J Street, the political home for pro-Israel, pro-peace Americans, announced today that Nadav Tamir, who has served as a diplomatic advisor to former Israeli President Shimon Peres, at the Israeli Embassy in Washington DC and as Israeli Consul General to New England, will become the organization’s new Executive Director of J Street Israel.
Tamir, an expert on Israeli diplomacy and US-Israel relations, comes to J Street from the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation, where he serves as Advisor for International and Governmental Relations. Tamir began his career in the IDF, reaching the rank of Major before joining the diplomatic corps and serving two postings in the United States.
“I’m excited to be joining J Street at the dawn of a new era for American diplomacy. I’ve been a fan of the organization since it was first founded during my time as consul in Boston, and I’m so impressed with its growth since then,” Tamir said. “Having been in the room with Israeli leaders and US presidents, I’ve seen first-hand how American leadership can have a deep impact on the Israeli government’s decision-making, for better and for worse. I’m looking forward to working with the team in Israel and in the US to advance policies that truly help secure Israel’s future as a democratic homeland for the Jewish people, living in peace and security alongside an independent Palestinian state.”
J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami heralded Tamir as an invaluable addition to the organization. “With his expertise, passion and high-level experience, Nadav will supercharge our presence in Israel. We’re extremely proud to have him aboard,” Ben-Ami said. “He joins us at a critical transitional movement, for our country, for the US-Israel relationship and for the relationship between American and Israeli Jews, as we face new opportunities and challenges in the aftermath of the Trump administration’s frequently destructive and inflammatory actions.”
In recent years, J Street has cemented its role as a leading voice representing the views of the liberal majority of American Jews, and a major force in US politics and policymaking. In the 2020 cycle, the group’s political action committee, JStreetPAC, raised over $7 million in donations to over 200 endorsed congressional candidates, and over $2 million for the Biden-Harris ticket. Its activists filled thousands of GOTV contact shifts as part of an organization-wide effort to help defeat Donald Trump and his enablers, and to elect leaders who would pursue diplomacy-first foreign policy in the Middle East.
Tamir served as the Senior Policy Adviser to the President of Israel during the last 3 years of the Shimon Peres presidency, after decades of distinguished service as a policy assistant to three Israeli foreign ministers and as an Advisor to the Director General at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 2003, he was chosen as a Wexner Israel Fellow and earned his Masters in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 2004. Tamir is on the steering committee of the Geneva Initiative and on the board of Mitvim – The Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies.