This Week: Silence is Complicity 📢 | Peter Beinart and Jeremy Discuss Gaza, Zionism and Jewish Identity 🎙️ | Senators Speak Out 🏛️ | What’s Stopping a Ceasefire and Hostage Deal? 🚧 | Claim Your J Street Convention Recap Discount 🏷️ | This Week’s Must-Reads 📖 | Our Pro-Democracy To-Do List 🗳️ | And much more.

📢  Silence is Complicity: We’re at a point of moral reckoning. “In Gaza this week, hundreds more Palestinians were killed, many of them children, most in and around so-called humanitarian centers where inadequate amounts of food are handed out,” J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami wrote. “If we don’t stop the pursuit of a messianic agenda by an extremist fringe, not only is the State of Israel at risk and the safety of Jews globally endangered, the very soul of the Jewish people is at stake.” ✍️ Tell Jewish leaders: We must speak out >>

• Over the next weeks, our movement will be engaging Members of Congress and rallying in synagogues and in our communities across the country to make clear that there is a moral imperative for our leaders to do everything in their power to end the war, free the hostages and surge aid. Download posters and yard signs to share this essential message >>
  
  
• If you haven’t already, read and share Jeremy’s Substack post with your network >>

🎙️  Peter Beinart and Jeremy Discuss Gaza, Zionism and Jewish Identity: In the biggest Word on the Street Live event ever, Jeremy sat down with Peter Beinart for a no-holds-barred conversation on the most pressing issues facing the Jewish community. Together they dug 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;
• And their disagreements over Zionism and Israel’s future.
  
  
• Watch and share here >>

🏛️  Senators Speak Out: J Street has been on the front lines in urging senators to press for action by the Trump Administration to stop the policy of mass starvation, to stop the settler violence and to stop the looming demolitions in Masafer Yatta. And senators are heeding the call and leading with their pro-Israel, pro-peace, pro-demoracy values. Just this week, Senators took action with the following: 

• Supporting Surge of Aid Into Gaza: Ranking Members Jack Reed (D-RI), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Mark Warner (D-VA), Chris Coons (D-DE), and Brian Schatz (D-HI) released a joint statement urging the Trump Administration to press Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to immediately change course in its war in Gaza, including by supporting, “a surge in humanitarian assistance that provides both a sufficient amount of humanitarian aid and credible mechanisms for effective distribution.” Read more >>
  
  
• Calling for Independent Investigation of Killing of US Citizen in West Bank: Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) led 28 Senators in calling upon the Trump Administration to conduct a US-led independent investigation into the killing of Saifullah Kamel Musallet writing, “The U.S. government must conduct a credible and independent investigation into his death and hold all perpetrators accountable. Protecting and supporting U.S. citizens abroad is one of the foremost responsibilities of the U.S. government. The United States Government has failed to secure accountability for the killing of respected Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, or any of the other five American citizens – Omar Assad, Tawfic Abdel Jabbar, Mohammad Ahmed Mohammad Khdour, Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, and Amer Mohammad Saada Rabee – killed in the West Bank since January 2022.” Read more >>

• Opposing Demolitions in Masafer Yatta: J Street specifically thanked senators who spoke out to push back on the potential demolitions in Masafer Yatta while also drawing attention to the dangerous push by the Netanyahu government to advance settlement construction in E1: “We commend Senators Merkley, Van Hollen, Sanders and Welch for their urgent statement shining a light on the looming demolitions in Masafer Yatta. We urge more Members of Congress to join the growing international opposition to the E1 settlement plans,” we wrote. “Pressure from international allies and US lawmakers has succeeded in halting demolitions and E1 plans before, and it is our deepest hope that it can do so once again.” Read more >>
  

• ✍️ Tell Congress to take further action on West Bank Settler Violence >>

🚧  What’s Stopping a Ceasefire and Hostage Deal? In the last few weeks, momentum for a ceasefire seems to have grown. Negotiators from both sides arrived in Doha. The Trump Administration said a deal was “the utmost priority.” Even Netanyahu signaled increasing openness. Yet no deal has emerged and every day that passes, more Gazan civilians face starvation and are killed trying to get aid, and Israeli hostages are placed in greater and greater danger. 

• Key Barriers: J Street Policy Center Fellow Frank Lowenstein shared his analysis of the key issues holding up negotiations. “A primary sticking point has long been Hamas’ insistence that the 60-day ceasefire will lead to a permanent end to the war, and Netanyahu’s refusal to commit to an end to the war. While Trump has reportedly assured Hamas that the Israelis will at least respect the 60-day pause in fighting, they have been seeking guarantees that negotiations will continue until an agreement is reached on ending the war in return for releasing all remaining hostages. This is directly contrary to Netanyahu’s insistence on resuming the war.” Read more >>
  

• Netanyahu’s Ultra-Orthodox Conscription Crisis: J Street Policy Fellow Yael Patir dives deep into the efforts to end ultra-Orthodox military service exemptions and the political implications. “Last week, Israel’s ultra-Orthodox parties withdrew from Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government, triggering a deep coalition crisis. UTJ pulled its ministers and Knesset members in protest of the government’s failure to pass a law protecting yeshiva students. The crisis escalated when Shas followed suit just days later, with its ministers also resigning from the government, but not the coalition. Their departure left Netanyahu’s coalition with only 50 of 120 members in the Knesset – far short of a governing majority.” Read more >>

🏷️   Claim Your J Street Convention Recap Discount: Friends, we’re excited to be offering a special discount Convention to recap readers. Use the code ‘weeklyrecap’ for 10% off any general admission ticket. Bringing together renowned experts, student advocates, prominent Israeli-Palestinian organizations and progressive leaders, this year’s J Street Convention is an event you won’t want to miss. Learn more and register today >>

📖  This Week’s Must-Reads:

• As a Zionist and Lifelong Advocate, I Believe Israel Has Gone Too Far
  Rabbi Doug Kahn writes in The Jewish News of Northern California, "Withholding humanitarian aid (food, water, medicine and electricity) through a collective punishment policy crosses a moral boundary. Not providing urgently needed medical equipment, especially for children who have been severely injured or who need life-saving supplies because of illness, cannot be justified."

• Is It Important to Call Israel's Carnage in Gaza 'Genocide'? 
  Dr. Dahlia Scheindlin writes in Haaretz, "If the word genocide is too troubling for you personally, move on – focus instead on the relentless investigations by Haaretz's Nir Hasson, which answer questions like why so many Gazans are getting shot and killed trying to reach food centers, and how many are actually dying? Look at the pictures of starving children and stop worrying about what to call it: Focus instead on ending the war. I understand Palestinians who feel abandoned by those unwilling to use the term. But right now, the verbal litmus test is less important than rallying all people who support an end to this war, using whatever language they are capable of employing."

• Why American Jews No Longer Understand One Another
  Ezra Klein writes in The New York Times, “What many young Jews see is what Olmert sees and they want no part of it. Are they to defend war crimes? Are they to defend, or even accept, the use of mass starvation as a tool of war? Are they to believe in equality everywhere but in the state that is meant to be their spiritual home? There are many who bristled at the term 'genocide' a year ago but have come to accept it now. What other Jews see is a world that cares little for Jewish life and has always sought Israel’s destruction."
  
  
• Biden’s Team Lied About Gaza. It’s Time to Hold Them Accountable
  Matt Duss writes in Foreign Policy, "But as of now, I don’t see them speaking up about it. With very few exceptions – such as Andrew Miller, the former deputy assistant secretary of state for Israeli-Palestinian affairs, and (J Street Chief Policy Officer) Ilan Goldenberg, a former White House special advisor – they aren’t engaging in any real public introspection, let alone any that grapples with the enormity of the atrocities that the Biden administration helped facilitate and the likely consequences for the country and the world, which are quite dire."

 💡 More Resources:

• Follow us on Social:

• Instagram
• Facebook
• BlueSky
• Threads
• X
• TikTok

• Watch our Webinars and Listen to our Podcast:

• YouTube
• Spotify
• Apple Podcasts

• Read More on Our Website:

• JStreet.org
• J Street Policy Center
• J Street U
• J Street Israel

© 2025 J Street | www.jstreet.org | [email protected]