Jeremy Ben-Ami (*84), Executive Director of J Street, presented a public talk titled, “The Making of a New Israel Lobby: How Mainstream American Jews are Finding a New Voice on Middle East Policy” at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, November 17, 2009 in Dodds Auditorium, Robertson Hall on the Princeton University campus. LISD co-sponsored this event with the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, the Center for Jewish Life, the Davis International Center, and the Near Eastern Studies Program.

Ben-Ami is Executive Director of J Street and JStreetPAC, the political voice of the pro-Israel, pro-peace movement. He has twenty-five years of experience in government, politics and communications, in the United States and internationally, including numerous political campaigns.  In 2003-2004, he was Policy Director for Howard Dean’s presidential campaign; in 2001, he was one of the managers of Mark Green’s Mayoral campaign in New York City; and, from 1992-1996, he worked for former President Bill Clinton, serving for two years as the President’s Deputy Domestic Policy Advisor.

Ben-Ami has also been actively involved in Israeli politics and communications. In 1998, he started a consulting firm in Israel which worked with Israeli non-profit organizations and politicians. He also has served as Director of Communications and Regional Director in New York for the New Israel Fund, a foundation supporting civil rights, social justice and religious pluralism in Israel and is on the Board of Americans for Peace Now.
   
Ben-Ami was most recently Senior Vice-President of Fenton Communications, a public interest communications firm, and he spent eight years early in his career in New York City government and politics for Mayors Dinkins and Koch, primarily in the field of homeless housing.

Ben-Ami received a law degree from New York University and is a graduate of the Woodrow Wilson School.