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.

Today, Israel’s security cabinet approved plans to expand the war and seize full control of Gaza City, a move that defies military advice and edges the country closer to an open-ended, costly occupation. Germany’s decision today to halt arms exports to Israel that could be used in Gaza marks a significant milestone from one of Israel’s strongest backers in Western Europe. Against that backdrop, mass protests in Israel erupted nationwide after Hamas released videos showing visibly emaciated hostages, intensifying public outrage and demands for a ceasefire. In Gaza, aid convoys continue to face looting, gunfire, and attacks, including assaults by Israeli settlers on trucks bound for the territory. Tensions are also surging in the occupied West Bank, where a high-profile visit by US House Speaker Mike Johnson to Israeli settlements drew international condemnation.

You can find more on each of these developments and others below, along with 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
J Street’s Congressional Resource Page

This week on j street

Statement

J Street Calls for US Opposition to Netanyahu’s Disastrous Gaza Occupation Plan

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I Never Thought I’d Support Blocking an Arms Sale to Israel

Israeli Security Cabinet Approves Plan to Take Control of Gaza City

The Israeli government early on Friday approved a plan to expand the war by taking control of Gaza City, a pivotal and risky decision that went against the recommendations of the Israeli military. After 10 hours of deliberations, a majority of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet backed his proposal, according to a predawn statement from his office. … The goal, according to the statement, is to achieve a decisive victory over Hamas, which led the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that started the war. The plan also allows for the provision of humanitarian aid to the civilian population “outside the combat zones,” it said. The announcement appeared to stop short of explicitly saying Israel would take full control of the Gaza Strip, which Mr. Netanyahu earlier said was his intention.

Germany Says It Will Suspend Military Exports to Israel for Use in Gaza

Critical of Israel’s intention to occupy more of Gaza and under pressure from his center-left coalition partners, Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany said on Friday that Germany would not authorize any exports of military equipment that could be used in Gaza “until further notice.” Given the history of the Holocaust, Germany has made the survival of Israel one of its own basic principles of state. Mr. Merz, a conservative, made support for Israel a bedrock of his political campaign. So to suspend arms shipments to Israel is consequently a significant step and break with the postwar past, even if it is not expected to have a decisive impact on Israel’s ability to conduct future operations in Gaza.

Tens of thousands of Israelis rally after Gaza militants release videos showing emaciated captives

Tens of thousands of protestors joined a rally in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening to call for the hostages still held in Gaza to be freed following the release of propaganda videos showing two emaciated Israeli captives. Videos released by militant groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad this week showed Israeli hostages Evyatar David and Rom Braslavski in a visibly fragile state. In one video, David – looking extremely thin – is shown digging a hole for what he says is his own grave.

‘On the precipice of defeat’: 19 former defense chiefs demand end to Gaza war

More than a dozen former senior Israeli security officials issued a joint video message Sunday with a call to end the war in Gaza, arguing that Israel has racked up more losses than victories and that the fighting has dragged on for political reasons rather than strategic military need…. Many of those featured in the video have previously criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the coalition’s handling of the war. “Each of these people sat in cabinet meetings, operated in the inner circles, attended all the most sensitive decision-making processes,” a voiceover at the start of the video says by way of introduction. “Together, they have more than a thousand years’ experience in national security and diplomacy.”

Speaker Johnson visits Israeli settlement in occupied West Bank

House Speaker Mike Johnson visited a settlement in the occupied West Bank on Monday as part of a private visit to Israel organized by a pro-Israel advocacy group, according to two Israeli officials. Why it matters: While many Republican Congress members have visited West Bank settlements, it is highly unusual visit for a speaker of the house to do so. Johnson’s unannounced trip with a group of Republican lawmakers to Israel and was only made public after Israeli ministers issued statements about their meeting with the delegation. Marc Zell, an American-Israeli Republican activist, said Johnson was the highest-ranking US official to visit the West Bank settlements. He also quoted Johnson as saying the territory was the rightful property of the Jewish people.”

Hezbollah ministers walk out of cabinet meeting as Beirut approves US disarmament plan

The Lebanese government approved on Thursday the objectives of a US proposal that would ultimately lead to disarming the Hezbollah terror group. … Morcos stated that the principles to which Lebanon agreed also include “ensuring Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanese territory and the cessation of all hostilities, including ground, aerial and maritime violations,” as well as the establishment of a permanent border between Israel and Lebanon and between Syria and Lebanon, and that all countries mentioned must commit to the agreement. In a press conference following the cabinet meeting, Morcos was asked how Hezbollah’s disarmament would be carried out in light of the group’s refusal to cooperate. He responded that the decisions would be implemented in accordance with a plan to be submitted by the Lebanese Army by the end of August, which will include a timeline for disarmament by the end of 2025.

Jordan says ‘Israeli settlers’ attacked Gaza-bound aid convoy

Jordan said “Israeli settlers” attacked a Gaza-bound aid convoy on Wednesday in the second such incident in days, accusing Israel of failing to act firmly to prevent repeated assaults. The convoy, carrying 30 trucks of humanitarian aid, was delayed in its arrival in a violation of signed agreements, government spokesman Mohammad al-Momani told Reuters. “This requires a serious Israeli intervention and no leniency in dealing with those who obstruct these convoys,” Momani said.

Opinion | Israel Is Fighting a War It Cannot Win

The war that erupted after the Hamas-led massacre of October 7, 2023, has become the most transformative conflict in the Middle East since the Arab Spring. Yet more than 22 months after the Israel Defense Forces launched a campaign to destroy Hamas, Israel still has no defined political endgame. Negotiations over a cease-fire in Gaza have faltered, and Israel’s failure to envision the war’s “day after” has deepened a humanitarian catastrophe in the strip, which now includes worsening hunger. … Israel’s current government appears unable to change its approach, even though its principal military objective—to dismantle Hamas’s terror infrastructure—has largely been achieved. The absence of any long-term Israeli vision has left Israel, Gaza, and the broader region in a protracted state of chaos. Wars without a clear political goal cannot be won. They cannot be ended. The longer the vacuum in Israel’s planning persists, the more international actors will have to come together to prevent an even worse catastrophe than the one currently unfolding.

Opinion | The Trump Administration Tried to Silence Mahmoud Khalil, So I Asked Him to Talk

Across the 2024 election, Donald Trump and the people behind him said again and again that they were here to restore free speech to this country. Then they got power. And his administration came after speech in a way that the left never dared to do — never wanted to do…. you saw it as immigration agents begin yanking people off the streets — for the crime of nothing more than speech. Among the first of these people was Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian graduate student at Columbia who had been a leader in the school’s anti-Israel protests…. Khalil is out now on bail. He is still speaking. So I wanted to hear what he had to say.

J STREET GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS NEWS DIGEST | August 8, 2025