I’m writing to share important updates from the region as well as J Street’s statements and resources from this past week. As a reminder, you can always find our most recent statements here.

I invite you to reach out to your J Street Public Affairs staff with any questions.

All the best,
Lily

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

This week on j street

Statement

J Street Welcomes Announcement of Ceasefire in Lebanon

Statement

J Street Welcomes the Overwhelming Majority of Democratic Senators’ Vote to Send a Message of Opposition to Endless War

Expert Analysis

Six Months In: Assessing the Status of the Gaza Ceasefire

Word on the Street: Jeremy Ben-Ami

From Subsidy to Accountability – The Next Phase of the U.S.-Israel Security Relationship

Word on the Street LIVE

How Do We Redefine the US-Israel Partnership?

Watch now →

What we’re reading

10-Day Cease-Fire Between Israel and Lebanon Goes Into Effect

A 10-day cease-fire between Israel and Lebanon went into effect on Friday, a pause in fighting that has the potential to remove a major hurdle in the broader peace talks between Iran and the United States. President Trump announced the cease-fire hours earlier, saying that he had spoken to the leaders of both countries and that he would invite them to the White House for “meaningful talks.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed the agreement, and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam of Lebanon said his country welcomed the cease-fire… The talks that led to the agreement between Israel and Lebanon’s governments did not involve Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militant group that Israel is fighting. Although Hezbollah has signaled that it will abide by the truce, Lebanon’s government has little control over the group, which it has accused of operating at Tehran’s behest.

U.S. sends thousands more troops to Mideast as Trump seeks to squeeze Iran

The Pentagon is sending thousands of additional troops into the Middle East in the coming days, as President Donald Trump attempts to pressure Iran into a deal that could end the weeks-long conflict there while considering the possibility of additional strikes or ground operations if a fragile ceasefire does not hold, U.S. officials said… The infusion of firepower appears likely to coalesce with warships already in the Middle East just as the two-week ceasefire is set to expire April 22 — and as the U.S. military enforces a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. The personnel will join the estimated 50,000 troops that the Pentagon has said are involved globally in operations to counter Iran.

Trump and Iranian Foreign Minister Say Strait of Hormuz Is Fully Open

Iran said Friday it fully reopened the Strait of Hormuz to commercial vessels, but President Donald Trump said the American blockade on Iranian ships and ports “will remain in full force” until Tehran reaches a deal with the U.S., including on its nuclear program. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on X that the crucial waterway, through which about 20% of the world’s oil is shipped, was now fully open to commercial vessels, as a 10-day truce between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon appeared to hold.

A complex set of negotiations to end Israel’s overlapping wars

Israel’s three main conflicts in the past couple of years — in Iran, Lebanon and Gaza — have now reached a pivotal stage of diplomacy. The U.S., which together with Israel attacked Iran at the end of February, is playing a central role in the efforts. With Lebanon, President Trump has announced that a ten-day ceasefire will take effect on Friday at midnight local time in Lebanon and Israel. With Iran, Trump says peace talks could begin again soon, with just six days left before the current two-week ceasefire with Iran expires. But a new U.S. economic blockade on Iran is escalating tensions. With Gaza, Trump’s Board of Peace has been meeting Hamas officials this week to convince them to lay down their weapons, but Hamas is not yet willing.

Foreign press urges Israel’s High Court to speed up Gaza access ruling

Petitioners in the High Court case over foreign journalists’ access to Gaza have asked the court to move up the deadline for the state’s next response, arguing that after months of repeated delays there is no justification for waiting until mid-May for yet another update in a case that goes to the heart of whether the war can be independently documented… The new request argues that the rationale for further delay has now fallen away. Petitioners say that, with the Iran ceasefire having taken effect, there is no real reason to wait another month and a half merely for an update from the state.

Settlers block Palestinian pupils’ path to West Bank school with barbed wire

Dozens of Palestinian children have been unable to go to school in the West Bank this week because of barbed wire erected by Jewish settlers across the path they normally use. Dozens of children tried on Monday to get to school in the small village of Umm al-Khair near the city of Hebron for the first time since the US-Israeli war with Iran began. They found their way blocked by barbed wire that villagers said had been placed there by Israelis from the nearby Carmel settlement… Israeli human rights group B’Tselem says the barbed wire is part of a coordinated campaign by settlers and the Israeli military to intimidate Palestinians and drive them from their land in the West Bank, which it said amounts to “ethnic cleansing.”

As Internet Blackout Hits Day 45, Iranians Bemoan State Hypocrisy and Economic Risks

As Iran’s near-total internet blackout extends into its seventh week, Iranian businesses and academics are arguing that the shutdown not only violates citizens’ rights but further destabilizes the country’s already weakened economy. Iran’s government cited national security reasons when it imposed the internet blackout, its third on the country’s more than 90 million citizens since the 12-day war last year. Internet freedom activists say Iran’s actions suppressed communication, helping it to maintain control over its population during wartime.

New Evidence Further Implicates U.S. Missiles in Strikes That Killed 21 Civilians in Iran

A new visual analysis by The New York Times and munitions experts has uncovered additional evidence showing that the weapons that struck a sports hall, a school and two residential areas in the Iranian city of Lamerd were U.S.-made Precision Strike Missiles, or PrSMs… The strikes killed 21 people, according to Iranian officials. The Times was able to independently verify the identities of the victims. At least five were children, the youngest being 2 years old. All told that would make it the second known attack by U.S. forces to result in large-scale civilian fatalities on the opening day of the war. About six hours earlier, a Tomahawk missile hit a school in Minab some 250 miles away, killing 175 people, an episode President Trump initially tried to pin on the Iranians. A military investigation’s preliminary findings later showed that the United States was responsible for the strike.

Opinion | Reckoning With Israel’s ‘One-State Reality’

“American politics has not grappled at all with the level of day-to-day domination that Israel exerts over Palestinian lives — and the complete absence of any horizon at all for that to end. What they were saying then is that the hope of a two-state solution in the future had become a way by which many in America, particularly, avoided reckoning with “the one-state reality” of the present. That reality was not accidental. It was, and is, not intended to be transient. It was being etched into the land — in stone and cement, in settlements and checkpoints, in the construction of walls and the demolition of homes.”