Blog
The Latest from the Political Home of the Pro-Israel, Pro-Peace Movement
What are the experts saying about Iran?
American and Israeli security experts warn that a military strike on Iran would fail to stop its nuclear program, provide the Iranian regime with additional impetus to pursue a nuclear weapon, and risk igniting a regional war that would expose Israeli citizens and even Americans to devastating retaliation.
J Street is today releasing a video featuring the views of former Mossad Directors Ephraim Halevy and Meier Dagan, former Israeli Defense Forces Chief of Staff Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, and Middle East advisor to six U.S. Secretaries of State Aaron David Miller, among others, who have sought to challenge the facile assumptions and rhetoric of those arguing for war. It is required viewing for those who truly want to understand what is at stake for the United States and Israel in deciding how to prevent the rise of a nuclear-armed Iran.
J Street believes that Iran obtaining nuclear weapons would pose a very serious threat to American and Israeli interests and to peace and stability in the Middle East and around the world.
The United States has a fundamental interest, along with Israel and the international community, in preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability, and J Street supports concrete American actions to address this threat. We support a comprehensive and multilateral approach, including sanctions and active diplomacy.
J Street’s Jeremy Ben-Ami Responds to Mufti’s ‘Incendiary’ Comments
WASHINGTON— J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami released the following statement in response to Mufti of Jerusalem Sheikh Muhammad Hussein’s invocation at a recent Fatah event:
J Street’s Jeremy Ben-Ami Responds To Atlanta Jewish Times Publisher’s Call to Consider Presidential Assassination
WASHINGTON— J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami issued the following statement in response to an editorial written by the publisher of the Atlanta Jewish Times calling for Israel to consider assassinating President Barack Obama:
Jeremy Ben-Ami Expands on Comments in Washington Post this Morning
I agree that the use of the term “Israel Firster” is a bad choice of words. The conspiracy theory that American Jews have dual loyalty is just that, a conspiracy theory and must be refuted in the strongest possible way.
However, this incident is a perfect example of a more pressing problem with the way the debate plays out over Israel in the American Jewish community and in American politics. Rather than engage directly over whether or not American and/or Israeli policies are actually advancing American and Israeli interests, an ill-chosen word or phrase is used to delegitimize a critic or in this case an entire institution.
The real question we should be debating is not the use of the term “Israel Firster” but the underlying questions being raised by CAP and others over the direction of American foreign policy – how best to achieve a two-state solution and how to prevent Iran from attaining a nuclear weapon without going to war.
We can’t just sit this one out
“Maybe we should just sit this round out.”
That’s what a long-time supporter of two states said to me the other day questioning whether, with all the upheaval in the Middle East, now is really the time for Israel to pursue a two-state solution with the Palestinians.
Underlying the question is the assumption that if the risks of pursuing two states seem too great, maybe it’s better to just accept the status quo.
