Jeremy Ben-Ami (born 1962) is an American lawyer and activist who is the founder and president of J Street, a liberal advocacy organization dedicated to promoting American leadership to end the Arab-Israeli and Israel-Palestinian conflicts peacefully and diplomatically. He is also the executive director of JStreetPAC, which endorses and raises money for federal candidates.
Early life and education Ben-Ami grew up in New York City. He is the son of the late Eve and the late Yitshaq Ben-Ami. His father was born in Mandatory Palestine, but moved to the United States. Ben-Ami grew up in a Jewish home and became bar mitzvah at Congregation Rodeph Sholom in Manhattan.Alisa Biran, Jeremy Ben-Ami, The New York Times, February 18, 2001 He attended Collegiate School, also in Manhattan. His grandparents fled persecution in Russia in 1882 and emigrated to "what was then Palestine" and his father would go on to join the Zionist paramilitary group Irgun. His grandparents were among the first Zionist settlers and his father was said to be the first Jewish baby boy born in Tel Aviv.
He graduated from Princeton University and received a Juris Doctor degree from New York University.
Career Ben-Ami was President Bill Clinton's Deputy Domestic Policy Adviser, and later Policy Director on Howard Dean's presidential campaign. He was most recently Senior Vice President at Fenton Communications. Earlier he was the Communications Director for the New Israel Fund and started the Israeli firm Ben-Or Communications while living in Israel in the late 1990s. Ben-Ami has worked with Jewish peace groups, including the Center for Middle East Peace and the Geneva Initiative-North America.
Viewpoints In March 2011, Ben-Ami commented:
Ben-Ami's 2011 book, A New Voice for Israel articulates a philosophy and an agenda for pro-Zionist, pro-peace Judaism based on religious and humanist values. He argues for a two-state solution and for U.S. efforts to promote the same. He also analyzes the dynamics and politics of Israel in the U.S. Jewish community. Reviewing the book, Sari Nusseibeh wrote "Ben-Ami provides an arsenal of logistical and moral arguments stressing that not only is Israel's occupation over another people a threat to the Zionist dream and American interests in the region, but that it also runs counter to rabbinic values....". Abraham J. Edelheit found the book's thesis to be one that Peter Beinart had already discussed, and that while Ben-Ami offers convincing evidence that Israeli policies are alienating young Jewish Americans, he fails to "explain how J Street will achieve anything but cementing their criticism of Israel". Joseph Finlay, reviewing for Jewish Quarterly, wrote that Ben-Ami's critique of contemporary American Jewish leadership is "entirely unoriginal" and too gentle and that instead it is necessary to create "massive pressure on Israel to end the occupation, both directly and via national governments across the world. It needs to harness the energy of BDS and pro-Palestinian activists".
Views during the Gaza War In 2024, during the Gaza War, Ben-Ami criticized the conduct of the Netanyahu government, calling for de-escalation and echoing J Street's call to end the war. On 3 August 2025, he published an article on his Substack in which he said, "Until now, I have tried to deflect and defend when challenged to call this genocide. I have, however, been persuaded rationally by legal and scholarly arguments that international courts will one day find that Israel has broken the international genocide convention."
Personal life Ben-Ami married Alisa Biran in 2001. Biran, who was working in fundraising at a music school, happened to be the daughter of a cantor from Ben-Ami's childhood synagogue.
References
External links
Jeremy Ben-Ami blog archives at The Huffington Post Staff biography at J Street
A New Voice for Israel official book site at Macmillan Ben-Ami, Jeremy Tel Aviv, Then and Now The New York Times, April 9, 2009 Articles Goldberg, Michelle Same As It Ever Was? The American Prospect, April 7, 2009 Traub, James The New Israel Lobby, The New York Times, September 9, 2009 Jacobson, Louis A moment with ... Jeremy Ben-Ami '84, on speaking out about Israel, Princeton Alumni Weekly October 7, 2009 Goldberg, Jeffrey. J Street's Ben-Ami on Zionism and Military Aid to Israel, The Atlantic, October 23, 2009. Katz, Mandy The Man on J Street: The Story of Jeremy Ben-Ami, Moment, March/April 2010. Hoffman, Allison. Heads Up: J Street chief Jeremy Ben-Ami calls the plays for the first self-confident alternative Jewish establishment, Tablet Magazine, October 28, 2010. Kirsch, Jonathan. The J Street Zionist, The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, November 17, 2011. Shabad, Rebecca. A DC Voice for a Two-State Solution, The Hill, March 4, 2014.