This week: Save Your Seat at the J Street 2026 Convention 🎟️ | Resistance and Repression in Iran ✊ | Moving to Phase 2 and Protecting Aid 📢 | Word on the Street 🚧 | This Week from the Policy Center 📝 | Mark Your Calendars for Solidarity Shabbats 🗓️ | This Week’s Must-Reads/Listens 📖 | Our Pro-Democracy To-Do List 🗳️ | And much more.
🎟️ Save Your Seat at the J Street 2026 Convention: From working to press the ceasefire forward to defending 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! Learn more and register here >>
✊ Resistance and Repression in Iran: This past week, thousands of brave Iranians took to the streets to protest the Iranian regime and demand civil and human rights. In its increasingly vulnerable state, the regime responded with a brutal crackdown that killed at least 3,000 – though the true death toll is unclear.
- "We stand unequivocally with the Iranian people in their demand for human rights, democracy and an end to the suffering imposed by a brutal and unaccountable regime. Iran’s government must immediately halt this crackdown and respect the fundamental freedoms of its citizens,” J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami said in a press release.
- [Watch] Is Iran’s Regime About to Fall?
J Street Chief Policy Officer Ilan Goldenberg spoke to Nate Swanson and Negar Mortazavi, two leading Iran policy experts, about the trajectory of the Iranian regime and the United States’ threats to intervene.
“[The regime] is dealing with a serious legitimacy crisis, that’s why you see people pour to the street and protests spread like wildfire. But we haven’t seen that legitimacy crisis turn into an existential crisis for the regime,” Negar said. Watch the full briefing here >>
📢 Moving to Phase 2 and Protecting Aid: This week, US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff announced the next steps of Phase Two of the Gaza ceasefire, laying the grounds for a transitional governing authority and the reconstruction of Gaza. Despite the progress in negotiations, humanitarian groups are still struggling to operate and get aid into the enclave amid sabotage attempts both by private citizens and by the Israeli government.
- “Moving from ceasefire to durable calm requires real commitments from all parties: The Israeli government, regional and Palestinian actors and the international community. This means prioritizing civilian protection, ensuring the steady flow of humanitarian aid and establishing accountable governance and security arrangements that can hold over time and create a viable alternative to Hamas,” Jeremy Ben-Ami said. Read the full statement here >>
- Supporting the AWARE Act: J Street is proud to back Senator Ron Wyden’s Accountability for Withholding Aid and Relief Essentials (AWARE) Act, which would impose targeted sanctions on government officials who obstruct humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza and other conflict zones.
“By authorizing targeted sanctions on government officials who restrict humanitarian assistance, the AWARE Act provides an urgently needed tool to get the Israeli government to change course. With Israel set to bar dozens of international NGOs from providing life-saving services inside Gaza, this bill sends a clear message that government officials will no longer be allowed to inhibit the flow of aid with impunity,” J Street Vice President of Government Affairs Hannah Morris said in a statement about the legislation. Read more >>
✍️Tell Your Senator: Support the AWARE Act ✍️
🚧 Word on the Street: J Street publishes commentary, video conversations and policy pieces on our Substack throughout the week. Subscribe here >>
- Are We Really Safer in a World Where Might Makes Right?
Amid the US invasion of Venezuela and the erosion of democratic norms globally, Jeremy Ben-Ami explored the consequences of living by the sword and argued that history warns against this doctrine:
“In Israel, Netanyahu may aspire for Israel to become a kind of ‘Sparta,’ but history offers little reason to admire the model. While Sparta was feared, it proved brittle, morally hollow, and ultimately unsustainable. It left no legacy worth emulating.”
“Globally, we must reject the idea that seizing land by force, ruling indefinitely over another people, and discarding international norms makes us safer.”
- A Major Earthquake in the US-Israel Security Relationship
Last week, Prime Minister Netanyahu and Senator Lindsey Graham made bombshell statements about reducing Israel’s dependence on US assistance. In this week’s Substack post, Ilan Goldenberg examined what these statements actually mean for the future of foreign military financing:
“Treating Israel like a normal, wealthy ally isn’t anti-Israel. It’s actually what we do with other capable partners who don’t need permanent subsidies to defend themselves.”
“Israel will still have a large arsenal of American weapons. It will still be buying American weapons. That means the debates about the use of American weapons in Gaza and the West Bank aren’t going away.”
📝 This Week from the Policy Center: J Street’s Policy Center publishes timely analyses of policy priorities and the diplomatic role the US plays in the Middle East.
- Progress and Challenges on Israel's Northern Borders: Lebanon and Syria in 2026
J Street Policy Center Contributing Expert Jennifer Gavito and J Street Policy and Research Coordinator Avraham Spraragen analyze Hezbollah’s disarmament under the new Lebanese government, Syrian military integration and the continued military confrontations between Israel and its two neighbors to the north. As Israel negotiates with Syria and Lebanon for the first time in decades, Jen and Avraham also lay out policy recommendations for American and Israeli governments to seize this historic opportunity.
“After decades of troubled relations along the Lebanese and Syrian borders, unfolding developments, carefully managed, could offer Israel an unprecedented opportunity for improved relationships with these key neighbors and fundamentally improve its long-term security and stability. While true normalization remains off on the horizon, this year could mark initial steps towards greater joint prosperity for all parties.” Read the full piece here >>
🗓️ Mark Your Calendars for Solidarity Shabbats: Take a stand as Trump endangers the communities we care for most, and join J Street in standing shoulder to shoulder with the National Council of Jewish Women and HIAS, two organizations doing incredible work to live out our Jewish and democratic values.
- Get involved with Repro Shabbat on February 13-14: Host your own gathering or join a pre-planned event in your community. Find what suits you and honor the Jewish value of reproductive freedom. Learn more from NCJW >>
- One month later, join us for Refugee Shabbat on March 13-14: Register to join hundreds of Jewish communities in standing up for our immigrant and refugee friends and neighbors, especially under extreme dehumanization under the Trump Administration. Find out how you can participate >>
📖 This Week’s Must-Reads/Listens:
- Does Anyone Care About the Crisis in Israel's Arab Communities?
"Instead of acting to increase the personal security of all Israelis and to eradicate crime, Itamar Ben-Gvir is intentionally neglecting the Arab communities. The Kahanist minister uses his authority, taxpayers' money and law enforcement to provoke Israel's Arab communities, as part of a political strategy that legitimizes state violence against them," writes the Haaretz Editorial Board.
- In Trump’s ‘Donroe Doctrine,’ Echoes of Nazi Justifications for Aggression
"During the first year of Trump’s second term, the 47th president of the United States attempted his own version of what Germans call Gleichschaltung — the Nazis’ forced alignment of institutions and society with Hitler’s will. Trump moved to bend the federal bureaucracy, the intelligence services, the military chain of command, and the civil service into a single, obedient apparatus,” Terrence Petty writes in The Forward.
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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.
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