Friend --
No way around it: 2020 was simply horrific.
As we head toward Hanukkah this week and a holiday season unlike any other, I wanted to write personally to say that I hope you and your family are staying safe and that those in the extended J Street family who have experienced loss and pain know that our community holds you in our hearts.
I know you’ll agree: January 20, 2021 cannot come soon enough. Beyond that lies hope inspired by broad vaccine distribution, economic recovery and a new day for our nation marked by new leadership and new direction.
Thank you for all you did this year to help J Street bring this new day -- from working to elect Joe Biden to fighting annexation and standing up to racism and white nationalism.
Even as a new day dawns in the US, it’s clear to me that our most important battles are far from over -- and that’s why I ask you to take a moment today to make an end-of-year contribution to support J Street’s work.
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The core values we hold most dear -- drawing on both our Jewish and our democratic traditions -- remain under severe challenge, both here in the US and in Israel.
Legislative (de jure) annexation may be off the table for now, but creeping (de facto) annexation rolls on. With the explicit approval of the outgoing Trump administration, Israeli settlers extend their reach day in and day out -- establishing new settlements to prevent Palestinian statehood while seizing land and demolishing homes in contravention of international law and our moral principles.
And, here at home, an almost cult-like movement has replaced a rational Republican Party -- a movement grounded in conspiracy theories, racism, anti-immigrant sentiment and, yes, antisemitism.
In this critical moment, J Street is your political home -- where you can organize, mobilize and fight for your values and ensure a future for the US, Israel and the Jewish community grounded in peace, justice and democracy.
J Street’s agenda for 2021 is ambitious. First and foremost, we’ll support the Biden administration as it executes a much-needed and dramatic course change in the Middle East.
As early as January, the US will take steps to re-enter the Iran nuclear agreement and J Street will support the administration against those who prefer escalating conflict and proliferation to negotiations and diplomacy.
Next, we will urge a return to strong US support for two-state Israeli-Palestinian conflict resolution and meaningful opposition to the ever-deepening occupation.
The US should restore relations with and funding to the Palestinian Authority and clearly differentiate between our strong support for Israel proper and its security and our opposition to illegal actions that take place in the territory it occupies over the Green Line.
Here at home, J Street will continue to partner with movements and organizations fighting for justice and equality and against white nationalism, structural racism and anti-immigrant sentiment.
I believe strongly that the 2020s will be J Street’s decade -- the time when we establish ours as the mainstream political voice representing the majority of Americans -- Jewish and not -- who value a US-Israel relationship rooted in the values on which both countries are founded.
We intend to grow dramatically in the coming years.
We will have chapters in more communities and on more college campuses.
We will ramp up our work with young professionals, synagogues and high schools.
We will take more members of Congress and opinion leaders to see the realities on the ground for Israelis and Palestinians to better inform their decision making.
And I hope I can continue to count on you as a partner -- and contributor -- now and in the years ahead.
I know there are many worthy causes to support, particularly this year when so many are suffering and in need in our communities.
But I ask you to consider making a contribution to our work at this time so that we can continue growing a vibrant political movement that fights for our values and against the forces that applauded as Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu led the US and Israel down dark paths.
May the new day ahead -- starting on January 20 -- bring better days to all those who’ve suffered through a difficult 2020.
My warmest wishes to you and your family for Hanukkah and for the holiday season,
Jeremy Ben-Ami
