I hope you are doing well. I’m writing as a J Street Advocacy leader to share important updates from the region as well as J Street’s statements and resources from the past week. This week, Trump’s diplomatic pivot toward potential nuclear talks with Iran stirred tensions in Washington as Netanyahu, emboldened by Trump’s return and fewer U.S. restraints, escalated operations in Gaza. Meanwhile, Israeli Air Force reservists called for a halt to the war, and Gaza’s humanitarian crisis deepened as Israel’s blockade on aid continued.

You can find more on each of these developments and others below, along with our most recent statements here.

Please feel free to reach out to your J Street Public Affairs staff if you have any questions.

All the best,
Lily

—
Lily Adelstein
She/Her
Deputy Director of Government Affairs, J Street
Cell: 202-699-2701
J Street’s Congressional Resource Page

This week on j street

EXPERT ANALYSIS

The Iran Tipping Point: Why 2025 Could Bring a Deal or a War

STATEMENT

J Street Devastated by Escalating Horrors in Gaza and West Bank

STATEMENT

J Street Welcomes Overwhelming Democratic Opposition to Huckabee Nomination

EXPERT ANALYSIS

Netanyahu’s War of Survival: In the Face of Widespread Opposition, Netanyahu Pulls Israel to the Brink

With Trump’s Return, Netanyahu Faces Fewer Restraints on Gaza Than Ever

But on the overriding question of Israel’s renewed military campaign in Gaza, Mr. Trump was largely quiet. He made no mention of the Israeli attack on ambulances and a fire truck that came to light last week, and that killed 15 emergency workers, or the April 3 strike that killed dozens of people, including children, in a school-turned-shelter… The result, say observers inside and outside of Israel, is a prime minister unleashed, with fewer guardrails to constrain his actions in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria. It means that Mr. Netanyahu is free to resume his overhaul of his country’s judicial system without denunciations from Washington. And it means a changed dynamic in a region that has been battered by 18 months of armed conflict.

Hundreds of Israeli Air Force Reservists Call for Halt to Gaza War

Hundreds of reservists and retired officers in Israel’s air force signed a letter on Thursday urging the Israeli government to agree to a deal with Hamas to return hostages, even at the price of stopping the war in Gaza. The letter, which was signed by roughly a thousand people, including a former chief of staff and other former senior military leaders, laid bare a growing divide in the Israeli military over the handling of the war. The air force has been a key part of Israel’s effort in Gaza, carrying out strikes that have flattened much of the enclave and left thousands dead. The appeal reflected heightened concern about the fate of the hostages after a shaky cease-fire between Israel and Hamas collapsed in mid-March. The hostages have been in the captivity of militants in Gaza for more than 18 months.

The Gates of Hell Are Open Night and Day’: Malnutrition, Illness and Lack of Drinking Water Plague Gaza

It has been five weeks since Israel started blocking all food and aid from entering Gaza, leading to a worsening humanitarian crisis. Many residents of Gaza have lost their homes, while others are facing a severe shortage of food and water. Medical teams struggle to provide assistance due to insufficient medications and medical equipment. Furthermore, international humanitarian organizations are increasing their warnings regarding the health conditions of the people in the Strip. According to the United Nations, since the cease-fire ended and fighting resumed on March 18, approximately 390,000 Palestinians – about 18 percent of the population – have been forced to leave their homes once more and are now living in tents.

Stressing the ‘billions’ US gives in aid, Trump refuses to commit to removing tariffs on Israel

Speaking to the press alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, US President Donald Trump declined to commit to removing the 17% tariffs he had imposed on Israel on Monday. “Well, we’re talking about a whole new trade — maybe not,” he said in response to a question about whether he would reverse the tariffs. “Maybe not.” Israel had hoped to avoid Trump’s sweeping decree last week to impose levies on global imports. Instead, it was hit with a 17% tariff despite lifting all remaining duties on US imports in a last-minute attempt to be spared. The US is Israel’s closest ally and largest single trading partner. “Don’t forget, we help Israel a lot,” Trump said in the Oval Office, as Netanyahu listened beside him to the implied criticism. “We give Israel $4 billion a year, that’s a lot.”

How Palestinian first responders ended up in a mass grave in Gaza

The 14 Palestinian emergency workers had been missing for a week when U.N. and civil defense personnel found them late last month in a mass grave of sand. Israeli soldiers had buried them, as well as the wreckage of their ambulances, videos showed. Their resting place, outside the southern Gaza city of Rafah, was marked with one of their red emergency lights… A Washington Post analysis of the events of that predawn morning, based on dispatcher records, witness testimony, video footage, satellite imagery and photographs of the dead, contradicts the official Israeli narrative in key regards. While the Israeli military said the soldiers shot from afar, gunfire initially came from 150 feet away or less and, later, from about 50 feet away, according to the estimates of two audio forensics experts who analyzed video of the events at The Post’s request.

How Hamas and the U.S. Tried to Strike a Hostage Deal

Mr. Trump had made releasing all the hostages a key goal, aiming to show success where the Biden administration struggled. In a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week, though, his comments on hostages were largely overshadowed by tariff talk and Iran diplomacy. The March talks underscored the Trump administration’s ad hoc approach to diplomacy. But in the face of furious Israeli opposition, Hamas’s hesitation and the Trump administration’s shifting position, an agreement to free the hostage, Edan Alexander, never came together.

Analysis | How Israel Is Bringing West Bank-style Annexation to Gaza

Since the IDF began a major military operation in the heart of Palestinian cities in the West Bank in January, observers have begun to worry that Israel is replicating its vast destruction of the Gaza Strip there. The concerns take various linguistic forms including turning the West Bank into a “second Gaza,” “a mini-Gaza” or “Gazafying” the area… But if the Israeli army is bringing Gaza to the West Bank, the Israeli government is bringing the West Bank to Gaza. The war in the Strip has been on a long but decisive slide from hard military aims to a fundamentally political mission. As in the West Bank, that mission is permanent control.

J STREET GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS NEWS DIGEST | April 11, 2025