During his visit to the U.S. this week for the U.N. General Assembly, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be meeting in person with President Joe Biden for the first time since he returned to the premiership in late 2022. At this consequential moment for Israel’s democracy and foreign relations, Israel Policy Forum has spearheaded a letter to President Biden signed by leading figures in the American Jewish community who are deeply committed to American diplomatic leadership in the Middle East, to the U.S.-Israel relationship, and to an eventual resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 

The letter expresses our shared support for efforts to broker a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia that tangibly advances prospects for a two-state outcome to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

September 19, 2023

Dear President Biden:

As leaders of the American Jewish community who are deeply committed to American diplomatic leadership in the Middle East, to the U.S.-Israel relationship, and to an eventual resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we write to express our support for your administration’s efforts to broker a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia. 

We are compelled to emphasize our unwavering belief that any potential agreement must advance critical American interests, safeguard Israel’s security in the Middle East, and include measures that tangibly advance prospects for a two-state outcome to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We urge you to remain steadfast in securing these objectives in order to achieve a truly historic and transformational accomplishment.

There are numerous obstacles to attaining such a multifaceted agreement that will necessitate meaningful but difficult steps by the United States, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the Palestinians. 

In order to conclude a deal, given Saudi Arabia’s long-standing position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the agreement must include a significant and tangible Israeli-Palestinian component that would serve to improve stability on the ground and reverse the current slide toward unending conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. In practical terms, this would entail halting Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank and increasing territorial sovereignty for Palestinians, while simultaneously holding the Palestinian Authority accountable to reforms and strengthening its financial stability. These steps would arrest the current deterioration of the situation on the ground and advance American interests by improving regional stability and laying the groundwork for two states. This is necessary both for the sake of the viability of the agreement itself and as a bulwark against further escalation of the conflict, which is especially important at a time when Israel’s security and its Jewish and democratic character are being tested.

In your upcoming meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu, and in your administration’s discussions with Saudi and Palestinian leaders, we urge you to pursue an agreement that would, in addition to advancing American national security interests, enhance Israel’s long-term security and expand regional peace, which would necessarily require reversing the worrisome trajectory of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  

We wish most sincerely for your success in this historic endeavor,*

  1. Karen R. Adler
  2. Harold Akselrad
  3. Sheldon Alster, Board Member, Israel Policy Forum
  4. Peter M. Alter
  5. Lawrence Bender
  6. Jack C. Bendheim, Past Chair, Israel Policy Forum
  7. Rabbi Jacob Blumenthal, CEO, Rabbinical Assembly & USCJ
  8. Charles Bronfman, Co-Founder and Co-Chair Emeritus, Birthright Israel
  9. Stuart Brown
  10. Nick Bunzl, Former President and Executive Director, Marlene Meyerson JCC; Former Executive Director, Israel Policy Forum
  11. Victoria Cook, Founder, Torah Trumps Hate 
  12. Tom Dine, Former Executive Director, AIPAC
  13. Robert Elman, Former President, AJC 
  14. David Ellenson, Chancellor Emeritus, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion; Former Director, Schusterman Center for Israel Studies at Brandeis University
  15. Matthew J. Fassler, Board Member, Israel Policy Forum
  16. Barbara Friedman
  17. Marc Gary, Executive Vice Chancellor Emeritus, Jewish Theological Seminary
  18. Michael Gelman, Past Chair of JFNA Executive Committee
  19. Susie Gelman, Immediate Past Chair, Israel Policy Forum
  20. Barbara Goldberg Goldman
  21. Abner D. Goldstine, Advisory Board, Israel Policy Forum
  22. E. Robert Goodkind, Former President, AJC
  23. Bruce Goren
  24. Sally Gottesman
  26. Stewart Gross
  27. Steve Grossman, Past President, AIPAC
  28. David A. Halperin, CEO, Israel Policy Forum
  29. Andrew Hauptman 
  30. Marcie Hermelin Orley, Board Member, Jewish Democratic Council of America
  31. Ambassador Martin Indyk, Former Special Envoy and Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel
  32. Jonathan Jacoby, Former Executive Director, Israel Policy Forum; Former Executive Director, New Israel Fund
  33. Rabbi Rick Jacobs, President, Union for Reform Judaism
  34. Peter A. Joseph, Former Chair, Israel Policy Forum
  35. Thomas Kahn, American University 
  36. Jonathan Kamel, Board Member, Israel Policy Forum
  37. Joe Kanfer
  38. Sheila Katz, CEO, National Council of Jewish Women
  39. Steve Kersten
  40. Eric Kingsley, Vice Chair International Affairs, Anti-Defamation League
  41. Rabbi Ashira Konigsburg, COO, Rabbinical Assembly
  42. Steven C. Koppel
  43. Rabbi Jay Kornsgold, Vice President, Rabbinical Assembly
  44. Robin M. Kramer 
  45. Rabbi Harold Kravitz, President, Rabbinical Assembly
  46. Daniel Kurtzer, Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel and Egypt
  47. Sheila Lambert
  48. Marvin Lender, Past Chairman of the United Jewish Appeal
  49. Alisa Levin, Chair, Honeymoon Israel; Board Member, Israel Policy Forum
  50. Mel Levine, Former Member of Congress
  51. Rabbi Joy Levitt 
  52. Robert K. Lifton, Former President, American Jewish Congress; Founding Chair and Board Member, Israel Policy Forum; Former Co-Chair, Middle East Project of the Council on Foreign Relations
  53. Dana Linden, Board Member, Israel Policy Forum
  54. Jonathan Lopatin
  55. Daryl Messinger, Chair, ARZA; Immediate Past Chair, Union for Reform Judaism; Board Member, Israel Policy Forum 
  56. Ruth W. Messinger, Social Justice Consultant
  57. Iris Mushin
  58. Debra Pell
  59. Lois Perelson-Gross, Co-Chair, One Voice
  60. Martin J. Raffel, Former Senior Vice President, Jewish Council for Public Affairs
  61. Chuck Ratner, Former Chair, Jewish Agency
  62. Ilana Horowitz Ratner
  63. Seymour D. Reich, Former Chair, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations; Past Chair, Israel Policy Forum
  64. Stephen Robert
  65. Richard Robin, Board Member, Israel Policy Forum
  66. Rick Rosen, Executive Member, Israel Policy Forum
  67. Michael Rosenzweig, Board Member, Jewish Electorate Institute; Former Vice Chair, Jewish Democratic Council of America
  68. John Ruskay
  69. Andy Schaer, President, USCJ
  70. David Sherman, Chair, Israel Policy Forum 
  71. Marc Slutsky
  72. Jeffrey R. Solomon 
  73. Alan Solomont, Board Chair, J Street
  74. Alan P. Solow, Vice Chair, Israel Policy Forum; Former Chair, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations
  75. Robert Sugarman, Past Chair, Anti-Defamation League; Past Chair, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations 
  76. Jeffrey M. Stern
  77. Rabbi Josh Weinberg, Vice President, URJ; Executive Director, ARZA
  78. Modi Wiczyk, Co-Founder, MRC
  79. Toni Young, American Friends of Ben Gurion University
  80. Hon. Dov S. Zakheim, Former Under Secretary of Defense

*Affiliations listed for identification purposes only