Friends,

The challenges facing the Jewish community right now couldn’t be more urgent. Antisemitism. Gaza. Trump. Netanyahu.

Peter Beinart is one of the leading writers and thinkers in the Jewish community on all these issues. He and I have a long and nuanced relationship.

We share a deep concern that Israel has headed down a dark, troubling path led by messianic extremists and their craven political enablers, and we worry about the implications not just for Israelis and Palestinians but for Jews globally.

At the end of the day, however, there’s much we don’t see eye to eye on when it comes to Israel and Palestine.

Tough times demand tough conversations, so this Wednesday at 4pm Eastern, I’m sitting down live with Peter for a no-holds-barred discussion on Substack on Word on the Street LIVE.

Rest assured, there will be ‘a robust exchange of ideas’ on the program, but I hope we’ll model the respectful, thoughtful dialogue our polarized Jewish community could use at this moment.

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We’ll dig into:

• Peter’s new book, Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning;
• The Netanyahu government’s flattening of Gaza and what it means for our community;
• Our disagreements over Zionism and Israel’s future;
• And the latest headlines shaking our communal institutions.

Subscribe now to Word on the Street to join us live and be part of this conversation. Expect a message in your inbox or an alert on the Substack app around 4pm on Wednesday to join us. You don’t need a link to register beforehand – and the conversation will be available to view or listen afterwards on a range of platforms.

If you enjoy our work at J Street, I want to invite you to access the ever-growing content we’ll be providing on Substack, live interviews, thought pieces and more. On Wednesdays at 4pm Eastern, my colleague Ilan Goldenberg, J Street’s Chief Policy Officer, and I will host weekly conversations with great friends and experts like Peter.

➡️ Subscribe to access my past work and your invite to Wednesday’s call >>

I hope you’ll consider joining the community we’re building over on Substack.

Looking forward,

Jeremy Ben-Ami
J Street President