Marina,

At J Street's Conference last week we talked a lot about two words – future and choice. Because right now, Israel's future hangs in the balance, and our American community has critical choices to make.

We've reached a fork in the road. Either Israel continues down the present path of occupation, settlement and conflict, or its government changes course toward a two-state agreement and long-term security.

As American supporters of Israel, we must choose to take responsibility for how we impact this future. We must ensure that the Jewish community acts in accordance with our values, and work to shape American politics so it reflects our views as well.

So in the coming months, under the banner of Our Future Our Choice, we’ll be taking on a number of initiatives focused in the Jewish Community and on our elected officials as we raise our voices against an ever-deepening occupation that is eroding Israel’s security, democracy and Jewish character.

One thing we can do right now is challenge our Jewish communal institutions to remember that, without a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Israel lacks internationally accepted borders.

The settlement movement and successive governments of Israel have effectively blurred and even erased the Green Line from Israeli public consciousness. The next time you’re in your synagogue, Hillel, Jewish Community Center or at any other Jewish institution in your community, take a look at the map of Israel on the wall; odds are that map doesn’t include the Green Line.

So, moving forward, J Street and J Street’s Rabbinic Cabinet will ask synagogues and Jewish institutions to use maps that acknowledge Israel's internationally-accepted boundaries.  Awareness of the Green Line is essential to preserving the chance of a two-state solution that ensures Israel’s security and its democratic and Jewish character.

And over the coming months we'll also ask our Jewish communal institutions--like local Federations--if they have an official policy regarding how they spend money in the occupied territory. Our community needs organizations that are transparent, accountable, and--most of all-- ones that reflect our values if we're to secure Israel's Jewish and democratic future.

But our work is not simply about maps or funding. It’s about getting our community-- and its institutional leadership-- to understand our responsibility towards Israel, towards the conflict and towards finding a resolution.

It’s about helping our community make a choice: to live by our values and preserve Israel’s future.

So learn more about the work ahead. Download a map for yourself, or invite a friend to join us in this work and get a copy of their own. Want to do even more, and bring maps with the Green Line to your synagogue, JCC, Hillel or other communal institution? Just let us know.

The future is still in our hands, and we have choices to make.

- Rachel Lerner

P.S.- Will you help support the work ahead? Donate $100, $200 or more to sustain J Street as we work to build a better future.

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