Tell Obama's team: Make Middle East diplomacy a priority

President-elect Barack Obama has just introduced his new foreign policy team and reiterated his determination to chart a new course for American foreign policy, with diplomacy front and center. 

The new administration inherits numerous challenges all across the globe - not least in the Middle East. A critical task facing the President-elect's new team will be deciding quickly where to focus limited time and energy.

Resolving the Arab-Israeli and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts should be at the top of the list. There is no better way to put the President-elect's vision of new American leadership into action while repairing our image in the world than to engage early and actively in Middle East diplomacy.

Will you write to President-elect Obama's incoming national security team right now asking them to prioritize efforts to bring about a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace?

Click here to send a message to Senator Hillary Clinton, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, General Jim Jones, Susan Rice, and the rest of Obama's national security team.

American Jews support Obama with 78% of vote

The verdict is in on the politics of fear when it comes to Israel and the Middle East. It didn't work.

The overwhelming majority of American Jews chose hope yesterday, giving Barack Obama 78% of the Jewish vote, well ahead of John Kerry's 2004 total.  [1]

This is more than an historic electoral victory.  It is our chance to deal a knock-out blow to the politics of fear when it comes to Israel and the Middle East.

That's why we're collecting signatures on a letter to President-elect Obama to demonstrate the breadth of his mandate in our community for far-reaching change. Click here to tell President-elect Obama you chose hope over fear.

To amplify our message, we ran a full-page ad in The New York Times stating that this election carries a promise of change in America and of hope, peace and security for Israel and the Middle East. Click here to view the ad and sign our letter.

Stop Jewish Republican Obama smear campaign

The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) just launched a new disturbing attack ad. This one reads, "Barack Obama's Friends: Pro-Palestinian. Anti-Israel. Hostile to America."

It's just the latest in a series of revolting, Swift Boat-style attacks from the RJC in the Jewish media in the past month.

Publications serving the Jewish community should stop running RJC attack ads filled simply with lies and distortions. Will you sign the petition to stop the RJC's fear mongering and hate peddling?

Click here to sign our "No More Republican Jewish Coalition Smears" petition.

We Won! Palin Not Speaking at Iran Rally

We collected over 20,000 signatures in 24 hours asking Iran Unity rally organizer Malcolm Hoenlein to take Sarah Palin off the schedule for Monday's rally, and he caved to our pressure on Thursday afternoon citing the fact that the rally had become too partisan.

This is the right decision.  A unity rally to express communal solidarity is no place for partisan politics.  And to give such prominence to Sarah Palin alone would have spoken neither to, nor for, the American Jewish community.

This is a victory not just for the 20,188 others who signed J Street's petition.  It's a victory for the broader community.  And we're pleased the rally's organizers came to their senses so quickly.

Victories like these don't come easily - or often. But when they do, we should savor them, at least briefly.

We'll be back at it tomorrow, because our next task is making sure that the messages at the rally reflect the view of a majority of Americans - Jewish and otherwise - that the best way to deal with Iran is through tough, smart diplomacy - not saber rattling and threats of force.

Does John McCain support a two-state solution?

For the last decade, the United States has supported resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through a negotiated agreement leading to two states living side by side in peace and security.

Does John McCain support the two-state solution? As of this moment, we honestly don't know.

Not once during this campaign season have we been able to find John McCain committing to supporting, let alone promoting, a two-state solution.  For a guy who's running for President based on his reputation for straight talk and foreign policy credentials, the lack of a clear answer to this straightforward question is even more surprising.

As John McCain accepts the Republican nomination for President this week, we're asking him to clarify his position. Will you help us get a straight answer? Click here to demand straight talk from John McCain on his support for Israel and the two-state solution.

Tell John McCain: Smearing Diplomats Isn't Straight Talk, It's Dirty Politics

John McCain's campaign and the right-wing smear machine has set their sights on former U.S. Ambassador to Israel and Obama adviser Daniel Kurtzer. His sin? Encouraging Syria to accelerate peace negotiations with Israel.

Apparently, to the McCain campaign, visiting Damascus and talking about peace with Syrians is just shy of treason. Said McCain spokesman Michael Goldfarb cynically: "If one of Senator Obama's advisers has been to Damascus, we just wonder how many have been to Tehran." [1]

Since when is talking to people with whom we have conflicts a political crime? Click here to ask Senator McCain to disavow smears against Ambassador Kurtzer and to support Israeli-Syrian negotiations.

Tell Secretary Rice: Israel Must Stop Settlement Activity

Despite repeated promises to the United States to freeze settlement expansion, the Israeli government has just approved more new settlement construction on the West Bank. Click here to tell Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to ask the Israeli government to halt settlement construction.

JStreetPAC raises $570,000 for 41 candidates in 2008

Eight JStreetPAC Endorsed Candidates pose for a picture.

JStreetPAC scored some exciting victories on Election Day, with 32 winning candidates, two races still too close to call and one race in a run-off.

Eight of our candidates will join Congress in January: Jeff Merkley will represent Oregon in the U.S. Senate, and Gary Peters (MI), Eric Massa (NY), Debbie Halvorson (IL), Dan Maffei (NY), Jared Polis (CO), Chellie Pingree (ME) and Tom Perriello (VA) will join the U.S. House of Representatives. They join 24 incumbent Members who we supported and who won re-election. Together they will provide a strong voice in Congress advocating for peace and diplomacy in the Middle East.

Three races remain to be called: Mary Jo Kilroy (OH), Ethan Berkowitz (AK), and Senate candidate Jim Martin (GA). Martin faces a runoff election on December 2. Click here to make a gift to Jim Martin's runoff campaign. Click here to learn more about all of our endorsed candidates from the 2008 cycle.

Now is our moment on Iran

All summer, Congress has been on the verge of supporting a provocative and dangerous naval blockade of Iran. Quick approval had been expected, but thankfully, some of our friends in Congress put on the brakes.

The House leadership now has the real power to stop Congress from supporting this escalation with Iran. Now's the moment for us to speak up. Click here to sign our new letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other House leaders.

"Don't Go, Joe" petition delivery

On July 21st, we delivered over 42,000 “Don’t Go, Joe” petition signatures to Senator Joe Lieberman’s office in Washington, DC, one day before he spoke at Hagee's conference. You can see a slideshow of pictures from our petition delivery to the left. Joe Lieberman decided to ignore the 42,000 Americans who urged him to cancel his appearance there and delivered the keynote speech Hagee's conference anyway. Lieberman and Hagee should know that they haven't heard the last from us.