WASHINGTON, DC — J Street today issued a public call on all its fellow pro-Israel organizations with affiliated PACs to join the organization in taking a public pledge not to endorse any electoral candidates who have threatened the integrity of American democracy by supporting efforts to delegitimize and overturn the results of the 2020 election.

“With the future of American democracy in real peril and the vast majority of American Jews deeply concerned about the mounting threat from former President Trump and his extremist political movement, it’s critical that groups representing the pro-Israel and Jewish communities do absolutely all that we can to help defend free and fair elections and democratic institutions,” said J Street’s president Jeremy Ben-Ami. “As AIPAC announces that it will create a new federal PAC and super-PAC, and other pro-Israel PACs begin to make their endorsements for the 2022 cycle, we challenge them to join us in taking a “Pro-Democracy Pledge.”

As part of the “Pro-Democracy Pledge”, J Street calls on AIPAC and all pro-Israel PACs not to endorse any lawmaker who voted against Congressional certification of 2020 election results on January 6 or otherwise supported the “Big Lie” which falsely claims that Donald Trump actually won the 2020 election.

“While leaders and organizations in the pro-Israel community will of course have significant differences over questions related to American foreign policy and the US-Israel relationship, there can be no excuse for aiding and endorsing elected officials and candidates who seek to tear down American democracy itself,” Ben-Ami said. “No amount of ‘pro-Israel’ posturing on the part of far-right politicians can be cause to justify or ignore the threat they pose to democracy, to the American Jewish community and all vulnerable minorities.”

Contact: Logan Bayroff, [email protected], 516-965-5159