News Roundup for October 21, 2024

October 21, 2024
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J Street works to promote an open, honest and rigorous conversation about Israel. The opinions reflected in articles posted in the News Roundup do not necessarily reflect J Street’s positions, and their posting does not constitute an endorsement from J Street.

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Israel Gave the White House Its Demands for Ending the War in Lebanon, Axios
These two demands contradict UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which states that the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) enforce a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

Blinken to Visit Israel in Latest Push for Gaza Cease-Fire, The New York Times
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken will depart on Monday for another trip to the Middle East that will include a stop in Israel, as the Biden administration makes a renewed effort to bring calm to the region after the death of the Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

U.S. Investigating Apparent Leak of ‘Top Secret’ U.S. Documents About Israel, NBC News
U.S. officials are investigating the apparent leak of two top-secret U.S. documents that show American spy agencies tracking possible Israeli preparations for conducting an attack on Iran, three U.S. officials said.

News

Israeli Strikes on North Gaza Leave at Least 87 Dead or Missing: Gaza Health Ministry, NPR
Israel has been carrying out a large-scale operation in northern Gaza for the last two weeks, saying Hamas has regrouped there. Palestinian officials say hundreds of people have been killed and that the health sector in the north is on the verge of collapse.

Israel Strikes Hezbollah-Affiliated Financial Branches Across Lebanon, The New York Times
The Israeli military conducted a wave of airstrikes across Lebanon on Sunday, targeting branches of Al-Qard al-Hasan, a financial association associated with Hezbollah.

Iran Leaking Sensitive Information on Top Israeli Officials, Haaretz
Hackers believed to be working for Iranian intelligence are leaking personal information ostensibly stolen from accounts belonging to former and current senior Israeli defense and political officials. Some of the hacked material includes sensitive details.

Hours Before Oct. 7 Assault, Shin Bet Warned Hamas Seemed Readying to Attack, The Times of Israel
Staff at The Times of Israel report, “It was previously reported that on the night between October 6 and 7, hours before the early morning assault, an email was sent from an IDF base on the Gaza border describing ‘certain signs coming from Gaza’ about an imminent attack. At the same time, the Shin Bet security agency also saw signs that something was up.”

UNIFIL Says Israeli Army Demolished Watchtower and Fence at UN Site in Southern Lebanon, Reuters
The U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said in a statement that an Israeli army bulldozer had demolished an observation tower and perimeter fence of a U.N. position in Marwahin in southern Lebanon on Sunday.

‘He Got Out of Gaza, but Gaza Did Not Get out of Him’: Israeli Soldiers Returning From War Struggle With Trauma and Suicide, CNN
Israeli soldiers who fought in the enclave told CNN they witnessed horrors the outside world can never truly comprehend. Their accounts offer a rare glimpse into the brutality of what critics have called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “forever war,” and the intangible toll it takes on the soldiers who participate.

Doug Emhoff: Jewish Support for Trump Is ‘Shocking’ and ‘Vexing’, The Forward
“It’s so vexing to me that any Jew supports him,” Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, said in remarks at a get-out-the-vote rally for Jewish voters Sunday in Southfield, Michigan. “He foments antisemitism everywhere he goes. He does not care about us.”

Opinion and Analysis

Palestinians Describe Being Used as ‘Human Shields’ by Israeli Troops in Gaza, The Guardian
Malak A Tantesh shares, “Skafi said that on the sixth day of being used to clear houses in Shuja’iya, his IDF captors came under fire from a Hamas gunman, leading to a gunfight and a standoff that lasted from noon until that evening. ‘During that period they used me as a human shield. I was in the middle. They said to the resistance fighter: ‘Give yourself up, or we’ll kill this civilian,’ Skafi alleged.”

Pentagon Leak Points to U.S. Discomfort Over Strength of Israel’s Potential Response to Iran, Haaretz
Amos Harel writes, “It is clear from the leaked documents that the American assessment is that the Israeli response will be significant, and this time will include a considerable number of sites; in April, according to reports in the media, Israel attacked only one target, the radar of an S-300 antiaircraft battery.”

Yahya Sinwar’s Death Can End This War, The New York Times
Matthew Duss argues, “If Mr. Sinwar truly was the obstacle to a cease-fire agreement that U.S. officials — including President Biden — have claimed, that obstacle is now gone. The United States and its partners have a window to halt the downward spiral to regional conflagration. The Biden administration must press the Netanyahu government and remaining Hamas officials to end the war in Gaza, return hostages to their families, surge humanitarian aid into the territory and urgently take other steps to ensure that Gazans have adequate shelter, supplies and security as winter approaches.”


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