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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, Israel’s military announced plans to expand its operations and seize “large areas” of Gaza as defense officials signaled a prolonged conflict; bakeries across Gaza closed as the World Food Programme warned that food supplies would run out in two weeks; and Trump considered Iran’s offer for indirect nuclear talks, signaling a shift in U.S. diplomacy.
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
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| EXPERT ANALYSIS |
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Israel’s New Military Plan for Gaza is Incredibly Dangerous
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| EXPERT ANALYSIS |
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The Reality of Resuming the War in Gaza
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| WEBINAR |
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Students Respond to Trump’s Attacks on Higher Education
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| STATEMENT |
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‘Damaging, Arbitrary and Nonsensical:’ J Street Slams Trump’s Global Tariffs
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What we’re reading
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Israeli military will expand its operations and seize ‘large areas’ of Gaza, defense minister says
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| Israel’s military “will seize large areas” of the Gaza Strip to expand its security zones, its defense minister said Wednesday as he called for a large-scale evacuation of the Palestinian enclave’s population. “Operation ‘Might and Sword’ in Gaza is expanding,” Israel Katz said in a statement. He went on to call on the residents of Gaza to “eliminate Hamas” to ensure the return of the remaining hostages held by the militant group. In a statement later Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the shift in strategy set to begin “tonight,” saying the Israel Defense Forces is “seizing territory, striking terrorists, destroying infrastructure.” It would also take over a new border area he referred to as the “Morag Axis,” similar to the Philadelphi corridor, to further isolate the enclave. The Israeli military has renewed its offensive in Gaza in recent weeks by expanding in the south and adding a large security area in the Netzarim corridor that cuts through the middle of the strip. |
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Trump seriously considering Iran’s offer of indirect nuclear talks
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| The White House is seriously considering an Iranian proposal for indirect nuclear talks, while at the same time significantly boosting U.S. forces in the Middle East in case President Trump opts for military strikes, two U.S. officials tell Axios… Trump has repeatedly said he’d prefer a deal, but warned that without one “there will be bombing.” His timeline is tight: Trump gave Iran a two-month deadline to reach a deal, but it’s not clear if and when that clock started ticking. The White House is still engaged in an internal debate between those who think a deal is achievable and those who see talks as a waste of time and back strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities. In the meantime, the Pentagon is engaged in a massive buildup of forces in the Middle East. If Trump decides the time is up, he will have a loaded gun at the ready. |
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Bakeries close across Gaza as World Food Programme warns food supplies are set to run out in two weeks
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| All bakeries in Gaza have closed due to a severe lack of fuel and flour caused by Israel’s near month-long blockade of humanitarian aid, according to local authorities. “The occupation has forced all bakeries to shut down entirely, exacerbating the famine crisis that threatens the lives of innocent civilians, particularly children, patients, and the elderly,” the Hamas-controlled Government Media Office in Gaza said Tuesday. The closures are likely to accelerate the spread of famine in the strip, the head of the local Bakery Owners’ Association, Abdel Nasser Al-Ajrami told the Palestinian Press Agency Safa. The United Nation’s World Food Programme (WFP) said all 25 of its bakeries in the enclave had shut, citing the lack of flour and fuel. |
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After Israel fails to win reprieve from Trump’s tariffs, how hard will economy be hit?
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| Israel was not spared from US President Donald Trump’s sweeping decree to impose levies on global imports and was hit Wednesday with a 17 percent tariff on products exported to America. This, despite Jerusalem’s blitz action a day earlier to lift all remaining duties on US imports, in a last-minute attempt to preempt the move… “We knew that this was going to happen, but we are surprised about the scope of the tariff and are still learning the implications,” said Abramzon, speaking at a conference at Herzliya’s Reichman University. “We have a good channel with the US administration, and I believe that through dialogue and negotiations, we will succeed in making a change to this evil.” |
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UN Recovers 15 Aid Workers’ Bodies in Gaza, Say Some Found Bound and Shot
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| A statement on Sunday from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that gunfire in the area continued even during the rescue efforts. OCHA’s head in the Gaza Strip, Jonathan Whittall, said on X on Monday that the team encountered hundreds of Palestinians fleeing under fire during the evacuation. “We witnessed a woman shot in the back of the head. When a young man tried to retrieve her, he too was shot. We were able to recover her body using our UN vehicle,” he added. The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said in response that after last week’s attack, army officials had been in contact with international organizations to coordinate the retrieval of the bodies, adding that the incident happened in an active combat zone. |
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Hamas threatens protesters, as new mass rallies against terror group held in Gaza
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| A Gaza family’s open admission this week that they killed an officer from the Hamas-run police force after they said a relative had been shot dead added to signs of popular dissent against the Palestinian terror group after 18 months of war with Israel. It drew a warning from the Hamas-run interior ministry that actions that undermined public order would not be tolerated. But following protests against Hamas by hundreds of demonstrators in northern Gaza last month, the incident underscored the increasing willingness of some Gaza civilians to voice criticism or act against Hamas, which has run the Palestinian enclave since overthrowing the rival Fatah faction in 2007. |
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Analysis | Trump’s Fight Against Antisemitism Has Become Fraught for Many Jews
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| Rabbi Sharon Brous was growing increasingly alarmed at the Trump administration’s strong-arm tactics, like its attacks on higher-education funding and bullying of law firms, all in the name of protecting Jews. So early last month, she delivered an impassioned sermon titled “I Am Not Your Pawn” to her Los Angeles congregation. Hours later, the next shoe dropped. Immigration agents began detaining activists and foreign students who had been involved in pro-Palestinian protests. “This is not going to protect Jews,” Rabbi Brous said in an interview. “We’re being used.” Across the country, American Jews have watched with alarm or enthusiasm as an effort to address campus unrest over the war in Gaza has transformed into a campaign to deny elite universities billions of dollars in funding, to press major law firms into pro bono work on “antisemitism” and to deport foreign students even tangentially involved in the protests last spring. |
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