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Save Your Seat at the J Street 2026 Convention 🎟️ | Saying 'NOPE' to
Authoritarianism 🏛️ | The Rabbis Taking on ICE 🕍 | Word on the Street 🚧 |
This Week from the Policy Center 📝 | Mark Your Calendars for Solidarity
Shabbats 🗓️ | This Week's Must-Reads/Listens 📖 | Our Pro-Democracy To-Do
List 🗳️ | And much more.

🎟️ Save Your Seat at the J Street 2026 Convention: From working to press
the ceasefire forward to defending 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 this year! [ [link removed] ]Learn more and register here >>

Already registered? Help bring more supporters to Convention with our
[ [link removed] ]social media toolkit >>

🏛️ Saying ‘NOPE’ to Authoritarianism: With escalating force, President
Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi have weaponized the Justice
Department to pursue a self-interested, corrupt political agenda, giving
pardons to right-wing allies while bending the media, universities and law
firms to their will. This week, J Street leaders Senator Chris Murphy and
Congressman Jason Crow introduced the No Political Enemies (NOPE) Act in
response to rising attacks on our democratic freedoms.

* “This pro-democracy legislation gives Americans real legal tools to
defend their rights when politically targeted, and to hold officials
directly accountable for abuses of power,” J Street Chief Development
Officer Adee Telem wrote in an email to supporters.

[ [link removed] ]✍️ Tell Congress: Support The NOPE Act Now ✍️ 
Keep an eye on your email for next steps for contacting your Members of
Congress

🕍 The Rabbis Taking on ICE: On this week’s Word on the Street Live, J
Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami and Chief Policy Officer Ilan Goldenberg
were joined by Rabbis Sharon Kleinbaum and Tamar Magill-Grimm – two rabbis
at the frontline of the fight against ICE – for a powerful conversation on
how they’re supporting communities being targeted by ICE and what this
moment demands of Jewish leaders.

* “Do not oppress the stranger, love the stranger and the heart of the
stranger. It's all in [the Torah], right? That's the most obvious
go-to for where our moral obligation in this moment comes from,” Rabbi
Magill-Grimm told Ilan and Jeremy. [ [link removed] ]Watch the full conversation here
>>

* J Street is proud to be partnering with over 30 pro-peace,
pro-democracy organizations for a Jews Against ICE protest in
Washington, DC on February 11. Grounded in core Jewish values, this
march makes clear that there is broad Jewish communal consensus
rejecting policies that dehumanize our neighbors. [ [link removed] ]Learn more and
register here >>

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

* [ [link removed] ]A Rupture, Not a Transition: Rethinking the US-Israel Relationship
This week, Jeremy Ben-Ami examines Israel’s status as a military and
economic power and considers the viability of continuing American
military assistance amid its evolving relationship with Israel:

"While many Jewish Americans still hope – and fight – for the deeply
meaningful relationship on which they were raised, it is, sadly, a
framework that no longer survives contact with reality. The
U.S.-Israel relationship has been profoundly damaged by an Israeli
government that has abandoned any serious effort to resolve the
conflict with the Palestinian people and instead embraces permanent
occupation, annexation, and domination," he writes. [ [link removed] ]Read the full
piece here >>

* [ [link removed] ]When Comparisons Hurt – And Why We Still Have to Make Them
While ICE agents abduct families and sow fear among communities,
violent Israeli settlers continue to terrorize Palestinians who have
lived there for generations. Ilan Goldenberg considers the disturbing
similarities – and important differences – between these events.

“Americans have watched ICE and DHS violate court orders and shred the
rule of law to pursue ideological goals. In Israel, a recent
documentary on public television laid bare how senior ministers have
deliberately built parallel bureaucratic systems to seize control over
the West Bank – removing authority from the IDF and consolidating it
in the hands of ideologues, while using loopholes and, in many cases,
breaking Israeli law,” he writes. [ [link removed] ]Read the full piece here >>

📝 This Week from the Policy Center: J Street’s Policy Center publishes
timely analyses of policy priorities and the diplomatic role the US plays
in the Middle East.

* [ [link removed] ]Qatargate: Explaining Israel's Wartime Foreign Influence Scandal
The Qatargate scandal – alleging that Qatar paid senior Netanyahu
advisors to elevate pro-Qatari narratives in an effort to bolster the
Gulf state’s image as a mediator in the hostage negotiations –
continues to plague Prime Minister Netanyahu. In a new issue brief for
the J Street Policy Center, Policy Fellow Yael Patir explains the
scandal and its implications for Israel’s politics and public opinion:

“Qatargate points to a longer-term, gradual weakening of institutional
and legal guardrails over the past decade, a process that has reshaped
how power is exercised at the core of the Israeli government. Whether
or not indictments are ultimately filed, Qatargate has already become
a defining episode in Israel’s ongoing struggle and deep polarization
over accountability, governance, and national security,” the policy
piece explains. [ [link removed] ]Read more >>

🗓️ Mark Your Calendars for Solidarity Shabbats: Take a stand as Trump
endangers the communities we care for most, and join J Street in standing
shoulder-to-shoulder with the National Council of Jewish Women and HIAS,
two organizations doing incredible work to live out our Jewish and
democratic values.

* Get involved with Repro Shabbat on February 13-14: Host your own
gathering or join a pre-planned event in your community. Find what
suits you and honor the Jewish value of reproductive freedom.
[ [link removed] ]Learn more from NCJW >>

* One month later, join us for Refugee Shabbat on March 13-14: Register
to join hundreds of Jewish communities in standing up for our
immigrant and refugee neighbors facing extreme dehumanization under
the Trump Administration. [ [link removed] ]Find out how you can participate >>

📖 This Week’s Must-Reads/Listens:

* [ [link removed] ]Senator Cassidy’s IHRA Crusade Is a Political Stunt, Not a Plan to
Protect Jews
"Senator Cassidy’s letter asks Mayor Mamdani many questions, but here
is one question the senator must answer himself: What tangible action
has he taken—beyond letters and press releases—to make Jewish
Americans safer? Until he can answer that honestly, we can safely
conclude that his latest oversight crusade is exactly what it appears
to be: a bad-faith, cynical political exercise that exploits Jewish
concerns over antisemitism, while doing nothing to address them," Vice
President of Government Relations at the Nexus Project Kevin Rachlin
writes in Times of Israel.

* [ [link removed] ]A Death Knell for the American Jewish Dream of a Melting Pot — in
the 1920s, and Today
"Why is the United States doing this, once again? Because now, as
before, our leaders don’t actually want America to Americanize. They
want us to believe this country can’t survive taking in people who
will both change and be changed by it," Emily Tamkin said of
anti-immigrant sentiment in The Forward. 

🗳️ Our Pro-Democracy To-Do List:

[17][ ]  [ [link removed] ]NEW: [ [link removed] ]Tell Congress: Support the NOPE Act >>

[20][ ]  [ [link removed] ]NEW: Register for Jews Against ICE Action in Washington, DC
on February 11 >>

[22][ ]  [ [link removed] ]NEW: Tell Congress: End ICE's Fear Campaign >>

[24][ ]  [ [link removed] ]NEW: [ [link removed] ]Tell Congress: Trump Can't Invoke the Insurrection
Act >> 

[27][ ]  [ [link removed] ]NEW: [ [link removed] ]198 Methods of Nonviolent Action to Fight
Authoritarianism >> 

[30][ ]  [ [link removed] ]Tell Congress: Support the Antisemitism Response and
Prevention Act >>

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

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

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

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

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

[42][ ]  [ [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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