to fight for it. I look
forward to being in this battle with you.

In solidarity,

Ilan Goldenberg
Chief Policy Officer, J Street

[ [link removed] ]MAKE A ONE-TIME DONATION »
[ [link removed] ]MAKE A MONTHLY RECURRING DONATION »
[ [link removed] ]Threads [ [link removed] ]Facebook [ [link removed] ]Instagram [ [link removed] ]Twitter
© 2026 J Street | [ [link removed] ]www.jstreet.org | [email protected]

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.



You can unsubscribe from this mailing list at any time:
[link removed]