J Street founder, ambassador to speak in St. Louis

Jeremy Ben-Ami (left) and Israeli Consul General to New York Colette Avital

With peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians hanging in the balance, former Deputy Speaker of the Knesset and Israeli Consul General to New York Colette Avital will address the urgent security imperative of a two-state solution at a public event at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 21 at the Regional Arts Commission, 6128 Delmar Boulevard. The event, titled “Achieving Two States: Why the Security of Israel Depends on It,” is hosted by J Street St. Louis and co-sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council of St. Louis.

Avital, who served as Israel’s Consul General in New York City from 1992 to 1997, joined the15th Knesset on behalf of the Labor Party in November 1999 and was appointed Deputy Speaker of the Knesset in February 2003. Throughout her nearly decade-long tenure in the Knesset, Avital served as Chair of the Ethics and the Immigration, Absorption, and Diaspora Committees. She also headed the Parliamentary Inquiry Committee into the Location and Restitution of the Assets of Holocaust Victims and served as the International Secretary of the Labor Party.

Avital will be joined by J Street Founder and President Jeremy Ben-Ami. Ben-Ami comes to J Street from a 25-year career in government, politics and communications in the U.S. and Israel. Jeremy has served in a number of senior government positions including as President Bill Clinton’s Deputy Domestic Policy Adviser and Policy Director on Howard Dean’s Presidential Campaign. Jeremy was most recently Senior Vice President at Fenton Communications.

For more information about J Street, visit www.jstreet.org. RSVP at www.jstreet.org/stlouis.