Dear Friend,

It’s finally here...almost! Starting just one week from today, J Street
will host our largest ever National Conference virtually from April 18-19.

In this week’s Street Talk, we look ahead at what to expect from this
exciting event, review the latest major speaker announcements and preview
our largest ever conference advocacy push on Capitol Hill. We reflect on
the Israeli election results and check up on recent progress in the Biden
administration’s efforts to resuscitate the Iran Deal -- topics that our
star roster of leaders, experts and activists will dig into on the
conference stage.

At a time when the Biden administration faces critical foreign policy
decisions in the Middle East and the pro-Israel, pro-peace,
diplomacy-first movement needs to be louder than ever before, we’re aiming
to make this our most engaging and impactful event ever.

We need every single supporter of our movement to join in, and I can’t
wait to see you there.

Yours,

Logan Bayroff
VP of Communications

Around J Street

Newly Announced Top Speakers for April’s National Conference

[1]Speakers at conference
J Street’s events team is continuing to announce rockstar speakers for our
first ever all-virtual National Conference. Recently announced guests from
the region include former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Israeli
Labor Party Leader Merav Michaeli, Joint List Leader Ayman Odeh and Meretz
Leader Nitzan Horowitz. They’ll be joined by progressive champions and
political rising stars in the United States, including Senators Elizabeth
Warren, Bernie Sanders, Tammy Duckworth, Raphael Warnock, Jon Ossoff and
Chris Murphy and Reps. Barbara Lee, Joaquin Castro, Katie Porter and
Jamaal Bowman.
[ [link removed] ]See the latest speakers →

J Street on Track to Hold Largest Congressional Advocacy Event Ever

[3]Capitol Hill Advocacy
Usually, J Street plans an Advocacy Day at the end of each national
conference. This year, to keep up with the energy from so many of our
supporters to meet with their members of Congress, we’re making it an
Advocacy Week.

Beginning on Tuesday, April 20, over 1,500 J Street supporters from across
the country will be joining our advocacy team for direct, virtual meetings
with senators, representatives and key congressional staff. As our elected
representatives work to shape a new era of American leadership, we’ll be
pushing for them to go big -- to take the bold steps necessary to protect
human rights, support diplomacy and advance our shared vision of a just
and peaceful future for Palestinians and Israelis.

[ [link removed] ]Register now for the J Street Conference & Advocacy Week >>
[ [link removed] ]Join Us →

A Conference Full of Content, Engagement and Analysis

This year’s conference will feature cutting-edge programming across a
broad range of priorities and key subjects for our movement. "Main stage"
events will cover progressive political strategy, on-the-ground analysis
of the situation in Israel and the occupied territories and deep dives
into American foreign policy and the political and diplomatic challenges
facing the Biden administration and Congress. Breakout sessions will
include live specialty tracks, meetups, interactive discussion panels and
networking opportunities with Jewish and progressive allies. Through it
all, we’ll have a team of political, media and foreign policy experts on
hand to offer live debate and analysis.

[ [link removed] ]Don’t miss out on what promises to be J Street’s most engaging,
interactive and accessible conference yet. >>
[ [link removed] ]Register Now →

The View from J Street: Israel’s Election Results

[8]Voting
For those concerned about Israel’s future as a democratic homeland for the
Jewish people and about ongoing attacks on core liberal values and
democratic institutions in the country, this election had both encouraging
and concerning signs -- and left Israeli politics once again with an
uncertain and muddled picture. While Prime Minister Netanyahu lacks a
clear path to forming a stable governing majority, so do his many
opponents, meaning more weeks and months of deadlock could lie ahead.

On a positive note, several parties on the center-left and left, who had
been in danger of entirely missing out on the threshold for entering the
next Knesset (Meretz, Labor, Blue and White) performed better than
expected. On the other hand, the extreme right Religious Zionist party
secured six seats and may form a critical component in any Netanyahu-led
government. These leaders include anti-LGBT activists and others who
campaigned on blatantly racist, pro-annexation ideologies. They present a
clear threat to Israel’s founding values of democracy and equality, and,
concerningly, have received the full backing and support of Prime Minister
Netanyahu.

For J Street, this is a reminder that our shared fight for our vision of a
just, peaceful and democratic Israel remains as important as ever.
[ [link removed] ]Read and share our reflections on the results →

Hopes Raised of Path to Return to the Iran Deal

[10]Secretary Blinken
President Trump’s withdrawal from the JCPOA nuclear agreement has been
disastrous for US and Israeli interests. While the agreement had succeeded
in blocking all Iranian pathways to a nuclear weapon, Trump’s failed
"maximum pressure" approach has led to Iran increasing its stockpiles of
nuclear material, rebuilding key facilities and warning international
inspectors that they may soon be denied access. Despite both Tehran and
the Biden administration signaling a desire to return to mutual compliance
with the agreement, frayed trust and narrow political space in both
countries have made restoring the deal a significant challenge.

With the urgency increasing by the day as looming Iranian elections
threaten to shut the current diplomatic window, this past week brought
welcome news of a potential breakthrough. In a meeting of the current
members of the deal in Austria, Iran and the United States agreed to
establish two working groups to coordinate a synchronized return to the
deal -- one focused on returning Iran’s nuclear activity to compliance
with the restrictions, and the other focused on reversing President
Trump’s violations of the deal.

We’re nowhere near the finish line -- and J Street’s advocacy will be
sorely needed in the coming weeks to push hard for progress, and to defend
the Biden administration’s diplomatic efforts from bad-faith, dangerous
right-wing attacks.

Luckily, we’re not alone in this work, as we stand alongside our many
allies in Congress, in the progressive movement and in the Israeli
security establishment. [ [link removed] ]Why some Israeli generals want to see the US
return to the nuclear deal with Iran >>
[ [link removed] ]Read Now →

J Street Welcomes Biden's Resumption of Palestinian Aid, Removal of Trump's
Harmful ICC Sanctions

[13]Biden
This month, J Street welcomed several key steps by the Biden
administration that we had strongly advocated for.

Under the Trump administration, aid to the Palestinian people was slashed
to zero in a punitive and harmful effort to push the Palestinian
leadership to the brink -- against the warnings of the Israeli security
establishment. Last week, the Biden administration announced it would be
resuming aid to important programs designed to enhance security, foster
economic development and promote coexistence. They also announced the
restoration of key aid commitments to the United Nations agency for
Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), which plays a critical role in providing for
the daily needs of refugees and in heading off humanitarian disaster and
instability. These moves are among the steps that the administration must
take in order to begin repairing its relationship with the Palestinians
and restore its ability to act as a good-faith diplomatic broker.

The Biden administration also announced the reversal of outrageous
sanctions that Trump had placed on key personnel at the International
Criminal Court. Such sanctions were completely inconsistent with the
administration’s commitment to diplomacy, human rights and international
law, and J Street was among the many advocacy groups that had called for
their removal. “By removing these sanctions, President Biden, Secretary
Blinken and their team are sending an important message that whatever
disagreements they may have with the ICC or other international bodies,
they will not act to improperly interfere with their proceedings or to
intimidate and bully their personnel,” J Street said in a statement
reported by [ [link removed] ]Haaretz and the [ [link removed] ]Times of Israel.

These are important and encouraging steps forward and we must continue to
push our leaders to go further. Together, we must push for further action
to combat settlements, demolitions and de facto annexation, and to restore
hopes for peace and diplomatic progress. [ [link removed] ]Make a contribution this
April to help push for a bold new era of progressive foreign policy >>
[ [link removed] ]Give Now →

Invitation: The Israeli-Palestinian Joint Memorial Day Ceremony

[18]Ceremony
At 11am this Wednesday, April 14, a siren will sound across Israel and the
country, quite literally, will come to a standstill. As any Israeli will
tell you, Yom HaZikaron -- Israel’s Memorial Day -- is one of the most
moving days in the nation’s calendar. With a painful history of conflict
-- and almost every Jewish Israeli having served in the defense forces
themselves -- it’s a day with special resonance to most citizens.

For many, the cornerstone event on the day will be the Israeli-Palestinian
Joint Memorial Day Ceremony. It’s a memorial that powerfully embraces the
Jewish values of empathy and compassion, even for adversaries, and brings
together both Israelis and Palestinians who have lost loved ones to the
conflict -- and long for the many decades of conflict to come to an end.

[ [link removed] ]Hosted by our progressive allies in Israel -- Combatants for Peace and
Parents Circle: Families Forum -- we hope you can join us at this year’s
virtual ceremony on Tuesday, April 13 at 1:30pm Eastern.
[ [link removed] ]Register Here →

[ [link removed] ]Donate →

[ [link removed] ]View this email as a web page.
[2]Street Talk Logo
© 2021 J Street | [ [link removed] ]www.jstreet.org | [email protected]

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.



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