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

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Statement

J Street Condemns Israeli Cabinet Decisions That Expand Israeli Control Over the West Bank

Israel Is Quietly Annexing the West Bank

This move is only the latest development that has brought the West Bank to the brink of outright crisis. The PA could become functionally insolvent within months, ending the provision of basic services to millions of Palestinians and aborting a security-cooperation effort with Israel that, until now, has prevented widespread unrest.

Trump Says ‘Nothing Definitive’ Came Out of Meeting With Netanyahu on Iran

President Trump said he told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Wednesday that he “insisted that negotiations with Iran continue” over a possible deal over the country’s nuclear program, as the Middle East remained on edge over American threats to attack. Mr. Trump said in a post on social media that “nothing definitive” came out of his meeting with Mr. Netanyahu at the White House. He said he told the Israeli leader that he preferred a deal with Iran, but warned that without one, “we will just have to see what the outcome will be.”

Exclusive: Trump Plans to Announce Gaza Funding Plan, Troops at First Board of Peace Meeting, U.S. Officials Say

President Donald Trump will announce a multi-billion dollar reconstruction plan for Gaza and detail plans for a U.N.-authorized stabilization force for the Palestinian enclave at the first formal meeting of his Board of Peace next week, two senior U.S. officials said on Thursday. Delegations from at least 20 countries, including many heads of state, are expected to attend the meeting in Washington, D.C., which Trump will chair on February 19, the officials told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Hamas Would Keep Some Arms Initially in Draft Gaza Plan, Officials Say

The United States is demanding that Hamas surrender all weapons that are capable of striking Israel, but will allow the group to keep some small arms, at least initially, according to a draft plan, officials and people familiar with the proposal said. An American-led team, which includes Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law; Steve Witkoff, the U.S. special envoy for peace missions; and Nickolay Mladenov, a former senior United Nations official, intends to share the document with Hamas within weeks… If the militant group, still the most powerful Palestinian force in Gaza, does give up most of its weapons, it would be a breakthrough in diminishing Hamas’s monopoly on power.

Second U.S. Aircraft Carrier – Largest in the World – Sent to Mideast Amid Tensions With Iran, Source Says

The United States will send the world’s largest aircraft carrier to the Middle East to back up another already there, a person familiar with the plans said Friday, putting more American firepower behind U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to coerce Iran into a deal over its nuclear program. The USS Gerald R. Ford’s planned deployment to the Mideast comes after Trump on Thursday suggested another round of talks with the Iranians was at hand, with negotiations potentially being finalized over the next month. Those talks didn’t materialize as one of Tehran’s top security officials visited Oman and Qatar this week and exchanged messages with the U.S. intermediaries.

Netanyahu seeks to strip Palestinian citizens convicted of violent crimes of Israeli nationality

Israel asked a court Thursday to revoke the citizenship of two men convicted of terrorism offenses, in what appears to be the first test of a law allowing the deportation of Palestinian citizens convicted of certain violent crimes…Roughly one in five Israeli citizens is Palestinian… If the court moves ahead, it would make Israel one of the few nations — including Bahrain — to revoke citizenship of people born with the status in their country. Countries such as the United Kingdom and France have stripped dual or naturalized citizens of their citizenships over terrorism convictions, but international conventions generally bar states from taking away someone’s nationality if it would leave them stateless.

IDF readying new Gaza offensive to disarm Hamas by force

Four months into a ceasefire with Hamas, the Israeli military is drawing up plans for a renewed offensive in the Gaza Strip to disarm the terror group by force, The Times of Israel has learned…Should hostilities renew, fighting is liable to be more intense and more widespread than previous rounds, as Israeli forces will no longer be constrained by the presence of hostages on Gazan soil…Israel could still be constrained by the Trump administration, which has made the Gaza ceasefire a centerpiece of its Board of Peace initiative. Any renewal of large-scale fighting could upend Trump’s Gaza plan and threaten the support of its international backers.

A Pro-Israel Group’s Move Backfires as Gaza Tensions Flare in Midterms

The country’s most powerful pro-Israel lobbying group threw its financial might against a moderate Democratic House candidate in New Jersey who is a longtime supporter of the Jewish state but has said that U.S. military aid should not be unconditional. The move appeared to backfire. Instead, the group, the influential American Israel Public Affairs Committee, may have helped a pro-Palestinian progressive win the primary.

J STREET GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS NEWS DIGEST | February 13, 2026