[ [link removed] ] [ [link removed] ]J Street[ [link removed] ]
This week: Responding to Tragedy Around the World 🕎 | This Is How We Fight
Antisemitism 🕍 | Word on the Street 🚧 | Save Your Seat at the J Street
2026 Convention 🎟️ | This Week’s Must-Reads/Listens 📖 | Our Pro-Democracy
To-Do List 🗳️ | And much more.

We’re proud to be powered by supporters like you. Like many advocacy
groups, J Street relies on End-of-Year donations for nearly half of our
annual grassroots fundraising. Your support makes our work possible. 
[ [link removed] ]Can we count on you to chip in? >>

🕎 Responding to Tragedy Around the World: This past weekend was incredibly
painful for our community after a horrific school shooting at Brown
University and a deadly antisemitic attack during a Hanukkah celebration
in Australia.

* "We are horrified and heartbroken by the antisemitic terror attack at
Bondi Beach in Sydney, where Jews celebrating the first night of
Hanukkah were targeted in an act of unspeakable violence. Our hearts
are with the families of those killed, the many injured and all who
witnessed this atrocity," J Street Director of Communal Relations Sam
Berkman said. [ [link removed] ]Read the full statement here >>

* “As J Street U students, we carry forward a vision of a world shaped
by understanding, not fear – a world we are determined to fight for,
in the face of violence and loss, and now more than ever,” the J
Street U National Board said. [ [link removed] ]Read their powerful statement here >>

🕍 This Is How We Fight Antisemitism: This week, Representatives Jerry
Nadler, Rosa DeLauro, Becca Balint and Maxwell Frost introduced The
Antisemitism Response and Prevention Act (ARPA), which would provide
security funding for places of worship, strengthen national hate crime
tracking and responses and ensure college students have on-campus support
to prevent and address antisemitism.

* “If passed, this legislation would safeguard American Jews by
protecting the democratic pillars that have allowed Jewish life to
flourish in this country. Our safety is inextricably linked to
defending democratic freedoms. The ARPA advances both goals, and we
urge Members of Congress to support it,” Jeremy said in a press
release about the bill. [ [link removed] ]Read the full statement here >>

* The Trump Administration has doubled down on its demonization of
immigrant communities in response to an increase in antisemitic hate
crimes, with many MAGA Republicans suggesting that only Christians or
people of certain ethnic groups should be allowed access into the US.

"The administration selectively cites violence, instability and
extremist activity to justify sweeping restrictions that treat entire
communities as security threats, abandoning individualized,
evidence-based vetting in favor of collective exclusion. Targeting
people as a group erodes the values the United States claims to
uphold," J Street Vice President and Chief of Staff Adina Vogel-Ayalon
said in a statement responding to the administration’s ban on people
with Palestinian Authority passports from entering the country.

🚧 Word on the Street: J Street publishes commentary, video conversations
and policy pieces on our Substack throughout the week. [ [link removed] ]Subscribe here
>>

* Where Have All the Profiles in Courage Gone? This week, Jeremy demands
answers from the Republican Party as they increasingly give into the
Trump Administration’s authoritarian onslaught:
"The failure of the Republican Party in Congress to stand up to Donald
Trump – and to defend the prerogatives of the legislative branch in
the face of his unprecedented expansion of executive power – may be
the clearest example. Over and over, Members who know better have
chosen acquiescence over accountability". [ [link removed] ]Read the full piece >>

* Combating Antisemitism Through Coalition-building: Amy Spitalnick, CEO
of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs and former J Street staff
member, joined Jeremy Ben-Ami and J Street Chief Policy Officer Ilan
Goldenberg to discuss the attack in Australia and how to make Jewish
communities safer:

“I think that the story out of Australia – Ahmed al-Ahmad's heroism –
is exactly the sort of stories we need to be lifting up right now
because the most extreme voices are telling us that we're alone, that
no one shows up for our community when we're under attack, that no one
cares right now. And that's a core tactic of extremism to make us feel
alone and isolated,” she said. [ [link removed] ]Watch the full conversation here >>

🍦 Next week's Word on the Street will feature Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry’s
Ice Cream next Tuesday, December 23 at 4pm Eastern. [ [link removed] ]Subscribe here to
get an alert when we go live >> 🍦

📝 This Week from the Policy Center: J Street’s Policy Center publishes
weekly analyses on US-Israeli policy and broader Middle East politics.

* [ [link removed] ]Netanyahu's Pardon Gamble and What It Means For Israeli Democracy
Prime Minister Netanyahu’s 111-page pardon request is unprecedented in
Israeli political and legal history – a sitting prime minister
requesting a pardon mid-trial, without admitting wrongdoing. J Street
Policy Fellow Yael Patir assesses the constitutionality of the
request, why it poses a threat to the rule of law and the reaction
across Israel’s political spectrum.

“Domestically, the pardon request is a classic Netanyahu maneuver:
Whichever way the system turns, he wins. If Herzog and the legal
establishment move toward some form of clemency, Netanyahu can present
it as national reconciliation and use it to reshape the political map
– perhaps by assembling a unity government, moderating his coalition,
and rehabilitating his image as a unifier after years of
polarization.” [ [link removed] ]Read the full piece here >>

🎟️ Save Your Seat at the J Street 2026 Convention: From working to press
the ceasefire forward to defending for our democracy at the ballot box, J
Street’s work has never been more important. 

* Our 2026 convention will feature pro-peace leaders from Israel and
Palestine, pro-democracy champions in the House and Senate, and
challengers looking to defeat MAGA incumbents up and down the ballot.
Don't miss out on the largest gathering of our pro-Israel, pro-peace,
pro-democracy movement next year! [ [link removed] ]Learn more and register here >>

📖 This Week’s Must-Reads/Listens:

* [ [link removed] ]From Military Discourse to Security Through State Craft
"The leadership of the centrist parties is also huddled around the
military tribal campfire, afraid to talk about a political solution,
lest it diminish the perception of 'security above all else' that it
seeks to project to the public," J Street Israel Executive Director
Nadav Tamir writes in Times of Israel.

* [ [link removed] ]Cynicism After Horror: Netanyahu Exploits Bondi Attack for His Own
Agenda
“It takes boundless audacity for Netanyahu to directly blame a
government – however ineffective it may be – for an attack when he
himself has never assumed the slightest responsibility for the October
7, 2023, attack, the largest murder of Jews since the Second World
War, instead placing the blame (to this day) on the heads of the army
and security services who were in office that day," J Street leader
Sebastien Levi writes in Jerusalem Post.

* [ [link removed] ]From Jerusalem to DC, the Rise of Qatar Is a Grim Marker of the
Death of Democracy
"There was once a time when a state's claim to be a democracy was
integral to its international legitimacy and central to its image on
the world stage. Even countries that were neither democratic nor
republics – that were, in fact, despotic regimes or dictatorships –
affixed those descriptors to their names because even their cynical
deployment was necessary in a world in which democracy remained the
dream of the world's masses," Joshua Leifer writes in Haaretz.

🗳️ Our Pro-Democracy To-Do List:

[15][ ]  [ [link removed] ]NEW: Tell Washington: We Cannot Look Away from Gaza >>

[17][ ]  [ [link removed] ]NEW: Tell President Herzog: Don't Pardon Netanyahu >>

[19][ ]  [ [link removed] ]NEW: Renew your J Street Membership for 2026 >>

[21][ ]  [ [link removed] ]Sign up for J Street’s 2026 National Convention >>

[23][ ]  [ [link removed] ]Tell Congress: Stop Demolitions in Umm al-Khair >>

[25][ ]  [ [link removed] ]Tell Congress: No Excuses. Aid Must Flow Freely. >>

[27][ ]  [ [link removed] ]Tell Congress: Support the West Bank Violence Prevention Act
>

[29][ ]  [ [link removed] ]Order J Street Merch >>

[31][ ]  [ [link removed] ]Find pro-Israel, pro-democracy, pro-peace candidates at
JStreetPAC.org >>

[ [link removed] ]subscribe button

 💡 More Resources:

* Follow us on Social:

* [ [link removed] ]Instagram
* [ [link removed] ]Facebook
* [ [link removed] ]BlueSky
* [ [link removed] ]Threads
* [ [link removed] ]X
* [ [link removed] ]TikTok

* Watch our Webinars and Listen to our Podcast:

* [ [link removed] ]YouTube
* [ [link removed] ]Spotify
* [ [link removed] ]Apple Podcasts

* Read More on Our Website:

* [ [link removed] ]JStreet.org
* [ [link removed] ]J Street Policy Center
* [ [link removed] ]J Street U
* [ [link removed] ]J Street Israel


[ [link removed] ]MAKE A ONE-TIME DONATION »
[ [link removed] ]MAKE A MONTHLY RECURRING DONATION »
[ [link removed] ]Threads [ [link removed] ]Facebook [ [link removed] ]Instagram [ [link removed] ]Twitter
© 2025 J Street | [ [link removed] ]www.jstreet.org | [email protected]

J Street is the political home for pro-Israel, pro-peace, pro-democracy
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.



You can unsubscribe from this mailing list at any time:
[link removed]