Friends,
Last week marked the largest single congressional advocacy effort in J Street's history, with hundreds of supporters participating in direct meetings with congressional offices.
Our message: Congress and President Biden must take bold action to push back on the occupation and preserve the prospects for peace.
Now is the time for action to support diplomacy, defend human rights, uphold our values and protect our vision of a just, democratic Israel. As we’ve seen with recent violence in Jerusalem and rocket fire from Gaza, the current reality of rising extremism and slow-motion annexation is unsustainable -- trampling Palestinian rights and jeopardizing Israeli security.
Underscoring the urgency, the Associated Press recently published a clear-eyed and sobering report on the dangerous legacy of the Trump-Netanyahu alliance:
| TRUMP-ERA SPIKE IN ISRAELI SETTLEMENT GROWTH HAS ONLY BEGUN |
| "An aggressive Israeli settlement spree during the Trump era has pushed deeper than ever into the occupied West Bank [...] Although the Trump plan has been scrapped, the lasting legacy of construction will make it even harder to create a viable Palestinian state. President Joe Biden’s administration supports the two-state solution but has given no indication on how it plans to promote it. The huge number of projects in the pipeline, along with massive development of settlement infrastructure, means Biden would likely need to rein in Israel to keep the two-state option alive." |
In the face of such determined expansionism by the far-right, our vision for Palestinian self-determination and a just, secure Israel demands more than just rhetorical support -- it demands true American leadership.
Please consider a donation today to help urge President Biden to take further, decisive action to deter Israeli government demolitions and settlement expansion >>
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As the AP report makes clear, the threat this poses comes not only from the rate of settlement construction, but where it's happening: "Unlike his immediate predecessors, Netanyahu has encouraged construction in remote areas deep inside the West Bank, further scrambling any potential blueprint for resolving the conflict."
Make no mistake: This is a deliberate, calculated strategy on the part of the far-right. As pro-settlement cheerleaders openly boast, it is designed to thwart a two-state peace agreement and pave the way for a wave of annexation that would ultimately destroy Israel's democracy and condemn millions of Palestinians to life under a permanent, unjust military occupation.
That's why we're continuing to mobilize our entire movement to call on our leaders to take concrete action and stand up for our shared values. We're urging them to restore legal opposition to West Bank settlements, ensure US security assistance to Israel cannot be used to entrench the occupation, end the practice of shielding the Netanyahu government from fair and legitimate diplomatic criticism and encouraging them to speak out forcefully against demolitions, settlement expansion and excessive use of force.
With our allies in power, this moment delivers us both the capacity and urgency to act. We can't afford to fall short. Please consider a contribution today to our shared fight for justice, peace and democracy >>
President Trump may be gone from the White House, but the work of repairing the damage is far from over.
Thank you for your support in this important work.
Debra Shushan,
Director of Government Affairs
PS. To read and share the full AP report, click here.
