[ [link removed] ]View this email as a web page.

[2]Street Talk: J Street's Monthly Newsletter

Friend,

When we at J Street prepared for July and the scorching summer heat, we
certainly hoped we’d have a chance to eat some ice cream. We just had no
idea how much we’d end up talking about it -- or how significant that
conversation would be for our work.

Since Ben & Jerry’s made the principled decision to stop selling its ice
cream in occupied Palestinian territory (while continuing to do so in the
State of Israel) they’ve faced outrageously over-the-top smears and
attacks -- from accusations of antisemitism and even terrorism, to calls
for US state governments to punish them using constitutionally dubious
“anti-boycott” laws.

These attacks seem intended not just to punish one company, but to
intimidate and silence all those who seek to protest the occupation -- and
who wish to maintain the critical, pro-Israel distinction between Israel
and the illegal settlements. That’s why J Street and our progressive
pro-Israel partners have done so much to defend the legitimacy of this
decision, and to make clear that right-wing voices who refuse to even
acknowledge the occupation as one of the root causes of the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict do harm to both the future of Israel and to
Palestinian rights -- and don’t speak for the majority of American Jews.

Even as we stand up for the First Amendment and the right to protest
unjust policies, we also won’t let the meltdown distract us from the core
injustices and problems that Ben & Jerry’s is speaking out against in the
first place. Over the past few weeks, we’ve helped ensure that a critical
package of US aid to Israel and the Palestinian people passed the House;
spoken out against the rising scourge of settler violence; and pushed back
on right-wing Republican lawmakers who seek to legitimize settlements and
end US support for a two-state solution.

Through all this, our J Street family is also mourning the loss and
celebrating the life of one of our greatest leaders, friends and
colleagues, National Political Director Ilya Braverman. Below you can read
more about this very special person, and how we hope to honor his legacy.

Thank you,

Logan Bayroff
Vice President of Communications

AROUND J STREET

J Street Community Mourns the Loss of Ilya Braverman, Z”L

[1]J Street Mourns the loss of National Political Director Ilya
Braverman. 

On Sunday, July 25, the J Street family suffered the terrible loss of one
of our most beloved, talented and respected members and leaders, National
Political Director Ilya Braverman.

It’s simply impossible to overstate just how special, how important and
how appreciated Ilya was as a person and as a colleague. In his over seven
years at J Street, he worked his way from an initial position as a
development assistant to his later roles as a critical member of J
Street’s political team and ultimately as the team’s leader. In that time,
he consistently showed the passion, dedication, brilliance and kindness
that made him so well-liked, admired and valued. His achievements in
building and then leading J Street’s political team and JStreetPAC were
simply incredible. And beyond his staggering professional accomplishments
in such a short amount of time, where Ilya truly shone was in his
relationships with his colleagues and the many, many J Street leaders and
activists with whom he worked every day.

[ [link removed] ]You can read J Street’s full public reflection on Ilya’s life here.

Ilya’s deep commitment to our mission is an inspiration and we will all
continue to build on his legacy -- including by permanently naming his
role at our organization after him: The Ilya Braverman National Political
Director at J Street. You can help support that legacy by making a
contribution to help fund this position and to continue the work of the
political department Ilya helped build. Just go to [ [link removed] ]jstreet.org/Ilya to
learn more.

Out of Cone-trol: J Street Pushes Back Against Bad Faith Attacks on Ben &
Jerry’s

[4]J Street pushes back against bad faith attacks on Ben & Jerry's 

With the right wing in Israel and the US melting down about Ben & Jerrys’
decision to cease sales in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, J Street
spent the last few weeks providing a much-needed counterpoint. On social
media, in the press, and in our advocacy to elected officials, we led an
effort to make clear that not only were the cries of “anti-Israel” and
“antisemitism” over-the-top and harmful, but they also demonstrated that
many in the Israeli government and on the American right no longer
acknowledge the critical distinction between the state of Israel and
Occupied Territory. As J Street’s president Jeremy Ben-Ami wrote, “[W]hen
Ben & Jerry’s says it wants to sell ice cream in Israel but not in the
settlements, that seems -- to me -- a rational and principled, even
pro-Israel, position….It’s a line in the sand between Israel and the
occupation that makes perfect sense to the overwhelming majority of Jewish
Americans who support a two-state solution and oppose settlement
expansion.” [ [link removed] ]Read Jeremy’s full letter here >>

J Street created a detailed [ [link removed] ]Q&A explainer to help shatter some of the
myths and misconceptions about the decision, and circulated [ [link removed] ]a petition
defending Ben & Jerry’s right to protest occupation. In response to
letters from the Israeli government and right-leaning Jewish groups
calling on state governors to employ punitive anti-BDS laws against the
company, J Street partnered with six other progressive pro-Israel groups
(including Americans for Peace Now, the New Israel Fund and T’ruah) to
send [ [link removed] ]our own letter, which received exclusive coverage in the
Washington Post. In the letter, our groups opposed and condemned “legal
action against Ben & Jerry's or its parent company Unilever in response to
its decision to no longer sell ice cream in occupied Palestinian
territory.” We explained that “None of our organizations endorse boycotts
of Israel or support the global BDS movement — and many of us actively
advocate against them. At the same time, like Ben & Jerry’s, we make a
clear distinction between the State of Israel and the Palestinian
territories it militarily occupies.”

Ultimately, we believe that whether you’re an American, Israeli,
Palestinian, or an ice cream company, you have the right to peacefully
protest the occupation. [ [link removed] ]If you agree, sign our petition here >>

On the Hill: J Street Helps Critical Aid Package to Israelis and Palestinians
Pass the House -- And Calls Out Ted Cruz’s Attack on the Two-State Solution

[10]J Street Helps Critical Aid Package to Israelis and Palestinians Pass
the House -- And Calls Out Ted Cruz’s Attack on the Two-State Solution 

Thanks in part to determined advocacy by J Street, the House of
Representatives last month passed a State, Foreign Operations and Related
Programs appropriations bill that ensured robust security assistance to
Israel and aid to the Palestinian people, as well as critical US funding
for multilateral organizations and diplomacy worldwide. Critically, new
provisions in the legislation and its accompanying report are an important
first step toward ensuring that equipment purchased with US Foreign
Military Financing is used in a manner consistent with US law and national
security policies, including specifying that items supplied pursuant to
the US-Israel Memorandum of Understanding on security assistance may not
be used in any way that undermines the prospects of a negotiated two-state
solution. [ [link removed] ]Read our full statement here >>

Over in the Senate side, overwhelming bipartisan support has emerged for
the Israel Relations Normalization Act, which supports Israel’s process of
normalizing relations with Arab states, and reinforces the pursuit of
Israeli-Palestinian peace via a two-state solution as a cornerstone of US
policy in the region. Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz has taken it upon
himself to unilaterally block the bill’s passage, simply because he
refuses to tolerate language that reiterates US support for Palestinian
statehood alongside Israel. As J Street’s Director of Government Affairs
Debra Shushan told press, “Cruz has evidently watched years of the endless
Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory, where Palestinians lack basic
rights and dignity while Israelis face the constant threat of violence and
instability, and decided that the unjust and destructive status quo suits
him just fine.” Read coverage in [ [link removed] ]Politico and [ [link removed] ]JTA of our pushback
against Cruz’s antics.

Our Israel: Making Israeli Tech More Inclusive

[14]Making Israeli Tech More Inclusive 

“Our Israel” is a J Street initiative to spotlight amazing Israeli
organizations and individuals who share our values and who struggle, as we
do in the United States, to build and preserve a liberal, democratic
society underpinned by the principles of equality, freedom, justice and
peace. This month, we checked in with PresenTense, an organization that
looks to make entrepreneurship accessible to underprivileged communities
in Israel.

The group has launched a number of business incubators across the country
focused on providing the necessary resources for entrepreneurs from the
Arab Israeli, Bedouin, and Haredi communities, among others, to start
businesses. “If Israel is to truly be the world’s ‘Startup Nation,’” says
one of PresentTense’s founders, “then it must be an inclusive society in
which all groups can get a foothold in our entrepreneurial ecosystem.”

[ [link removed] ]Read and share the full article here >>

J Street’s Israel Director Weighs in on Settler Violence and IDF Participation

[16]J Street’s Israel Director Weighs in on Settler Violence and IDF
Participation 

According to [ [link removed] ]collaborative reporting from Israeli and American
organizations, on May 14th, Palestinians in the West Bank town of Urif
faced a series of five unprovoked, joint attacks from settlers and IDF
soldiers. Each joint attack included violence against Palestinian
civilians, the burning of farmland and the use of live ammunition. Four
Palestinians were killed.

In response to the disturbing reports, J Street Israel Director and former
IDF Officer Nadav Tamir wrote, “IDF participation in attacks on civilians
is brutal and a violation of Israel’s founding values. It feeds a cycle of
injustice and retaliation which undermines Israel’s security, degrades the
IDF’s reputation and increases the risk of reprisal attacks. I am appalled
at the violence and impunity. I cannot, however, say that I am surprised.”
[ [link removed] ]Read and share Nadav’s powerful post here >>

Must Reads

* [ [link removed] ]American Jews Aren't Soldiers in Israel's Political Wars, Haaretz

* [ [link removed] ]A Rap Song Lays Bare Israel’s Jewish-Arab Fracture -- and Goes
Viral, New York Times

* [ [link removed] ]Why Did Israel’s Judiciary Become an Enemy of the People?, The New
Republic

* [ [link removed] ]We’re Ben and Jerry. Men of Ice Cream, Men of Principle, The New York
Times


[ [link removed] ]DONATE

[ [link removed] ]Facebook [ [link removed] ]Twitter
© 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]