1/ Last week, I led a J Street delegation to Israel/Palestine just as Speaker Johnson and two AIPAC-sponsored congressional delegations were on their own tours. Our trips share basic similarities, but what really matters is what their groups didn’t see: 🧵jeremybenami.substack.com/p/half-the-sto… 2/ All these sponsored trips – including ours – feature briefings with the IDF, a visit to the Western Wall and a trip to Israeli communities on the Gaza border devastated by Hamas on October 7.

Friends, we exist in the context of all in which we live and what came before us, so in that spirit, I wanted to share something about Harris’ words on Israeli security and Palestinian rights at the DNC which I now realize may not have come across on TV.

Thread 🧵 Vice President Harris delivered full throated support to Israeli security in equal measure to her commitment to Palestinian rights to freedom, safety and self-determination – but in the arena that's not what stood out to me most.

Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech today was a narcissistic and unproductive act of political theater, heavy on spin and saber-rattling - cynically using soldiers and hostages as props. 1/8 The speech was devoid of an actual plan for ending the war and bringing real security and peace to the region. His empty calls for “total victory” are simply an illusion as there is no military solution to the underlying conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. 2/8

Last week AIPAC circulated a mail piece dedicated to one of the “gravest threats” they’re confronting.

Not Netanyahu’s judicial coup. Not escalating terror & violence. Not even Iran’s nuclear program.

The grave threat? Us. J Street.

How did we get here?
Thread🧵 Sadly, over time, AIPAC has embraced an increasingly distorted vision of what it means to be “pro-Israel” – one more aligned with the goals of the Netanyahu government and the American right than with the Jewish, democratic values of most Jewish Americans (+ Israelis themselves).

The dust-up over @RepJayapal’s use of the word ‘racist’ misses the point. The threat to Israel’s future isn’t adjectives progressives use to describe Israel’s govt & policies. It’s the Netanyahu govt’s actions putting Israel’s Jewish & democratic nature at risk.

🧵3 key points: One: Rep. Jayapal was defending her colleague @janschakowsky from malicious attack – to which she is regularly subjected – for not supporting legislation that only around 20 of her colleagues co-sponsor. 2/

As a general rule, you won't find rants in the form of tweet threads in my feed. In fact, for months, I have largely avoided Twitter for the sake of my sanity. Democracy’s decline seems to me rooted in the dismal discourse and fact-free debate on social media. @DanDiker84 1/ Yet, here I am. I needed somewhere to (virtually) scream about a horrific week in Israel’s occupation of the West Bank. I opened up Twitter and what do I find - never-ending tweets sent my way by @DanDiker84, a high school buddy and spokesperson for the Israeli right. 2/

It's over the top and counterproductive for Israel's Ambassador to the US/UN to refer to @benandjerrys' decision not to sell its products in occupied Palestinian territory as antisemitism, say it 'dehumanizes Jews' or liken it to an act of violence or hatred. 1/6 And it’s downright harmful to the US-Israel relationship when Israeli officials lobby for enforcement of constitutionally dubious laws that trample on Americans’ First Amendment rights. 2/6

I’m a simple guy with simple likes and dislikes. Huge fan of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream (anything chocolate). I’ve had a lifelong love affair with Israel. And I also can’t stand the occupation #Thread🧵 1/12 My family’s from Israel. I’ve lived there. I’m proud of so much of what the country has accomplished. 2/12

When a major ice cream company originally founded by two Jewish entrepreneurs decides not to sell its products in the occupied territories, that isn’t antisemitism.
1/3 The fight against antisemitism would be helped a great deal if the Israeli gov't & US Jewish leaders would stop using the term against those who draw a principled and rational distinction between commercial transactions in the State of Israel & those in the territory it occupies.

No economic plan can substitute for a political agreement addressing the core issues driving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 1/6
jstreet.org/press-releases… No showpiece economic conference can make up for the hundreds of millions of dollars in humanitarian assistance that this White House has already cruelly cut. 2/6
bbc.com/news/world-mid…

The Jared Kushner Axios interview with @JonathanvSwan making the rounds today is exactly as amoral and delusional as everyone is saying. It’s hard to identify the *worst* part. 1/8
timesofisrael.com/kushner-doubts… It’s astounding, for example, that someone holding themselves out to be the key negotiator in an Israeli-Palestinian 'peace' plan brushes off concerns over his one-sided approach by proudly claiming "I'm not here to be trusted." 2/8