[ ]J Street [ ]
Friends --

Last night’s election results in Michigan’s 11th district weren’t what
we’d hoped for. Facing a deluge of outside spending by AIPAC, our good
friend and ally Rep. Andy Levin lost his tough Democratic primary race to
fellow incumbent Rep. Haley Stevens.

All of us at J Street are deeply disappointed by the outcome, and sad that
Andy will not be representing Michigan in Congress again next year.
Throughout his career, he has proven himself a true mensch -- a kind,
principled and compassionate leader who fights every day for his
constituents, his Jewish and democratic values, and a better world. A
tireless advocate for democracy, diplomacy, the two-state solution and
human rights.

Faced with so much right-wing money and with baseless smears, he never
wavered in his support for what’s right. J Street is proud of all we did
to support his re-election and defend him from unfair attacks. We raised
over $1 million in total to support Levin -- in contributions through our
PAC and independent expenditures from our SuperPAC, the J Street Action
Fund.

What’s so alarming about this race is how heavily impacted it was by AIPAC
and its SuperPAC “United Democracy Project” (UDP), who collectively spent
nearly $5 million to defeat Levin -- far more than the total amount spent
by any other group. That’s just one piece of the nearly $30 million that
the group is set to spend on Democratic primaries this year.

Ultimately, many voters in Michigan and across the country still don’t
know that the deluge of ads flooding their airwaves were paid for by a
group with a deeply unpopular, right-wing foreign policy agenda, backed in
part by Republican megadonors who contributed to UDP. And they don’t know
that this same group endorses and supports 109 Republicans who voted to
overturn our election on January 6, 2021.

This intervention in Democratic primaries to promote an unpopular agenda
is harmful to US foreign policy, to the Democratic Party and ultimately to
the interests of Israel and the US-Israel relationship. That’s why J
Street will continue to sound the alarm and lead the charge to counter
these aggressive, divisive and harmful tactics -- in this election cycle
and beyond.

We’ll continue to urge Democratic leaders, lawmakers and activists to make
absolutely clear just how harmful and unwelcome these interventions in its
primary contests are.

A group that attacks Donna Edwards and Andy Levin as extremists who must
be defeated, while endorsing Jim Jordan, Elise Stefanik, and 100-plus
adherents of the Big Lie for re-election, is simply not a group that
should be decisively shaping the outcome of Democratic primaries.

Even judging by their own stated goals, AIPAC’s actions don’t make much
sense. Far from building sustainable bipartisan support for Israel, they
have instead harmfully turned Israel into one of the sharpest wedge issues
in American politics -- a source of division and frustration for many
Democrats.

Instead of respectfully disagreeing with the views of a proudly
pro-Israel, pro-peace Jewish-American lawmaker like Andy Levin, they have
smeared him as “anti-Israel,” targeting him for proposing legislation to
help secure Israel’s future as a democratic homeland for the Jewish
people.

They are trying to close down the critical space for honest and healthy
debate about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in American politics that J
Street and our allies have worked hard to open up over the past fourteen
years.

AIPAC’s support for right-wing policies and endless occupation is deeply
unpopular with most voters, including most American Jews -- who recognize
that the deteriorating status quo in the region is deeply dangerous for
the State of Israel, its people and its future. While they can’t win this
critical debate on the merits, they appear to be trying to short-circuit
it through overwhelming spending.

We cannot and will not let this effort succeed.

J Street will keep proudly serving as the political home and voice for the
majority of our community. In primaries and in the general election, we’ll
give our support to principled candidates who are prepared to stand up
unapologetically for what’s right.

We will keep up our critical work to ensure that our national political
debate about foreign policy and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is rooted
in honest fact and shared democratic values.

Dealing with a defeat is never easy. But we’re proud to stand on the right
side of this fight and on the right side of history -- and with your
support, eager to keep working every day for the better future we know is
possible.

Thank you,

Kevin Rachlin
Vice President of Public Affairs

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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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