Why I'm Asking You to Join Me in Washington

With our democracy at risk, fear on the rise and fascism rearing its ugly head, coming together as a movement matters more than ever.

Jan 25, 2026

"I wanted to share something I’m genuinely excited about. J Street's national convention is February 28 - March 3 in Washington. We only do this type of event every few years, and we expect more than 2,000 pro-Israel, pro-peace, pro-democracy activists, Jewish community leaders, policy experts, religious leaders, and politicians to join us. At a time when there are so many terrible things happening in our country it's incredibly invigorating to be in community with likeminded people fighting back together. I'm passing along a substack post from Jeremy Ben-Ami that does a really great job of explaining what will make this event so special. Hope you will join me!"

- Ilan Goldenberg

Many of you are reading this in the shadow of yesterday’s horrific shooting in Minneapolis.

The killing of Alex Pretti is but the latest act of senseless violence warning us that the guardrails of democracy are cracking – and that the consequences of dehumanization, extremism, and fear-driven politics are no longer abstract. They are showing up in real places, with real victims.

It has been four years since J Street last gathered as a national community. It feels like a lifetime ago.

In those four years, we’ve lived through the nightmare of October 7, the devastating war that followed, accelerating assaults on democracy here and in Israel, and the unraveling of an international order that once provided a measure of stability.

What’s happening on our streets in America – and what’s happening on the West Bank and in Gaza – are not separate stories. The foundations of democratic societies built on pluralism, human rights, and the rule of law are shaking globally.

Never in my lifetime has the cost of political inaction been clearer – or the need for organized, principled engagement more urgent.

Join me, and join J Street, in Washington, DC, from February 28 to March 3 for J Street’s National Convention, Building Tomorrow: Regional Peace & Resilient Democracy.

Join Me at the J Street Convention

For many of us raised in the post–World War II American Jewish community, it’s disorienting to see how many of the assumptions we grew up with now feel fragile – or upside down.

We watch, and we read, and we ask again and again: What can I do?

Within the Jewish community, too many traditional institutions are failing to meet this moment.

Instead, we see well-funded organizations with more conservative politics raise tens – sometimes hundreds – of millions of dollars and deploy those resources in ways that contradict our values:

Shutting down debate by targeting speech deemed too critical of Israeli government policy.
Driving a wedge in the Democratic Party by attacking critics of Israel while backing insurrectionists willing to overturn free elections.
Using charitable dollars to fuel settlement expansion across the West Bank, further eroding any chance of a viable Palestinian state.

At the same time, we see a growing strain on the left that rejects not just Israeli policy, but the very idea that the Jewish people have a right to a state in our ancestral homeland.

Inside our own families, the arguments feel endless. Older generations recoil at public criticism of Israel. Younger generations struggle with what Israel has become. Many feel stranded between camps.

So the questions persist: Is there any hope left? How do we defeat rising fascism and MAGA politics here at home? Is there a path to saving the democratic, liberal Israel I once believed in? Will I ever feel comfortable there again?

My answer is consistent: the hope you’re looking for will not arrive on its own. It will only come to pass if we do the work to create it.

The antidote to despair is engagement. Not doomscrolling. Not endless arguments online. Not stewing on the couch. Engagement.

Most American Jews live in a broad, principled center. We reject the ethnonationalist tribalism of the right and the blanket opposition to Israel and Zionism that has taken hold in parts of the left.

But a majority that stays silent doesn’t shape the future – or stop it from being shaped by the most dangerous forces among us.

This moment demands that we show up.

That’s why we’re coming together in Washington: to send the clear message to members of Congress and administration officials, ours is not a fringe position. It is the mainstream of the American Jewish community.

At a time when too many Jewish leaders and institutions shrink from confronting assaults on democracy – whether by Trump in the United States or Netanyahu in Israel – we refuse to look away.

We will speak out about the Trump administration’s frightening assault on our democracy playing out on the streets of our cities.
We will speak out about extremist Jewish violence terrorizing Palestinian communities on the West Bank and against the moral wrongs of Netanyahu’s government in Gaza.
We will stand in partnership with Israelis and Palestinians, and with all people of good will, who are ready to confront racism, ethnonationalism, and autocracy.

Theodore Roosevelt once spoke of the honor belonging not to the critic on the sidelines, but to the person in the arena – the one who shows up, who strives, who risks failure in pursuit of something worthy.

This is one of those moments.

And this is my invitation to you: Come together with hundreds of activists who refuse to surrender to despair – who are ready to push back against the forces pulling us apart and to begin building a future grounded in peace, democracy, diplomacy, justice, and equality.

Join Me At the J Street Convention

Reading and agreeing isn’t enough anymore.

It’s time to get off the couch, step into the arena, and – as Roosevelt put it – “strive valiantly” together.

I hope to see you there.

P.S. Please don’t let cost be a barrier. We want to ensure that if you want to attend, you can. Write to us about special pricing for students, clergy, young professionals and more.