Dear A.,

I want to make sure you saw this new factsheet highlighting our political success during the last election cycle.

As you can see, our community came together in a remarkable way and achieved undeniable results.

I encourage you to read and share this important print-friendly resource with friends and family — especially those who’ve asked you questions over the past year about AIPAC’s new political strategy. 

With your help, we’ll continue to build upon these successes and further strengthen the U.S.-Israel relationship in the years ahead.

Sincerely,

Jake Braunstein
Director of Policy Communications

This week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and other leaders in Israel, where he reaffirmed that, "America's commitment to [Israel's] security remains ironclad."

• Amid ongoing discussions in Israel about potential reforms to the country's judiciary, Blinken emphasized that, "These debates are a very healthy part of a vibrant democracy. [...] All of this, of course, is for Israelis themselves to work out."
   
• Blinken also offered condolences for the "horrific terrorist attack" over the weekend, and reiterated the United States' "steadfast support for Israel and its people."

Context: Last Friday evening, as Shabbat began and International Holocaust Remembrance Day came to a close, a Palestinian terrorist shot and killed seven Israelis and wounded three others outside a synagogue in Jerusalem.

• Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank handed out sweets and shot off fireworks to celebrate the attack, which came less than 24 hours after terrorists in Gaza launched rockets into Israel. 
   
• On Saturday morning, a Palestinian terrorist shot and seriously injured two more Israelis outside the Old City of Jerusalem. 
   
• Read this AIPAC Memo about the rising threat of Palestinian terror.
   

We appreciate the Biden administration and Democrats and Republicans in Congress for standing unequivocally with our ally Israel in the wake of these attacks.

America stepped up efforts this week to combat Iran's escalating aggression:

• The Biden administration imposed a series of restrictions on Iranian entities producing drones for Russia.
   
• U.S. prosecutors charged three men in a Tehran-backed plot to assassinate an Iranian-American journalist in Brooklyn.
   
• A bipartisan group of House members reintroduced the MAHSA Act to sanction high-level Iranian regime officials.

Our view: America must continue to increase the pressure against the Iranian regime.

• Now is the time to fully enforce sanctions and cut off the regime from the international financial and oil markets.

A new article in Jewish Currents exposes J Street as "too critical of Israel for the mainstream Democratic establishment it courts—and not critical enough for its own constituency."

Dismay at pro-Israel policies: J Street membership and staff were angry after Secretary of State Antony Blinken detailed how the Biden administration has stood by Israel. 

• “(According to one J Street employee, who requested anonymity to protect their job, some audience members even quietly booed.) This was not the speech they wanted to hear.” 

• “The reaction to it by pretty much everyone at the conference was pretty negative,” said a J Street staff member. 

 
J Street in action: While masquerading as a pro-Israel organization, J Street pressures Congress to enact policies that would weaken the U.S.-Israel relationship and undermine Israel's security.
 

• After going on a J Street trip to Israel, Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) withdrew his support for a bill supporting normalization agreements between Israel and the Arab states.

• J Street "threw its weight behind" a bill "which also placed restrictions on U.S. aid" to Israel.

 
Political battlefield: “J Street’s newly-created Super PAC spent about $2 million during the 2022 election cycle to back” anti-Israel candidates like Jamaal Bowman and Donna Edwards. 
 

• J Street “lost in five of the seven races where it went directly against AIPAC or DMFI. AIPAC is promising more of the same in the 2024 election cycle.” 

• “If you’re J Street, you have to find a way to get, if not to parity, then to a level of support for candidates that allows them to withstand that avalanche of AIPAC cash,” said Max Berger, a co-founder of anti-occupation group IfNotNow who worked for J Street.

J Street is many things, but it's not pro-Israel.