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I hope you are doing well.
I’m writing to share important updates from the region, as well as J Street’s statements from this past week. As a reminder, you can always find our most recent statements on J Street crisis response page
I’m also happy to share that J Street is hiring for a registered lobbyist position – please feel free to share with anyone who might be interested.
All the best,
Hannah
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Hannah Morris
She/Her
Director of Government Affairs, J Street
Cell: 832-606-1817
J Street’s Congressional Resource Page
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This week on j street
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MOMENT OF TRUTH FOR ISRAEL’S GOVERNMENT: EITHER HEED BIDEN ADMINISTRATION LIMITS OR LOSE U.S. SUPPORT FOR MILITARY OPERATION
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J STREET WELCOMES THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION’S ANNOUNCEMENT OF VISA RESTRICTIONS AGAINST PERPETRATORS OF SETTLER VIOLENCE
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J STREET STATEMENT ON PASSAGE OF HOUSE RESOLUTION THAT STATES UNEQUIVOCALLY THAT ALL ANTI-ZIONISM IS ANTISEMITISM
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What we’re reading
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Biden Still Supports Israel’s Gaza War, but Limits Its Scope
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| Two months on from the October 7 massacre, the Biden administration is continuing to support Israel’s military offensive against Hamas in Gaza, but it has demanded and is receiving in return for that support a series of Israeli measures aimed at reducing harm to the Palestinian civilian population, particularly in the southern part of the Strip. Over the past few days, the war cabinet has agreed to a number of American requests such as allowing more humanitarian aid into Gaza, including fuel, and accepting certain restrictions on the scale of IDF actions south of the Gaza River… Within the framework of the dialogue between the administration and the war cabinet, which includes Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and Gantz, Eisenkot, and Dermer, the Americans have made two categories of demands from Israel: immediate requests concerning the fighting ongoing in Gaza and coordination of positions on the issue of the day after the war. As far as the war is concerned, it seems so far that Israel has accepted most of the administration’s demands, even if in some cases, implementation has been slower than Washington would like to see. |
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Israeli cabinet approves increasing amount of fuel allowed into Gaza
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| The Israeli security cabinet approved increasing the amount of fuel that Israel allows into Gaza, the Israeli Prime Minister’s office said on Wednesday. The decision comes as Israeli Defense Forces push into southern Gaza and fighting intensifies around the city of Khan Younis… Israeli officials said the decision was made after strong pressure from the Biden administration. Israel will allow in “the minimal amount of fuel that is needed to prevent a humanitarian collapse and breakout of disease in southern Gaza,” according to the cabinet decision. An Israeli official said Israel will increase the amount of fuel that enters Gaza from 60,000 liters per day to 120,000 liters — the amount that entered Gaza during the 7-day ceasefire that ended on Dec. 1. The cabinet decision said this “minimal amount” will be periodically re-assessed by the war cabinet according to the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Israeli minister for strategic affairs Ron Dermer said in the cabinet meeting that “it is critical” to approve the decision on the fuel supply “in order for the Biden administration to continue giving backing to Israel’s military operation in southern Gaza,” an Israeli official who attended the meeting told Axios. The U.S. had called for Israel to allow 180,000 liters of fuel into Gaza. |
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Israel orders evacuations as it widens offensive, but Palestinians are running out of places to go
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| Israeli warplanes heavily bombarded an area around Khan Younis in southern Gaza on Monday as the military ordered mass evacuations from the town in the face of a widening ground offensive that is pushing Palestinians into a progressively shrinking portion of the besieged territory. The expanded assault posed a deadly choice for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians — either stay in the path of Israeli forces or flee within the confines of southern Gaza with no guarantee of safety. Aid workers warned that the mass movement would worsen the already dire humanitarian catastrophe in the territory… Airstrikes and the ground offensive in northern Gaza have reduced large swaths of Gaza City and nearby areas to a rubble-filled wasteland. Hundreds of thousands of residents fled south during the assault. Now around 2 million people — most of the territory’s population — are crowded into the 230 square kilometers (90 square miles) of southern and central Gaza, where Israel’s ground offensive is now moving, threatening to render even larger areas uninhabitable. |
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As Israel-Hamas war expands, U.S. pledges more aid for Palestinians, including a field hospital inside Gaza
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| The U.S. plans to help establish a field hospital inside the war-torn Gaza Strip for civilians wounded amid the conflict between Israel and Hamas, the U.S. Agency for International Development announced Tuesday. USAID Administrator Samantha Power made the announcement — part of a new $21 million aid pledge for Gaza and the West Bank — as she arrived on a U.S. military plane carrying humanitarian supplies that flew into Egypt on the 60th day of the war, which looked set to expand after a brief cease-fire. The plane — the second military flight to deliver U.S. humanitarian assistance for Gaza since the conflict was sparked by Hamas’ brutal Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel — ferried some 36,000 pounds of food and medical supplies to the northeast Egyptian city of El-Arish, about 30 miles from the Rafah border crossing into Gaza. It was not immediately clear when USAID hoped the new field hospital would be up and running, what other nations or organizations were helping to fund it, or exactly where in southern Gaza it would be located. The agency told CBS News it would be staffed by personnel from nongovernmental organizations working in partnership with the U.S. government. |
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Analysis | Who will run Gaza after the war? U.S. searches for best of bad options
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| The Israelis say they don’t want the job. Arab nations are resisting. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas might volunteer, but the Palestinian people probably don’t want him. As the Biden administration begins to plan for “the day after” in Gaza — confronting problematic questions such as who runs the territory once the shooting stops, how it gets rebuilt and, potentially, how it eventually becomes a part of an independent Palestinian state — the stakeholders face a host of unattractive options. On a trip to Israel and the West Bank last week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken sought to advance those discussions, but there were few easy answers. The Biden administration is pushing to install a “revitalized” Palestinian Authority as Gaza’s administrator, but it is an unpopular idea with the Israeli government and even among many Palestinians. U.S. officials acknowledge the challenge, but say the group is the best, and perhaps the only, solution among a list of worse options, which include a return to direct Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip. |
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Analysis | Why Arab States Must Lead on Gaza
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| With their varied domestic concerns in mind, the Big Five are using whatever leverage they have to shape the actions of Hamas, Israel, and the United States… Although these separate efforts are promoting the interests of each country, much more could be accomplished if the Big Five pooled their resources, focusing on coordination rather than perfect alignment. The goal should be to jumpstart negotiations involving these countries plus Hamas, Israel, and the United States. The Big Five would be actively involved, but with a more equitable balance of power for themselves vis-à-vis Israel and the United States. They should insist on relaunching the peace process as a precondition for Israel’s normalization with Saudi Arabia so as to preserve Saudi Arabia’s credibility and status. And they should insist on a political rather than a military solution for containing Hamas. This means implementing the Saudi-led proposal that came out of the joint Arab League–OIC summit calling for the establishment of a Palestinian political coalition under the umbrella of the Palestine Liberation Organization. But this can only succeed if the United States agrees to cooperate with Saudi Arabia and the UAE on a long-term strategy for containing Iran’s regional interventions. |
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Opinion | Israel’s war against Hamas is just, but it must be fought justly
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| As Israel’s closest friend and security partner, the United States has a strong interest in making certain Israel’s response prioritizes securing the return of all hostages and ensuring Hamas no longer poses a military threat… The United States is not a bystander here. Israel is the largest annual recipient of U.S. security assistance, totaling more than $39 billion over the past 10 years alone. And right now, bombs and artillery made in America and paid for by Americans are being used in Gaza. The U.S. government has an obligation to the American people to ensure that our tax dollars are used in a manner that aligns with our interests and values. No foreign government should be exempt from that principle, not even a close friend and partner such as Israel. Ensuring these standards are upheld — and providing the mechanisms to monitor them — should not be controversial. It is in our strategic best interest and in the best interest of Israel and all our partners. Even during this bleak time in Israel and Gaza, we must keep one eye on the future and the need not only to prevent a regional war that could burn for more than a decade but also to advance a political solution to enable millions of Israelis and Palestinians living side by side to do so in peace and dignity. How that future unfolds will depend on how the war in Gaza proceeds — and how it ends. As Israel’s closest friend, we have an outsize role to play in that story. |
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