Jeremy Ben-Ami

Like many American Jews, I grew up believing that my people would always be at the forefront of protests against racism, not perpetrating it. I believed that history obliged us to fight, not tolerate, much less engage in, prejudice.

So, seeing pictures and reading first-hand reports...

For many of us, these are days for deep reflection and soul-searching on the past year. How, we ask, as individuals and as a community can we better ourselves and the world?

Naturally, our focus turns in part to Israel and how events there impact us as a people.

My...

About a month ago, a group of J Street's Board members and donors met with Daniel Gordis of the Shalem Center during our annual Leadership Mission. J Street makes a real effort to hear a wide range of voices on its trips, from settler leaders to human rights activists, from...

This op-ed originally ran in The Jewish Advocate.

Events are still playing out on the streets of Cairo, and many corners of the Middle East remain far from stable. It may yet be too early to draw meaningful conclusions, but one lesson is already worth considering for friends...

Within the past 48 hours, the Washington Times published a confidential J Street tax return, containing private information about some of our donors. You can read the article here.

I write to provide an explanation, to assume responsibility, and to put the whole matter in perspective in light...

Even before J Street launched two years ago, I always found the dynamics around Congressional sign-on letters and resolutions on Israel troubling.

Year after year, one-sided, reflexive statements on the Middle East - representing one vision of what it means to be 'pro-Israel' - would automatically...

The following is an open letter to the Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations Alan Solow.

Dear Alan,

I read with great interest the full page ad taken out yesterday by the Conference of Presidents to mark Jerusalem Day, excerpting...

Alan,

I appreciate your acknowledgment that there is an American national interest in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I find it amusing that you casually say "of course" there is such an interest since that is what Obama administration officials have been saying and J Street...

Alan, first, I am pleased to be asked what my opinion is rather than to be told.

You ask whether I claim a direct relationship between Israel's actions on the West Bank and American casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan. The short answer is no. Those...

Sometimes debaters stick to arguing the merits of their case. When facts and logic are on their side, they count on a rational audience to separate right from wrong and judge the winner on the merits.

Sometimes, recognizing that they're stuck with a losing argument, debaters resort to...

As Iranians go to cast their ballots in Friday's elections, it is much more than just Iran's future that is at stake. The White House is closely following the elections, as is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Israeli Prime Minister may be watching Washington's reaction to the results more...

Congresswoman Donna Edwards (D, MD-4), one of JStreetPAC's first endorsed candidates, is under attack from the right-wing for her views on Israel -- and she needs our support right now.

Last week, Politico ran a story entitled "Should Edwards be shvitzing?," quoting three separate Jewish community officials in her...

Right-wing Israeli politician Avigdor Lieberman is in the midst of a makeover worthy of reality TV. With an op-ed in the Jewish Week, a team in Washington (including the former ambassador to the U.S. Danny Ayalon) and an assist from namesake...

It's true - I'm not a rabbi. My closest connection to the clergy is that I married the daughter of the cantor from the Reform synagogue where I grew up.

I have grown up, however, with a strong sense of right and wrong. My mother, who fled the Nazis from...

Bill Clinton liked to say that "a campaign based on hope will beat a campaign based on
fear every time."

For the better part of the past year, I've worried whether the campaign being waged against Barack Obama in the Jewish community might disprove that. Unable to...