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This Week: Senators Threaten Sanctions over E1 Settlements 🛑 | Reject
Permanent Occupation of Gaza 🚫 | Israeli Elections 101 🇮🇱 | We Need To Be
Realistic and Ambitious 💭 | From the Policy Center 📝 | Why E1 Matters 🎥 |
This Week's Must-Reads 📖 | Our Pro-Democracy To-Do List 🗳️ | And much
more.

🛑 Senators Threaten Sanctions over E1 Settlements: This week, [ [link removed] ]Senator
Ruben Gallego of Arizona led 29 Senators in demanding that the Netanyahu
government halt its plans for bidding on construction in the highly
contentious E1 area. In a step forward for clear American leadership on
settlement expansion, the statement threatens targeted sanctions on those
involved in the construction of settlements in E1.

* "The United States has consistently opposed development of the E1
settlement for over three decades. The message of this statement – led
by Senator Gallego and signed by 29 US Senators – is clear: If you bid
on this development and take part in this illegal development, you may
well face sanctions - not just from the United States but
internationally, and not just personally but on your businesses,” J
Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami said in response to the letter.

🚫 Reject Permanent Occupation of Gaza: With the world’s attention on the
West Bank and the failed Iran war, there’s one thing we can’t let
ourselves forget: Gaza is still in ruins after over 2 years of war. Nearly
2 million people are still living in makeshift tents without basic
necessities like clean water. They’re still refugees months after the
ceasefire because Netanyahu made sure they have nowhere to go back to and
has tried to sabotage the peace deal every step of the way.

* We cannot stand idly by while Netanyahu continues to compromise
Israeli security and Palestinian safety in pursuit of his fantasy of
permanent occupation.

We’re not letting up on our demand that Congress pass the Ceasefire
Compliance Act – a law that would prevent US weapons from being used
in Gaza if Israel continues to violate the ceasefire or obstruct its
implementation.

[ [link removed] ]Reject Permanent Occupation >>

📞 [ [link removed] ]After you sign the petition, we’ll follow up with all the tools you
need to contact your representatives >>

🇮🇱 Israeli Elections 101: Israeli pollster, analyst and Haaretz columnist
Dr. Dahlia Scheindlin joined Word on the Street Live this week to give us
a crash course on how Israeli elections actually work, the latest polls,
Gadi Eisenkot’s rise and the many moving pieces that could determine the
next government.

* How a coalition government works: “We have between 30 and 40 parties
competing in every election cycle, and they have to cross a minimal
threshold of 3.25% to get into the Knesset. We usually get between 8
and 13 parties actually entering the Knesset, and therefore none of
them ever get a majority of the parliamentary seats,” Dahlia
explained.

“To build a coalition, they always need to be in coalition. They don't
have a majority to pass key legislation, which means coalitions
usually involve between three, four, or even up to eight different
parties, which makes them very unstable.”

* Eisenkot’s appeal: “Israelis know that he lost his son in the current
war – and two nephews. It is part of what creates such a contrast
between him [and Netanyahu] – people feel like he made the ultimate
sacrifice… Compared to a government that basically closed its heart
and its minds and its eyes to the families of hostages for two years,”
Dahlia said of Eisenkot’s surging popularity.

* The takeaway: “You should not expect some sort of 180 degree turn in
Israeli policy and certainly not on big long term issues and
definitely not right away.” [ [link removed] ]Watch the full conversation here >>

💭 We Need To Be Realistic and Ambitious: A trip to Israel and the West
Bank during election season got Jeremy Ben-Ami thinking about how Israel
and the US should move forward. He insists that, while we need to be
clear-eyed about what’s possible, we can’t be afraid to dream big and
remember what our end goal is.

* “The question the next government should be asking is what needs to be
done to actually resolve the underlying conflict with the Palestinian
people. How can Israel truly ensure security for its people and
future? What needs to be done to avoid becoming a pariah globally?” he
writes.

“Yes, we have to address settler terror, re-shape the U.S.-Israel
security relationship, restrain settlement expansion, reform
Palestinian institutions and preserve the possibility of a viable,
independent Palestinian state.

But these are steps on the road to the actual goal – which is to end
the conflict. Not to manage it better. Not to make things slightly
less terrible. Not to kick the problem down the road for another
generation.” [ [link removed] ]Read the full piece here >>

📝 From the Policy Center: J Street’s Gallanter-Winograd Policy Center
publishes timely analyses of policy priorities and the diplomatic role the
US plays in the Middle East.

* [ [link removed] ]Jewish-Arab Partnership Ahead of the October 2026 Election in
Israel
A Jewish Member of Knesset signaling that he may join Ra’am, a Muslim
Arab party in Israel, is the latest sign that meaningful Jewish-Arab
partnership is indeed possible. J Street Policy and Research
Coordinator Avraham Spraragen examines Jewish-Arab partnership in
Israeli civil society and within political parties ahead of the
October elections:

“Despite this Jewish-Arab partnership within the Arab parties, the
full participation of the Arab community in Israeli politics is still
constrained – as revealed at the Ra’am convention on August 23. During
his speech to party delegates, Abbas called for Israeli and US
recognition of Palestinian statehood and said that Arab Israelis could
serve as a “bridge for achieving peace.” The Ra’am leader’s comments
were vehemently rejected by Netanyahu and his chief opponent alike,
and Abbas was subjected to an onslaught of bigotry,” Avraham writes.

“Israeli government neglect of the Arab community, police brutality,
voter suppression, and anti-Arab incitement prevent Jewish-Arab
partnership from reaching its full potential. This hostile political
climate in which Arabs remain on unequal footing with Jews is
inconsistent with Jewish values and Israel’s founding egalitarian
principles. By contrast, Jewish-Arab partnership countrywide is the
moral choice and would also pave the way for broader regional peace.”
[ [link removed] ]Read the full piece here >>

🎥 Video of the Week – Why E1 Matters: The Israeli government just moved
forward one of the biggest and most destructive settlement plans yet. Our
Multimedia Team explains the devastating effects these illegal settlements
could have on Palestinian life.

[ [link removed] ]Watch here  >> 

Like what you see? Check out what J Street is up to on [ [link removed] ]Instagram,
[ [link removed] ]Threads, [ [link removed] ]Facebook and [ [link removed] ]X. 

📖 This Week’s Must-Reads/Listens:

* [ [link removed] ]Stop Treating the Mass Killing in Gaza as a Series of IDF
'Exceptions' – It's the Rule
“Even the decision reported by Yaniv Kubovich, to establish ‘kill
zones’ – in which any man entering, even a civilian, is considered a
legitimate target for killing – doesn't require an investigation. It
stemmed from a clear policy incorporating the prevailing assumption
that there are no innocents in Gaza, thereby also sparing soldiers the
risk involved in a more cautious policy,” Yagil Levy writes in
Haaretz.

* [ [link removed] ]Jon Ossoff Is Not Betraying Israel, And His Critics Do Not Speak
For Georgia’s Jews
“As Ossoff surges ahead in polls against his Republican opponent,
Congressman Mike Collins, these attacks look like desperate rear-guard
actions by right-wing elements to salvage Collins’s failing Senate
campaign,” writes J Street Georgia leader Ted Jonas in The Jerusalem
Post.
"For any Jew to support Collins shames all of us: he is closely
associated with American Nazis and Christian Nationalists in his inner
circle.” 

* [ [link removed] ]The Last Thing Israel Needs Is Another Leader Afraid to Say
'Palestinian State'
“It seems that the entire Israeli political spectrum needs a reminder.
Every word Abbas spoke was correct. The solution of two states for two
peoples is supported by the majority of the international community.
Only in Israel has this solution, which would answer the needs of
self-determination for both peoples, based on territorial compromise,
undergone complete delegitimization,’ Haaretz Editorial writes.

“Anyone who seeks to offer Israel a different path from the one that
has led it to the edge of the abyss must offer the public something
besides simply a change of personnel in the Prime Minister's Office,”
they conclude.

🗳️ Our Pro-Democracy To-Do List:

[16][ ]  [ [link removed] ]Tell Congress: Pass the Ceasefire Compliance Act >>

[18][ ]  [ [link removed] ]Don't Let Netanyahu Punish American Jews >>

[20][ ]  [ [link removed] ]Demand an investigation into ICE killings >>

[22][ ]  [ [link removed] ]Take part in 'Every Voice, Every Vote' >>

[24][ ]  [ [link removed] ]Tell your representative: Support the West Bank Violence
Prevention Act >>

[26][ ]  [ [link removed] ]198 Methods of Nonviolent Action to Fight Authoritarianism
>> 

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

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

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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 23-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian
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