This week: Save Your Seat at the J Street 2026 Convention 🎟️ | We Know Where This Goes 🗣️ | The End of a Horrible Chapter and an Opening for Progress 🎗️ | Daniel Biss Makes a Visit to J Street 🌭 | Mark Your Calendars for Solidarity Shabbats 🗓️ | This Week’s Must-Reads 📖 | 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.
- "Never in my lifetime has the cost of political inaction been clearer – or the need for organized, principled engagement more urgent," Jeremy wrote in this week’s Substack. Read the full piece here >>
- 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 this year! Learn more and register here >>
Already registered? Help bring more supporters to Convention with our social media toolkit >>
🗣️ We Know Where This Goes: This week in Minneapolis, Alex Pretti was shot and killed by ICE agents while lying unarmed on the pavement. Thousands of miles away, in the South Hebron Hills, dozens of masked settlers carried out a pogrom – beating Palestinians with clubs and burning the homes of families who have lived there for generations.
Both of these situations lay bare the consequences of unchecked authority and years of dehumanization, painfully reminding us of our own history of persecution and commanding us to speak out.
- “We cannot allow such violence to be normalized – whether it comes at the hands of agents of the state using lethal force in our streets or rogue civilians emboldened by extremist ministers to displace entire communities in occupied territory,” J Street Vice President of Strategy and Programs Adina Vogel-Ayalon wrote in an email to supporters.
✍️ Stop Violent ICE Agents and Settler Terrorists ✍️
After you sign, you'll get a follow-up message in your inbox with next steps to support people and organizations protecting communities on the ground.
- J Street is proud to partner with over 30 pro-peace, pro-democracy organizations for a Jews Against ICE Action in Washington, DC on February 11. Grounded in core Jewish values, this rally makes clear that there is broad Jewish communal consensus rejecting policies that dehumanize our neighbors. Learn more about the protest here >>
🎗️ The End of a Horrible Chapter and an Opening for Progress: This week, the body of Ran Gvili, the last Israeli hostage kidnapped on October 7, 2023, was returned to Israel and laid to rest. With phase one of the ceasefire officially complete, the burden to advance the 20-point peace plan laid out by the United States falls on Israeli, Palestinian and American leadership to shape a better future for the region.
- “Going forward, the US and other mediators must push ahead with implementing phase two, beginning with fully reopening the Rafah crossing and surging desperately needed aid and reconstruction assistance into Gaza. Israel and Hamas must engage in good faith in the full implementation of the plan,” J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami said in a press release. Read the full statement here >>
🌭 Daniel Biss Makes a Visit to J Street: Evanston mayor and J Street–endorsed congressional candidate for Illinois’ 9th District Daniel Biss joined Jeremy Ben-Ami and J Street Chief Policy Officer Ilan Goldenberg to discuss the issues driving his campaign, AIPAC’s intervention in his contested primary race and ICE’s reign of fear in American communities in this week’s Word on the Street Live.
- “A lot of political forces out there are trying to ask you to pick one or the other: Are you for Israel, or are you for justice? And I think that's a false choice, and a dangerous choice and fundamentally an unacceptable choice. And so, what I've tried to do in this campaign – consistent with my values as a human being – is push out those impulses and reject those entreaties and just say: ‘Here is who I am and here's what I stand for.’” Watch the full conversation 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 neighbors facing extreme dehumanization under the Trump Administration. Find out how you can participate >>
📖 This Week’s Must-Reads:
- Netanyahu Blaming Biden Is a Lie and an Audacious Act of Ingratitude
"In preparation for this year’s elections, Prime Minister Netanyahu is crafting an alternative history regarding his responsibility for the October 7 massacre and also concerning the steadfast support that the Biden administration provided to Israel in its most difficult moments over the past two years," J Street Israel Executive Director Nadav Tamir writes in Times of Israel.
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