Washington, DC – In a week in which 46 Democratic senators, along with President Trump, Vice President Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, came out in strong opposition to Israeli annexation of the West Bank, J Street Chief Policy Officer Ilan Goldenberg issued the following statement:
“This rare and important moment of bipartisan alignment sends a clear message to the Netanyahu government: annexing the West Bank would be a calamitous step that would undermine all progress toward implementing the US peace plan and would permanently damage the US–Israel relationship.
In the past 24 hours, President Trump, Vice President Vance and Secretary Rubio clearly and publicly opposed annexation. Together with a letter signed by 46 Democratic senators this week and another signed by 178 House Democrats last month voicing the same position, this establishes a rare bipartisan consensus that annexation harms US foreign policy interests by undermining the Gaza ceasefire and threatening the possibility of a future peace between Israelis, Palestinians and the rest of the Arab world.
J Street has long advocated against West Bank annexation because it would undermine Israel’s Jewish and democratic nature and deny Palestinians their right to self-determination. We hope that firm, bipartisan American opposition will finally disempower Israel’s extremists and halt its dangerous slide toward annexation.
Both parties must now translate this bipartisan alignment into concrete policy that directly combats annexation. We urge the Trump Administration to take action to prevent settler violence, illegal outposts and settlement construction.”