[ [link removed] ] [ [link removed] ]J Street [ [link removed] ]
Friend --

Last week, Jeremy sent the below email outlining J Street’s ambitious
agenda for the early days of the Biden administration.

I wanted to make sure you had a chance to review it because we’re going to
need your help to achieve the significant progress we believe is possible
in the coming months.

For the last few years, we’ve been playing defense, working around the
clock to block the most cruel and dangerous elements of the
Trump-Netanyahu agenda. But now, we have the chance to shift US policy in
line with the pro-Israel, pro-peace, anti-occupation views of the vast
majority of Jewish Americans and allies of all faiths.

There are big legislative and political fights ahead of us -- and you know
the power of the entrenched groups on the right that we’re up against.
[ [link removed] ]So today, I’m hoping you’ll make a monthly commitment to this fight for
peace, justice and human rights.

We’ve received an anonymous grant to match all new monthly gifts for every
month of 2021, which means this is the best possible opportunity to
maximize your support.

[ [link removed] ]If you’re ready to become a sustaining donor to J Street, you can sign
up here. Otherwise, continue on to read about our plans for the coming
months. If, at the end, you’re inspired to help drive that work with
sustained support, there will be another link to donate.

Thanks so much for your support,

Adee Telem

------ ORIGINAL EMAIL ------

Friend --

Relief. Gratitude. Determination. That’s what I’m feeling right now.

Relief that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have been inaugurated as President
and Vice President of the United States and that the horrors of the Trump
administration are behind us.

Gratitude to all those in our organization, our movement, our community
and our country who worked tirelessly to bring about this moment, to fight
for our values and for our fellow Americans and to safeguard our
democracy.

Determination to take full advantage of the opportunities that this new
era offers for J Street to help shape a new vision of American leadership
-- rooted in a commitment to diplomacy, multilateralism and human rights,
opposed to those who promote conflict and oppression, and dedicated to the
vigorous pursuit of Israeli-Palestinian peace.

Over the past four years, J Street and our allies had our work cut out for
us simply trying to prevent the very worst from happening, and doing all
that we could to challenge and push back on all of the many disastrous,
destructive decisions that were taken day after day. Now, with more
friends and allies than ever before in the White House and both houses of
Congress, we enter an exciting new period when we can make real progress
in promoting US policies that we believe can help secure a better future
for our country, Israelis and Palestinians and the wider world.

To help give you a sense of where J Street’s advocacy efforts will be
focused in the coming months, I wanted to share with you with some of the
top-line policy priorities and proposals we will be promoting and
discussing with the incoming administration and Congress.

* Undo the Trump administration’s damage on Israel/Palestine: Restoring
American credibility as a constructive player in the
Israeli-Palestinian context is an urgent task in 2021. We’ll be
calling on the new administration to take a number of steps to undo
damage caused by Trump, bring about a more productive relationship
with the Palestinian people and leadership and clarify its strong
opposition to settlements, annexation and deepening occupation.

That includes restoring US aid to the Palestinian people; reinstating
an independent US diplomatic mission to the Palestinians in Jerusalem
and a Palestinian mission in Washington, DC and reversing the decision
by Secretary Pompeo to revoke the State Department’s long-standing
legal opinion that settlements are illegal under international law --
among many other steps.

* Counter deepening occupation and de facto annexation: In addition to
reaffirming the longstanding US position that settlements are illegal,
the Biden administration will need to demonstrate firm opposition to
ongoing settlement expansion and creeping annexation -- which
continues to move forward at an alarming rate.

Over the final days of the Trump presidency, the Netanyahu government
rushed through a spate of new settlement approvals and advanced plans
to build in the hugely consequential area of Givat Hamatos. The
international community has long considered building in Givat Hamatos
to be totally unacceptable, due to the challenges it would pose to the
creation of a contiguous Palestinian state with its capital in East
Jerusalem. We’ll urge policymakers to make clear that provocative and
damaging moves like this cannot go forward -- and back up these
warnings by outlining consequences for unilateral moves that put peace
further out of reach.

* Introduce a multilateral, multi-pronged approach to resolving the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict: The tortured and thus-far unsuccessful
history of efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict suggest
that future diplomatic efforts may benefit from including
international and regional actors at the table. Rather than push for
the immediate resumption of bilateral talks or pick up where previous
negotiations ended, we’ll encourage the administration to adopt a
multi-pronged approach on the international, regional and bilateral
levels to bolster the prospects and viability of a diplomatic
resolution to the conflict.

* Rejoin the JCPOA nuclear agreement: The Trump administration’s
decision to violate the JCPOA agreement and engage in a belligerent
‘maximum pressure’ campaign against Iran has been a total disaster,
isolating the US from key allies and leading Iran to abrogate some of
its own important commitments under the deal. In order to prevent Iran
from ever attaining a nuclear weapon, reimpose restrictions that were
working successfully before Trump violated the deal and stop the
situation from deteriorating further, the Biden administration should
move urgently to return to full compliance with the JCPOA in tandem
with Iran, and build upon the agreement through further diplomacy to
address other threats from Iran.

* Reverse racist, anti-immigrant policies and promote justice and
equality: As part of broad coalitions, we’ll support efforts to
overturn the structural racism and injustice that stands in the way of
so many Americans -- and to drive back white nationalist and
anti-democratic forces.

With our country in the midst of so many unprecedented crises, we know
that making progress on Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy may not be near the
top of the priority list for the administration.

But we also know that they share our determination to decisively turn the
page on the Trump era, to restore US credibility and achieve meaningful
progress in the Middle East. We know that our voice will always be
respected and heard -- and that we’re well-positioned to make a major
impact.

As the key members of the president’s foreign policy and national security
team take office in the coming days and weeks, we’ll be in close touch to
discuss strategy and outline our next steps in the pursuit of peace and
justice.

I hope that you and your loved ones have a real chance to take in the
excitement and promise of this week’s inaugural festivities, and that
you’re as energized and determined as I am for the work that lies ahead of
us.

Thank you,

Jeremy Ben-Ami
President, J Street

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Now that you've had a chance to read Jeremy's email, I hope you'll
consider becoming a monthly donor.

We want to add 100 new sustaining members in the first half of 2021, and
to help us reach that goal we've secured an anonymous grant to match new
monthly donations for every month of this year. Every monthly gift will be
doubled. Whether you give $5 or $50, that's a HUGE impact over the course
of 2021. [ [link removed] ]Will you become a sustaining member today?


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J Street is the political home for pro-Israel, pro-peace 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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