[ ]J Street [ ]
Friends,

Recent days have been filled with personal remembrances of September 11,
2001.

Like so many of you, clear blue September skies have transported me back
to that Tuesday, when I stood in shock in Greenwich Village, staring at an
airplane-sized wound in the city’s tallest building.

Those of us who lost friends or family that day hold a personal grief
inextricably bound up with a national trauma. A pain that is both
collective and deeply personal.

That morning, I couldn’t know how that moment would shape the rest of my
life. Or how the genesis of the J Street movement would tie back to that
day of trauma.

The events of that day -- and the decisions made by both the Bush and
subsequent administrations -- brought us a new political lexicon: The
Patriot Act. Extraordinary rendition. Troop surges. Drone strikes. Enemy
combatants. Enhanced interrogation. 'Mission Accomplished.' Alternative
facts.

Many of these terms reflect trade-offs America made of core values in the
name of security. And they reflect actions and decisions grounded in a
short-term reactive calculus without adequate consideration of long-term
ramifications.

Those who warned us at the time with clarity and foresight of the risk of
sacrificing our values, or the long-term costs of our actions, were too
often derided as soft, naive and even un-American.

Today, with 20 years of hindsight, there are clear lessons to be drawn --
not only for America’s leaders but also for those thinking about how
Israel can reconcile a desire for security with the vision of a just,
peaceful and democratic homeland for the Jewish people.

We cannot fix political problems with military solutions.

We cannot defend democracy if we allow our values to become collateral
damage in the process.

We must be wary of those who denounce cartoon villains, offer simple
solutions and promise easy victories -- but instead end up delivering
endless conflict, violence and injustice.

Those lessons remain core to J Street’s strategic thinking today.

By early 2003, I had become deeply disheartened by the lack of dissent
among elected officials around the Bush administration’s invasion of Iraq.

The nation’s understandable desire to answer the horror of September 11
had been hijacked by ideologues with a longstanding agenda of their own --
regime change in Iraq and beyond.

I joined the presidential campaign of Howard Dean, the sole candidate
willing to buck his party’s leadership and speak out against the war.

He brought a skeptical eye not only to claims of weapons of mass
destruction and the concept of preventive war, but to the harmful
conventional wisdom around Israeli-Palestinian policy. But for calling out
the dangers of settlement expansion or suggesting the US should be an
even-handed broker for peace, he was vehemently attacked as a radical,
anti-Israel and worse.

I came to see this as part of a pattern: A political culture which
deterred leaders from supporting pragmatic policies -- including those
they supported behind closed doors -- because they feared that nobody
would stand with them if they stood up for the truth.

It’s this dynamic which, save for a few brave champions, muzzled debate
over the Iraq war and our goals in Afghanistan and led to catastrophic
post-9/11 policy failures. It pushed our leaders to do what felt
politically safe and expected, rather than what’s wise, right and just.

On the question of Israel, it has pushed our leaders to enable and
reinforce a cycle of endless occupation and conflict -- against the
interests of the US and Israel itself -- rather than take the steps
required to help Israel fulfill its promise as a just, democratic homeland
for the Jewish people. A beacon of light among nations.

If there were ever a contrast which summed up this problem, it’s that
George Bush’s catastrophic decision to invade Iraq was somehow less
controversial than Barack Obama’s efforts to avoid war and prevent Iran
from acquiring nuclear weapons through a negotiated agreement.

That’s why we founded J Street: To give our leaders the space and
political support to do what’s just, right and in our long-term best
interests. To pursue policies and principles embraced by the overwhelming
majority of voters, both inside and outside our community.

It’s why we push back so hard against the destructive voices on the right
who have dominated the policy debate for far too long. Why we stand up for
a foreign policy that, by embracing diplomacy and democratic values,
ultimately makes us safer and stronger.

20 years on, the debate continues between those of us who champion
diplomacy, multilateralism and human rights and those very same people who
led us into devastating, fruitless wars over the past two decades.

With boundless self-assurance, hard-liners and neocons insist the only way
to deal with Iran is through 'maximum pressure,' military force and regime
change. Or that on Israel-Palestine, security considerations leave no
choice but permanent occupation.

We’re determined to make sure these voices don’t win out yet again.

J Street will continue to stand for values-driven leadership that measures
strength not solely in military might, but in our ability to solve real
global problems, our capacity for international leadership, and our power
to advance a vision for peace, justice, security and progress.

Twenty years since that crystal clear morning in downtown Manhattan, it is
meaningful to me that this year’s anniversary falls between Rosh Hashanah
and Yom Kippur. This is a moment in which we learn from mistakes of the
past, show resolve in the present, and commit to progress in the future.

In this moment, I feel energized for the year ahead -- and want to thank
you, sincerely, for your ongoing support in our shared mission. Together,
we are transforming our politics, creating real space for bold leadership,
and advancing our shared values of justice, self-determination and peace.

Wishing you a Shanah Tovah, and a meaningful fast to all those observing
the High Holidays.

Yours,

Jeremy Ben-Ami
President, J Street

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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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