I am deeply grateful to @amo.house.gov for his leadership in pressing the Trump Administration on these vital questions.

My full reflections on Substack here:
🔗 jstreetdotorg.substack.com/p/two-years-...

Right-wing leaders may scoff at peace, and others, on the center-left, may shy away from the word. I can’t accept that. To honor the victims, Israeli & Palestinian, we must reclaim it.

This war must end. The hostages must come home. Aid must reach Gaza. It’s time for peace. 6/6

Peace. In Jewish tradition, it’s not just another blessing – it’s the final blessing. The culmination of the seven central prayers we recite daily and on holidays. As my prayerbook this Yom Kippur noted, there are more expressions lauding peace than any other value in Judaism. 5/6

On a recent trip, a close friend of his told me, “Peace must be the path forward. Gaza’s people must be given something to live for.” His faith, after all he endured, moved me to tears. 4/6

One was Ofir Libstein – the ‘mayor’ of the community who hosted us and other groups with a message of the vital importance of peace with his neighbors in Gaza. Libstein died in the early hours of October 7 defending his community. 3/6

I think today of Kfar Aza – the small, idyllic kibbutz less than two miles from Gaza.

I’ve brought many J Street groups there over the years, and I can picture many of its residents who were murdered that day. 2/6

You can read more about our delegation – and what other trips are missing here: jeremybenami.substack.com/p/half-the-s...

13/ If US leaders keep looking away from settlement expansion, settler violence & extremist provocation, we’ll remain complicit.

There’s still time to change course – but only if we stop ignoring the parts of the story that don’t fit neatly into a photo op.

12/ Anyone sponsoring travel to the region – especially for elected officials – owes their guests the full picture: Gaza, the West Bank, Jerusalem.

Anything less is tourism with a security briefing.

11/ For 30 years, the US told Israel: Don’t build E-1. This week, Members of Congress on these other trips were close enough to see the site … but instead, they had dinner with Netanyahu in an illegal settlement.

10/ E-1. A planned settlement east of Jerusalem that would cut the West Bank in half, making a Palestinian state impossible.

This week, the final Israeli hearing on objections to E-1 was held. The decision now rests with Netanyahu.

9/ This is the most explosive flashpoint in the conflict. In 2000, Ariel Sharon’s visit – without praying – helped spark the Second Intifada.

Policymakers need to understand the danger, and that it’s being stoked by leading members of Israel’s own government.

8/ The Temple Mount / Haram al-Sharif. The holiest site in Judaism, third holiest in Islam. Many trips never go up to the Mount.

Last week, extremist minister Itamar Ben-Gvir led open Jewish prayer there – a direct violation of the Status Quo that’s kept the peace since 1967.

7/ As we mourned, women in the village were on a hunger strike to demand Awdah’s body be returned.

Policymakers who visit these communities come home determined to oppose settler violence. Other trips don’t meet the Palestinians on the receiving end of this extremism.

6/ Umm al-Khair. A Palestinian village in the South Hebron Hills, denied water & electricity by Israeli authorities, facing constant settler violence.

We joined in mourning Awdah Hathaleen, a Palestinian activist shot dead last week by a settler sanctioned by the Biden admin.

5/ What they missed: Empty markets, streets cut off from Palestinian residents, wire mesh to stop settlers from throwing trash and stones at Palestinian homes.

4/ Hebron. Once bustling, now a ghost town where 600 settlers have displaced thousands of Palestinians.

Speaker Johnson’s group took smiling photos at the Tomb of the Patriarchs. We walked 100 yards further – to a checkpoint where Palestinians are barred from their own streets.