After war and distrust, one Israeli voice says peace is still possible

By Bill Motchan, Contributing Writer

Published April 28, 2026

In June 2023, Nadav Tamir, executive director of J Street Israel, visited St. Louis to share his philosophy of peace in the Middle East by finding common ground with Palestinians. Since that time, Hamas attacked Israel, followed by a long and brutal conflict in Gaza. Even as new fighting is taking place in Iran and Lebanon, Tamir remains optimistic that better days lie ahead for Israel. On Monday, May 4, he will speak to St. Louisans at Congregation Shaare Emeth during “What Comes Next: Nadav Tamir on Iran, Gaza and The Future of The Middle East.” Tamir recently offered the Jewish Light a preview of his message.

What are your goals on your upcoming trip to St. Louis and other Midwestern cities? What have American audiences been asking you?

I’m here to help validate the J Street message, which I believe is what’s good for my country and what’s good for the Jewish American community. People keep asking me, how could we achieve all of that when Israelis have lost trust in any peace agreement and will we ever be able to get rid of [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu? And how could we promote anything with [President Donald] Trump? I have good answers to all those questions.

Do you remain hopeful about a post-war era of peace and prosperity for Israel?

If we take the right road, which is a great promise of integration into the region, what we call in J Street the ‘23-state solution,’ that includes a Palestinian state, I think it’s a great opportunity that was never as real as now. The question is, will we take it? The first thing we have to do is to get rid of this government that we have, which will never choose anything that has to do with the Palestinian political horizon.

American Jews may be unfamiliar with the 23-state solution. Can you explain it?

The only way to really solve peace with the Palestinians it is a two-state solution will be part of a regional architecture. That promise was never as real as now. We even have Lebanon and Syria willing to move forward. The entire region actually wants to help us to marginalize the jihadists and extremists, not because they’re Zionists or because they care about the Palestinians, but because they want their own interests, which is stability in the region. We call it the 23-state solution to explain that it’s not the old paradigm, but it’s still very much about the Palestinian state, because there is no other way to keep the Zionist vision of Israel as a democratic homeland for the Jewish people.

Are advisors to President Trump providing him with counsel about the value of the 23-state solution?

Yes, I believe that what Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff (U.S. special envoy to the Middle East) are hearing from the Saudis, from the Emiratis, from the Qataris, from Jordanians and Egyptians, is that the only way to achieve what Trump really wants, which is the Nobel Peace Prize and all the economic deals, is to have a long-term diplomatic plan that will include Israel integrated in the region and that can only be achieved if there will be a Palestinian state.

Some Jews are reluctant to voice criticism of the Netanyahu government at the risk of sounding anti-Zionist. How does one express criticism of Israeli politics without coming across as being anti-Israeli?

There will always be people who will try to frame any criticism against the Netanyahu government as anti-Israel or antisemitic, just like there are people who will say that if you’re anti-Trump, you’re not an American patriot. You can’t be a friend of Israel if you don’t try to correct the direction where Israel is going. And this is why we need friends, not to tell us that we can drive when we’re drunk, but to actually stop us from driving when we’re drunk.

Registration and more information on Nadav Tamir’s St. Louis appearance are available here.