This morning President Obama spoke about the U.S. commitment to Israel, the Iranian nuclear deal, and anti-Semitism at a Washington-area synagogue to wild applause. Transcript here. Video here.

Obama spoke often of “shared values” between U.S. progressives and Israel, linking his participation in the civil rights struggle with Israel’s struggle to “make the desert bloom:”

“those values in many ways came to be my own values.

Then he said those shared values make him committed to a two-state solution:

Just as Israelis built a state in their homeland, Palestinians have a right to be a free people on their land, as well. (Applause.) Now, I want to emphasize — that’s not easy. The Palestinians are not the easiest of partners. (Laughter.) The neighborhood is dangerous. And we cannot expect Israel to take existential risks with their security so that any deal that takes place has to take into account the genuine dangers of terrorism and hostility. But it is worthwhile for us to keep up the prospect, the possibility of bridging divides and being just, and looking squarely at what’s possible but also necessary in order for Israel to be the type of nation that it was intended to be in its earliest founding. (Applause.) And that same sense of shared values also compel me to speak out — compel all of us to speak out — against the scourge of anti-Semitism wherever it exists. (Applause.) I want to be clear that, to me, all these things are connected. The rights I insist upon and now fight for, for all people here in the United States compels me then to stand up for Israel and look out for the rights of the Jewish people. And the rights of the Jewish people then compel me to think about a Palestinian child in Ramallah that feels trapped without opportunity. That’s what Jewish values teach me. That’s what the Judeo-Christian tradition teaches me. These things are connected.

Jewish Voice for Peace promptly issued a statement that says nothing about the two-state solution but reminds us all of the civil rights struggle that Obama cited. “Shared Values Compel Us to Speak Out Against Israeli Policies”

May 22, 2015–As President Obama expressed in his speech at Congregation Adas Israel today, Jewish tradition and experience of persecution compel us to speak truth to power in the face of injustice. In this case, our shared values compel us to add that so long as the State of Israel persists in its military occupation of the West Bank, siege of Gaza and systematic discrimination against non-Jews both in and outside the Green Line, we cannot be silent. Rebecca Vilkomerson, Jewish Voice for Peace executive director: “As Israel moves further away from democracy, entrenching policies of discrimination, segregation and inequality, now is long past the time for polite words of criticism. Israel’s recent election proves that it will take outside pressure to compel Israel to upholding the shared values of which the President spoke.” We appreciate the President for clearly distinguishing between the problem of anti-Semitism and the need to criticize the policies of the State of Israel when those policies fail to live up to universal values. Growing numbers of progressive Jews are deeply disturbed by the Israeli state’s treatment of Palestinians, and increasingly willing to speak out to demand change.

About those growing numbers. Jewish Voice for Peace has been booming in membership in the last 9 months. Figures since the beginning of summer 2014:

Chapters: 40 ⇒ 65 (25 new) Online Supporter Email list: 140,000 ⇒ +200,000 (60,000 new) Facebook likes: 57,000 ⇒ 200,000+ (quadrupled) Twitter followers: +40,000 (tripled over the summer)

Membership: Now over 9,000 dues-paying members

J Street, the liberal Zionist group, also issued a statement on the Obama speech, affirming the two-state solution.