The Test of Our Times

With Trump and Netanyahu running parallel authoritarian playbooks, will Jewish America stand up for democracy or bend the knee to autocrats?

In less than 70 days since Donald Trump took office, it’s become very dark, very fast.

It’s dark for America and our democracy.

Every day brings a new nightmare. Students rounded up on our streets by masked federal agents. Federal agencies and programs critical to people’s lives, health and welfare shut down. The fundamentals of American democracy under fire.

And, painfully for the Jewish community, some of the most anti-democratic steps are being justified under the banner of “fighting antisemitism.”

It’s dark as well for Israel where Netanyahu and his allies are running similar plays - tightening their grip on power, eyes fixed on the goal of annexing their way to their dream of ‘Greater Israel.’

Reservists are called again for duty; rockets again flying from Gaza and Yemen. And on the West Bank, lawless settlers are on an unrestrained rampage - this week attacking the Oscar-winning co-director of No Other Land – to the horror of young Jewish activists who put their bodies on the line to intervene.

In Gaza, renewed fighting has lifted the death toll to over 50,000, according to the Hamas-run health authorities. All aid and commercial traffic has been halted for weeks, and civilians are again trapped between a barbaric ruling terrorist authority and a renewed Israeli offensive.

Rather than negotiating a deal to free the hostages and hammering out a post-war plan, Netanyahu’s government is drawing up plans for reoccupation of Gaza and mass expulsions.

After the head of the Shin Bet intelligence agency raised concerns about this approach, Netanyahu fired him. Now, he is determined to fire the Attorney General as well, claiming she is also obstructing his agenda.

The government’s top legislative priority this week? Passing a key plank of the ‘judicial coup’ to allow far greater political influence over the judiciary.

To paraphrase Thomas Paine, these times are truly testing our souls. And they are testing our willingness to stand up for our principles and our ability to fight for them strategically.

If there is a silver lining to be found, it is that activists and patriots are taking to the streets, ready to stand up for their values and principles.

Later today, I’m writing to the organization I lead, J Street, to say we are ready and proud to take to the ramparts of democracy - ready to fight the Trump/Netanyahu/ MAGA agenda and to call out the dangers they pose to the US, to Israel and to the Jewish people.

We see resistance building in Israel where over a hundred thousand protesters have come out to rail against Netanyahu’s anti-democratic, pro-war agenda.

We see it emerging even in the rubble of Gaza, where thousands of Palestinians bravely took to the streets this week to protest against the nihilism of Hamas and to call for peace.

This week, we’ll start to see it here at home - with massive protests planned in every state on April 5. I’ll be there - standing up for American democracy. I hope you will too.

J Street has a vital and unique role to play in the opposition to Trump/Bibi/MAGA. We’ll be representing the majority of Jewish America that opposes both what’s being done here at home to tear down our democracy and what Netanyahu is doing in Israel.

The threats to both countries are deeply intertwined. Consider this:

• The US is about to send an Ambassador to Israel who doesn’t acknowledge there is such a thing as a Palestinian, further undercutting the chance the US can play a productive role in advancing prospects for peace.

• The MAGA leadership of today’s Republican Party has abandoned the goal of Palestinian statehood, flashing a bright green light to radical extremists who believe the time for annexation of the West Bank and Gaza has come.

• The much-needed fight against antisemitism is being used as a pretext for the far right’s assault on higher education - a long-term authoritarian objective globally.

• MAGA forces - who themselves provide cover to antisemites - are using our community’s pain to propel their war on immigrants, constitutional protections and the rule of law - all pillars of the American Jewish experience.

When all these challenges come together to threaten what has made America great for the Jewish community – it is time for Jewish communal leaders to stand up, make their voices heard and to fight for the future we’re leaving for our children and grandchildren.

I urge you to join J Street and the many amazing organizations that will be all-in for this fight. Join us and make your pro-democracy to do list:

• Show up. At rallies. In your representatives’ offices. At town halls.

• Support. The groups that are willing to fight - in courts, at the ballot box, in your communities.

• Be political. Vote. Donate. The future will be decided in upcoming elections - from Wisconsin this week to state and local elections in November, to the House and Senate in 2026 and the White House in 2028.

Across the landscape, we are witnessing capitulation after capitulation to Trump’s weaponization of the powers of the state. Social media and corporate media executives are bending the knee. Major universities and corporate law firms too.

The American Jewish community cannot fail to stand up and speak out – even and especially for the rights of those with whom we don’t see eye to eye.

I’ll commit: J Street will fight for the rights and freedoms that have allowed our ancestors to find refuge and build a future here in the United States. Other Jewish leaders and institutions must do the same.

This is truly the test of our times. And together we must - and we will - meet the moment.