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<\/a><\/p>\nA synagogue in Teaneck, New Jersey displays lanterns representing the hostages still alive in Gaza and the bodies of those who are also slated to be returned under a deal between Israel and Hamas, Oct. 8, 2025. (JTA photo)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
As for what such a last peace might look like, only groups that have consistently advocated for a two-state solution offered a specific vision, putting their hopes in a solution that is implicit in the Trump administration\u2019s 20-point peace plan, but which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejects adamantly.<\/p>\n
Nearly all the organizations noted that the war began with Hamas\u2019s deadly attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and urged \u201cvigilance\u201d that Hamas would uphold its side of any agreement. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis development represents a hopeful step toward resolving the conflict, securing the release of all hostages, and establishing the conditions for lasting peace and security in the region,\u201d read a statement by Betsy Berns Korn and William C. Daroff, the chair and CEO, respectively, of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. \u201cThis moment demands unity, resolve, and the moral clarity to ensure that peace and security endure and every hostage returns home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Federations similarly welcomed the deal for its humanitarian implications, with the Jewish Federations of North America saying \u201cour prayers are answered \u2014 not completely, for the pain of loss remains \u2014 but with the long-awaited promise of healing, renewal, and hope.\u201d<\/p>\n
Groups also thanked the Trump administration for brokering the deal. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee said in its statement that it \u201capplauds President Trump and his negotiating team for this tremendous achievement and for working together with Israel to broker this peace plan.\u201d<\/p>\n
AIPAC also framed the last two years as an affirmation of the \u201cenduring partnership between the United States and our ally Israel,\u201d despite cracks that showed during the Biden administration and to a lesser extent under Trump. <\/p>\n
A lobbying group that tends to reflect the policies of the sitting Israeli government, AIPAC also spoke in brief of what some are calling \u201cthe day after,\u201d saying that the peace deal \u201ccreates a tremendous opportunity to forge a better future for Israelis, Palestinians, and people across the Middle East.\u201d<\/p>\n
J Street \u2014 the advocacy group often described as the progressive counterpart to AIPAC \u2014 did not mention the two-state solution in a statement by its president, Jeremy Ben-Ami. But Ben-Ami did urge the parties to take steps toward realizing the \u201cfull US-backed 20-point plan \u2014 one that ensures Israel\u2019s security, ends Hamas\u2019s reign of terror, delivers a massive surge of humanitarian aid and sets the region on a path toward a comprehensive and permanent peace.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the 19th point of its 20-point plan, the White House suggested without making any pledges that \u201cthe conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood, which we recognise as the aspiration of the Palestinian people.\u201d And while a number of key European allies recently recognized a Palestinian state, the idea has been effectively stalled and faces formidable obstacles on the ground, including strong opposition by both the current Israeli government and key segments of the Israeli and Palestinian publics. <\/p>\n
Other groups were more explicit in reiterating the two-state solution. The Israel Policy Forum, founded to advance the idea of two states, said it hoped the agreement might pave the way for \u201crekindled Israel-Arab diplomacy, a reformed Palestinian Authority with new, empowered, and legitimate leadership, an eventual expansion of the Abraham Accords that advances Israel\u2019s integration in the Middle East, and the pursuit of a viable political horizon to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on two states.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Reform movement, in a statement signed by the leaders of its rabbinical, congregational and seminary arms, also hoped the ceasefire would create the conditions for renewing a solution which the statement acknowledged \u201cfeels remote at this point.\u201d Nevertheless, according to the statement, \u201ca two-state solution in some configuration must remain the worthy, long-term goal for Israelis and Palestinians as they contemplate a future with safety, dignity, and hope for all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Further to the left, Jewish groups welcomed the return of the hostages but also reiterated their criticism of Israel\u2019s prosecution of a war whose death toll, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry, surpassed 67,000. <\/p>\n
Partners for Progressive Israel called the agreement \u201ca victory for the hostage families in Israel and their supporters\u201d as well as \u201cthe many international bodies who have sought to hold Hamas and this Israeli government accountable for the war crimes perpetrated in the last two years.\u201d<\/p>\n
While few right-leaning groups commented on the deal in the hours after its announcement, which also coincided with the end of the first two days of Sukkot, Religious Zionists of America-Mizrachi welcomed the news, calling it \u201ca potentially hopeful step toward restoring calm and securing the release of Israeli hostages.\u201d <\/p>\n
RZA-Mizrachi\u2019s president, Steven M. Flatow, whose daughter Alisa Flatow was killed in a suicide bombing near a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip in 1995, also warned that \u201cHamas\u2019s word is worth little.\u201d He cautioned that any plan\u2019s success \u201cdepends entirely on whether Hamas and its supporters can be trusted to abide by their commitments\u2014a lesson history teaches us to approach with clear eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n
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