Washington, DC – As we mark the two-year anniversary of Hamas’ horrific October 7 attacks, J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami issued the following statement:
“Two years have passed since the darkest day in Israel’s history. We grieve with the families of the 1,200 victims who paid the dearest price that day, and we share the unimaginable pain of the families of the 48 hostages still held in Gaza, for whom that terrible day has not yet ended.
The trauma of that day, when an entire nation woke up to horror as Hamas terrorists descended on border communities and a music festival, continues to reverberate across Israeli society and among Jews throughout the diaspora, a gaping wound still open two years on.
October 7 also marks the beginning of two years of unrelenting war that has brought unimaginable and unacceptable devastation to Gaza and its more than two million Palestinian residents. Much of the territory lies in ruins, and nearly every civilian has been displaced multiple times. The war – at times conducted beyond the bounds of international law and now without a continued strategic purpose – has claimed over 65,000 Palestinian lives, the vast majority of them civilians. This, too, is part of our pain.
Two years on from that horrific day, an American peace plan supported by Arab and Muslim states and the broader international community is on the table. It would immediately end the war, bring the hostages home and get aid into Gaza. It would also set the political and security conditions to remove Hamas from power and put the Middle East on a path toward a comprehensive peace between Israel and its neighbors that must lead to the creation of a Palestinian state.
We call on the parties to move quickly to agree on the details of this proposal and on the entire world, led by the United States, to apply the necessary pressure on both the Israeli government and Hamas to bring this war to an end and get the hostages home.
The region cannot afford another day, let alone another year of despair. It is time to choose a different future.”