The Jewish nation, in Israel and around the world, stands united today.
We celebrate the return of 20 innocent human beings held hostage, alive, reunited, finally home.
We honor the lives of 28 innocent souls who were taken hostage and murdered by Hamas on or since October 7. After 738 days of agony, 4 will be returned to their families today for proper burial. We pray the rest of the families get that closure in the coming days.
Only now can the healing––for their families, and for the people of Israel–begin.
We stand united in gratitude for the bravery, resolve, and sacrifice of Israel’s soldiers, who left families, jobs, and full lives to defend the Jewish homeland. They stood valiantly between the Jewish people and another genocidal threat, embodying the promise of Never Again.
Without their courage, and without a strong and moral Israeli military, it is impossible to imagine the world that the Jewish people, and freedom-loving people everywhere, would be living in today. The free world owes them a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid.
We stand united in thanking President Trump for fulfilling his promise to end the war Hamas launched on October 7, and bring home as many of the hostages as possible. The Trump administration, Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump championed the voices of the Israeli people and hostage families, amplifying their cries for humanity, justice and peace.
By honoring the will of the Israeli majority, they helped deliver a ceasefire that safeguards Israel’s vital defense and security needs, centers the return of captives, and commits to urgently ending the suffering of Gaza’s civilians.
Despite the many challenges ahead, we pray fervently that the President’s efforts to broker true and lasting peace succeed.
We stand united as Americans, grateful for President Trump’s commitment to a new and brighter future for the people of the Middle East. We want to root for our President, for the United States, for our country’s leadership on the world stage. We want to be proud of America’s efforts to broker peace and security, to advance diplomacy, prosperity and opportunity, to lead the free world and build and sustain new and existing global alliances.
We want American leadership that defends our democratic allies –– and we also want leadership that simultaneously defends our American democracy at home.
As this war ends, hopefully permanently, we call for an end to another war: the war on truth, the war on progressivism, and the war on Zionism––which is simply a war on Jews.
Antisemitism disguised as “anti-Zionism” has targeted and marginalized Jews in the global left for decades, and it has eroded and destroyed our movements for justice and progress.
Since 10/7, antisemitism disguised as anti-war activism has become ubiquitous across the political left and the political right, from gaslighting our grief, dehumanizing our victims, and accusing us collectively and individually of heinous crimes. The blood libels, the Holocaust inversion, the demonization has been relentless, resulting in an explosion of violent anti-Jewish hate.
Every responsible leader and moral person has an urgent obligation to fight this scourge –– which will have consequences far beyond the Jewish community.
The Jewish people are no strangers to paradox. Our holidays begin with mourning and end in dancing. We break a glass under the wedding canopy to remember the destruction of Jerusalem, even in moments of deepest joy. Holding grief and hope together is as Jewish as our inextricable connection to Zion.
So today, as we grieve the devastation in Gaza and the trauma of our Israeli family, we also dream of a future where Israeli and Palestinian children can live in safety, dignity, and freedom; we dream of a world in which the Jewish people are not blamed for our own victimization, or forced to defend our existence; we dream of a ceasefire that is not a pause, but a turning point; we dream of peace, and progress, and true liberation for all.