How My Pro-Israel Life Led Me to J Street

While it is 2025, I keep thinking back about 50 years ago (48 to be precise) when George W. Ball, a former US ambassador to the United Nations and longtime senior State Department official, published an essay in Foreign Affairs on Israel. Ball wrote that “the slightest challenge to any aspect of current Israeli policy is likely to provoke a shrill ad hominem response. To suggest that America should take a stronger and more assertive line in the search for Middle East peace is to risk . . . being denounced as anti-Israel, or . . . even condemned as antisemitic.”

I’ve thought about Ball’s paper frequently since it was printed, and, sadly, it feels as accurate in today’s world affairs and political climate as it did when it was published. 

I’ve always been a supporter of Israel, even if I had disagreements over various policies enacted by its government. Much has happened between 1977 and now to shape my views on the Jewish homeland. One such event occurred in 1999 in my hometown of Sacramento, when two white supremacist brothers set fire to three local synagogues, one of which I belonged to and still do today.

This incident left me feeling sad and angry, vulnerable and defiant. At the same time, I saw the Jewish and surrounding communities come together to reject the arsonists’ message of hate. The response made me proud as both an American and as a Jew. And yet, there was a part of me that felt the need to be vigilant and thankful. Vigilant to see if this was a one-time incident or part of a larger threat looming over US Jews. And thankful that there was now a country, Israel, where my family and I could go as diaspora Jews if we needed an alternative safe and accepting home. That is, of course, part of the promise of Israel, a refuge where all Jews would be welcome and makers of their own fate. It was that moment that reinforced for me the importance of the existence of the state of Israel.

Sixteen years after the arson attacks, I went on a mission to Israel with the board of the Union for Reform Judaism. The trip occurred shortly after Secretary John Kerry’s peace initiative had failed. We met with civil society leaders in Israel and the West Bank from all walks of life. Everyone was talking about two states, even following the breakdown in Sec. Kerry’s negotiations. The trip had a profound impact on me, leading me to the conclusion that a Palestinian state next to Israel was in the interests of all parties. The only question for me was: What can I as an American Jew do to help bring such a future to fruition?

I returned home from Israel and found my answer in J Street.

I quickly discovered that J Street is the manifestation of all of the experiences, beliefs, and feelings about Israel that I had developed over the course of my life. Like me, J Street understands the importance of having a Jewish state where Jews can control their own destiny. 

Like me, J Street understands that a robust security strategy requires more than a strong military. That is why the pro-Israel organization is pushing for a “23-state solution,” one that links Israel’s long-term safety with the creation of a Palestinian state and normalized relations with its Arab neighbors.

Like me (and 90 percent of American Jews), J Street understands that it is possible to be pro-Israel and still publicly disagree with the Israeli government on what is in the country’s best interests, whether it is related to its war strategy or the health of its democracy.

And like me, J Street understands that these principles are not exclusive of each other. Rather, they are complementary and add credibility and effectiveness to my ability to communicate and advocate for Israel in 2025.

I keep thinking back to five decades ago when Ball wrote his essay on Israeli-Arab relations, “The Middle East: How to Save Israel in Spite of Herself,” because almost exactly two years to the day after it was published the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty was signed at the White House. Now 18 months after October 7, with 58 hostages still in captivity and Israel ramping back up its war efforts, we are still in a dark place. But as the cliche goes, it is darkest before the dawn. And perhaps the light–for Jews, Israelis, and Palestinians–is closer than we think.

So what can we do to hasten the breaking of the dawn? All of us must ask ourselves that question. For my part, I will continue to stand with my friends at J Street to advocate for a future and policies that create the conditions for a secure, Jewish, and democratic Israel living in peace with its Palestinian and Arab neighbors, even if such a vision is at odds with the current extremist Israeli government. And I will push others in the American Jewish community to do the same. Because I believe the positions that J Street espouses are in the long-term interests of Israel, the United States, and the Jewish people. Indeed, they are pro-Israel. And just as George Ball refused to allow the same type of attacks to silence him 48 years ago, I today refuse to let anyone paint me or J Street as anything but supportive of the Jewish homeland.