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Jeremy Ben-Ami
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Jeremy Ben-Ami is Executive Director of J Street and JStreetPAC, the political voice of the pro-Israel, pro-peace movement.

From 2003-4, he was Policy Director for Howard Dean's presidential campaign; in 2001, he was one of the managers of Mark Green's Mayoral campaign in New York City; and, from 1992 through 1996, he worked for former President Bill Clinton, serving for two years as the President's Deputy Domestic Policy Advisor. Ben-Ami has also been actively involved in Israeli politics and communications. In 1998, he started a consulting firm in Israel which worked with Israeli non-profit organizations and politicians.

Ben-Ami was most recently Senior Vice President of Fenton Communications, a public interest communications firm, and he spent eight years early in his career in New York City government and politics.

Blog Entries by Jeremy Ben-Ami

There Are Many Ways to Be "Pro-Israel" -- Supporting a Nightmarish One-State Scenario Is Not One of Them

(574) Comments | Posted July 12, 2012 | 10:04 AM

There are many ways to be "pro-Israel" -- but supporting a nightmarish one-state scenario is not among them.

Yet, shockingly, promoting a "one-state solution," in which Israel absorbs the territories it won in 1967 and the Palestinians who live there, has become the platform of a handful...

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Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Put Allies at Odds

(521) Comments | Posted July 2, 2012 | 10:23 AM

As a long-time advocate for peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, I am pained that frustration over failure to achieve a just and lasting peace has led allies in the struggle to end up at odds over tactics like boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS).

Two years ago, the organization I...

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The Right Question

(153) Comments | Posted June 28, 2012 | 2:44 PM

As diplomacy with Iran has so far failed to yield a breakthrough, the heat is rising in the debate over Iran in both American politics and the Jewish community.

Politically conservative operatives looking to paint Barack Obama as weak on foreign policy insist "we've had enough talk" with Iran and...

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Incitement in Tel Aviv

(0) Comments | Posted May 25, 2012 | 3:45 PM

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...

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Days of Reflection on Israel

(100) Comments | Posted October 7, 2011 | 12:50 PM

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...

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Saving the Tent

(0) Comments | Posted June 6, 2011 | 11:03 AM

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...

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The Right Side of History

(16) Comments | Posted February 10, 2011 | 9:27 AM

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...

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Explaining the Link Between George Soros and J Street

(151) Comments | Posted September 26, 2010 | 10:19 AM

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...

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Shifting Gears on Pro-Israel Congressional Sign on Letters

(6) Comments | Posted June 22, 2010 | 11:07 AM

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...

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What Does Yitzhak Rabin's Legacy Really Mean?

(27) Comments | Posted May 13, 2010 | 11:44 AM

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...

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A Final Letter to Alan Dershowitz (for Now)

(88) Comments | Posted April 26, 2010 | 9:05 AM

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...

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A Direct Answer to Alan Dershowitz and a Challenge Back

(7) Comments | Posted April 23, 2010 | 6:02 PM

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...

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Alan Dershowitz Is Wrong

(125) Comments | Posted April 22, 2010 | 6:09 PM

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...

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How Diplomacy with Iran Can Succeed

(6) Comments | Posted June 11, 2009 | 2:08 PM

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...

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Defend Rep. Donna Edwards From Intimidation on Israel and Mideast

(0) Comments | Posted June 9, 2009 | 10:46 AM

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...

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Avigdor Lieberman's Makeover Won't Work

(39) Comments | Posted March 3, 2009 | 2:15 PM

2009-03-03-images-liebermans.jpg
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...

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Gaza, Morality, and the Jews

(12) Comments | Posted January 12, 2009 | 3:37 PM

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...

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Let Truth Trump Fear in the Jewish Community

(2) Comments | Posted November 3, 2008 | 11:30 AM

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...

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