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J Street Government Affairs News Digest | August 26, 2022

 

Government Affairs News Digest
Welcome to J Street’s weekly news digest for Hill staffers, with all the news you need to catch up on developments related to Israel, the occupied Palestinian territories, and related issues in the Middle East.

Topping the news this week are revelations regarding the existence of a classified CIA report which shows the agency was unable to find any evidence to support Israel’s decision ten months ago to label six prominent Palestinian NGOs as “terrorist organizations.” The CIA’s determination follows the provision of dossiers of purported evidence against the civil society groups by Israel, and it complements the findings of European governments that were shown the same dossiers and concluded that Israel’s highly consequential move against the NGOs was unwarranted. Regardless, the Israeli government has escalated its persecution against the Palestinian groups (as we reported in last week’s news digest), raiding their offices, sealing shut their doors, and summoning their directors for military interrogation.

This week we’ve got a lot of content for you related to the excellent news that a deal to restore mutual US and Iranian compliance with the JCPOA, reimposing effective limits and inspections of Iran’s nuclear program that has galloped ahead disastrously since the previous administration’s withdrawal from the nuclear deal, appears increasingly likely. Earlier today, you should have received a 2-pager (“Topline Facts on the Iran Deal”) from one of my colleagues. Here, you’ll find additional content from Iran Diplomacy Works and news, analysis and FAQs on the effort to revive the Iran deal.

As always, you can find our Congressional briefing book, background information on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, recordings of previous briefings and more at J Street’s Congressional Resource Page.

Let me know if you have any questions or would like further information.

All the best,
Debra


Debra Shushan, PhD
Director of Policy, J Street
mobile: (757) 746-0366 | [email protected] | @DrShushan

This week on j street

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STATEMENT

US JEWISH ORGANIZATIONS LETTER URGING SECRETARY BLINKEN TO ADDRESS ISRAEL’S PERSECUTION OF PALESTINIAN CIVIL SOCIETY

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IRAN DIPLOMACY WORKS

Restoring Obama’s Iran Deal Could Cap Biden’s Winning Streak

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IRAN DIPLOMACY WORKS

Security Groups Praise Biden for Closing in on Iran Deal

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What we’re reading

CIA unable to corroborate Israel’s ‘terror’ label for Palestinian rights groups

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A classified CIA report shows the agency was unable to find any evidence to support Israel’s decision to label six prominent Palestinian NGOs as “terrorist organizations”… Israel claimed that the organizations were front groups for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a leftist political party that has a paramilitary branch. Numerous states, including allies of Israel, have rejected the terror designation as unfounded… The United States has not publicly criticized or questioned it, but neither has it placed the groups under a US terror designation. In light of the CIA’s assessment, “the United States should very clearly call on the Israeli government to reverse these designations, and to allow these organizations to continue their vital work,” said Omar Shakir, Israel/Palestine director of Human Rights Watch.
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U.S. presses Israel to keep promise on border crossing

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…Biden announced during his visit to the region last month that Israel had agreed to facilitate 24/7 access for Palestinians to the Allenby Bridge by Sept. 30. But senior Israeli officials expect to miss that deadline.The bridge is currently closed between 11:30pm and 8am Sunday to Thursday, and closes at 3:30pm on Friday and Saturday. Palestinians have had to wait many hours or even days to cross during a recent period of heavy travel. Since Biden’s trip, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides has been pushing the Israelis to implement the policy, and he even visited the bridge himself. During the visit, Nides asked representatives of the Israel Airports Authority, which manages the bridge, whether the border crossing would be ready to operate 24/7 by Sept. 30 and was surprised when the answer was no…. The situation created tensions between the Transport and Defense ministries… “The Ministry of Defense gave empty promises to the U.S. without asking us,” a senior Transport official told Axios… Both ministries acknowledge that the issue has been a diplomatic embarrassment for Israel with the Biden administration.
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Police close case against settler suspected of killing Palestinian in June

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…Palestinian witnesses said Ali Hassan Harb, a 27-year-old engineer, was stabbed in the chest by a settler on the outskirts of his hometown of Iskaka in the northern West Bank on June 21. A group of Israelis had arrived in the area with construction materials in an apparent attempt to build a new illegal outpost. “Despite the abundance of evidence that reinforces the suspicion of premeditated murder by the settler, and contradicts his claim that he acted in self-defense, the prosecutor’s office announced today that the case is expected to be closed due to a lack of evidence, without an indictment against the suspect,” the Yesh Din rights group said in a statement. Yesh Din railed against the investigation, which it said included “intimidation and threats against Ali Harb’s family members and other witnesses,” referring to three Palestinians who were arrested after they allegedly participated in the confrontation. Israeli officials told The Times of Israel last year that Jewish extremist violence in the West Bank was on the rise. The number of attacks rose in 2021 by nearly 50 percent, according to the Shin Bet.
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Israeli Army Suspends Soldiers Caught on Camera Beating Palestinians

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The Israeli Army suspended four soldiers on Wednesday who were recorded on video beating Palestinians near Ramallah. The Netzah Yehuda Battalion — made up of former ultra-Orthodox Jews who have left the yeshiva hilltop youth and others from low-income families — has long been at the center of controversy regarding soldiers’ treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank, with numerous reports documenting misconduct by the battalion’s soldiers in the West Bank in recent years. An elderly Palestinian American died shortly after being detained by soldiers at an impromptu check point this past January. A military report had said that the death showed a grave “moral lapse” by the soldiers involved in the incident. Army Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi condemned the soldiers’ behavior on Wednesday and said the incident was “extremely serious and goes against the values of the army.” Kochavi said the soldiers involved in the incident “do not deserve to be soldiers,” and emphasized that they will be disciplined accordingly.
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Tel Aviv allowing kids to see Israel’s actual border shouldn’t be controversial

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When the schoolkids of Tel Aviv return from summer vacation, they are likely to find something utterly unfamiliar taped or tacked to a wall of their classrooms, something that reveals a secret that educators have long hidden from them: A map showing the Green Line, the border between Israel and the occupied territory… The national Education Ministry — under right-wing Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton — issued an angry response… Only the government’s own map agency is authorized to produce maps, the ministry spokesperson said, and Tel Aviv’s maps are not approved for classroom use. Arieli persisted: The maps will go up… Tel Aviv’s new school maps also show the “border of sovereignty,” which takes in the Golan and East Jerusalem but otherwise matches the Green Line. Together the two lines are essential for understanding Israel’s political, security and foreign policy issues. Yet official maps and textbooks don’t show them. Hence, Tel Aviv city hall’s move is revolutionary. It un-cancels the borders of the country.
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Sharper Israeli-Palestinian Strife Is Sign of Worse to Come

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…The Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories seized in 1967 — East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip — with no political horizon for ending it, has ensured a steady radicalization among Palestinian factions… Conditions have long been ripe for the rise of a more radical faction, and the Iranian- backed PIJ has been vying for that role for years. This latest bout of radicalization of the Palestinian national movement may not be surprising, but that does not make it any less dangerous. And there is a great deal the outside world can and must do to contain and reverse it. The PA and the PLO have been made to look ridiculous and ineffective as their policies of negotiations and security cooperation with Israel have resulted in no major gains since 1996. That’s a huge boon for all extremists. They need to be strengthened with greater economic support, more diplomatic recognition — including the restoration of the US consulate in East Jerusalem and the PLO mission in Washington — and an end to constant, often abusive Israeli raids into PA-controlled areas, which have been condemned by international human rights groups… Without such measures, just as Hamas rose to challenge the PLO, the PIJ will continue to bedevil and challenge Hamas, with increasing success. The death toll among Israelis and Palestinians will incrementally rise until the next, and inevitable, explosion of massive and sustained violence.
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EDITORIAL: Israel’s High Court of Justice Refuses to Free Those in Administrative Detention

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When it comes to administrative detention – one of the most aggressive governmental tactics imaginable, being a form of detention without trial – it’s impossible to rely on the High Court of Justice. According to a Haaretz investigation, the court hasn’t granted even a single petition to cancel an administrative detention order since the start of the year. And the Association for Civil Rights in Israel can’t remember any cases in which it did – not just this year, but ever… The fact that the court serves as a rubber stamp for the Shin Bet security service and the Israel Defense Forces with regard to administrative detentions is especially worrisome given the wholesale use Israel makes of this draconian tactic. The number of detainees being held in Israeli jails without trial reached 723 last week, the highest since 2008. Eleven of the detainees are Arab citizens or residents of Israel; the rest are Palestinians. Not one of them is Jewish.
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U.S. reacts to Iranian comments on draft nuclear deal

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The U.S. and Iran are closing in on an agreement to restore the 2015 nuclear deal after almost 17 months of negotiations… A person familiar with the U.S. response said it focused on the issue of economic guarantees. The person declined to give details, but said the response “falls short of Iran’s expectations. So now we have to see if they realize this is as good as it gets or decide to push for more.”… Western officials say that a number of technical questions related to economic guarantees and sanctions remain open but that other main sticking points have been resolved, making an agreement more likely. But they still cautioned that it would require tough political decisions both in Washington and Tehran in order to close a deal… Even if the U.S. lifts nuclear-related sanctions under a new deal, numerous other American sanctions on Iran would remain, targeting the country over its support for terrorist groups and human rights abuses… Even if an agreement on restoring the nuclear deal is reached in the coming days, there may still be pitfalls ahead for its full implementation.
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Iran drops another key demand as prospects for revived nuclear deal increase

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Iran has dropped another key demand related to nuclear inspections as negotiations continue over reviving the Iran nuclear deal, a senior administration official tells CNN. It’s a development that could make a breakthrough more likely after Tehran dropped another key request last week. Iran had previously demanded that as a condition of re-entering the deal… the International Atomic Energy Agency had to close its investigation of undeclared nuclear material found at Iranian sites in 2019. But Iran has now dropped that demand, the senior administration official said on Tuesday. As CNN reported last week, Iran has also officially dropped its longtime demand that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps be removed from the State Department’s list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. The Iranians also dropped demands related to delisting several companies tied to the IRGC… On Monday, the US State Department spokesperson expressed optimism about the prospects for reviving the deal. “A deal is closer now than it was two weeks ago, but the outcome of these ongoing discussions still remains uncertain as gaps do remain,” Ned Price said at a State Department briefing.
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Why Biden Sees Iran Nuclear Deal ‘Sunsets’ As No Obstacle to Arms Control

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As the United States and Iran deliberate on what appears to be the final stretch toward deciding the fate of their 2015 nuclear deal with major world powers, President Joe Biden’s administration has defended the landmark accord’s sunset clauses as a routine aspect of non-proliferation diplomacy that can be renewed once the accord is back on track. Even more, a core tenet of the deal would remain in place indefinitely. But with the agreement still now in limbo, a White House National Security Council spokesperson told Newsweek that the present nuclear landscape is far more volatile. “Let me be clear: under the current situation, the sun has already set,” the spokesperson said. “Our aim is [to] restore Iran’s compliance with that deal,”… “The focus on sunsets is a red herring. The deal blocks every pathway to a weapon.” …should the agreement be revived, the Biden administration has argued there would be ample time to negotiate further arrangements… And while these expiration dates have proven contentious among JCPOA detractors, such measures are relatively commonplace for bilateral nuclear agreements.
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