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

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The Most Important Decision for Israel’s Future

Trump pledges $10 billion for Board of Peace in inaugural meeting on Gaza

The inaugural meeting of the Trump-led Board of Peace included a $10 billion pledge from Trump and $7 billion in additional pledges for relief and reconstruction in Gaza. Why it matters: The package of steps announced on Thursday, which also included plans to deploy thousands of soldiers and police for new security organizations in the enclave, appears to be the most ambitious U.S.-led security and humanitarian effort in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in at least a decade. But with the ceasefire still highly fragile, success hinges on Hamas’ willingness to start disarming and Israel’s willingness to facilitate and support the new government in Gaza and gradually withdraw its forces.

As Trump Considers Second Iran War, It Could Be Deadlier Than the First

President Trump is considering committing the United States to another military campaign against Iran, a decision that carries the risk of igniting a conflict that could prove to be longer, deadlier and far more dangerous than last year’s 12-day war… Now, the Pentagon is in the midst of the largest military buildup in the Middle East in two decades, and Mr. Trump is considering a far more expansive operation — this time led by U.S. forces — without saying publicly what he hopes to achieve. Would a campaign once again be focused on Iran’s nuclear sites? Would there be additional strikes to eviscerate Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal, which Iran has insisted it would not give up through negotiation? Or, could Mr. Trump’s goal be something he has often said was dangerous folly: using the military to remove a government in the Middle East from power? A war for regime change could lead to untold civilian deaths in Iran and a wider conflict across the region.

Israeli settlers kill 19-year-old Palestinian American, officials and witnesses say

Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank shot and killed a Palestinian American man during an attack on a village, the Palestinian Health Ministry and a witness said Thursday. Raed Abu Ali, a resident of Mukhmas, said a group of settlers came to the village Wednesday afternoon where they attacked a farmer, prompting clashes after residents intervened. Israeli forces later arrived, and during the violence armed settlers killed 19-year-old Nasrallah Abu Siyam and injured several others… Abu Siyam’s killing is the latest in a surge in violence in the occupied West Bank. Israeli forces and settlers killed 240 Palestinians last year, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Palestinians killed 17 Israelis over the same period, six of whom were soldiers. The Palestinian Authority’s Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission said Abu Siyam was the first Palestinian killed by settlers in 2026.

As Israel takes steps to claim land in West Bank, U.S. stands by

Israel has moved aggressively in recent days to deepen its control over the occupied West Bank, unilaterally adopting policies that analysts say represent a major shift toward annexation and appear to defy President Donald Trump, who has said he opposes annexation but has not publicly pushed back on the escalating Israeli measures. This month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet, in a closed-door meeting, adopted measures to make it easier for settlers to purchase land and circumvent the Palestinian Authority in areas it has controlled since a 1995 agreement under the Oslo accords. The move was widely condemned in the Arab world and globally as a violation of international law and an undoing of decades-old regional security agreements… Both Trump and the White House statement brushed over his opposition to annexation in vague terms, and neither referenced the accelerating measures by Israel to expand settlements.

Smotrich: Next government should ‘encourage migration’ of West Bank Palestinians

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich proclaimed Tuesday that he would work in his next term to “encourage migration” of Palestinians from the West Bank, as international condemnation of Israel’s recent measures in the area grows alongside unchecked settler violence. Speaking at an event held by his far-right Religious Zionism party with local settlement leaders, Smotrich laid out what he said should be the goals of the next government, including doing away with the 1990s-era Oslo Accords and applying Israeli sovereignty to the West Bank, a move akin to annexation.

Opinion | Netanyahu Plays Trump and American Jews for Fools — Again

“Let’s stop beating around the bush: Israel’s far-right government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is spitting in America’s face and telling us it’s raining. It’s not raining. Bibi is playing both President Trump and American Jews for fools. And if the U.S. lets him get away with it, we are fools. While keeping Trump focused on the Iranian missile and nuclear threat — which, though reduced, is still very real and will have to be dealt with diplomatically or militarily — Bibi is fundamentally threatening broader U.S. interests in the Middle East, not to mention the security of Jews all over the world.”

Opinion | Before striking Iran, Trump should answer these six questions

“With negotiations seemingly headed nowhere, a new conflict with Iran looks increasingly likely, if not inevitable. The United States has gathered the most air power in the Middle East since the 2003 Iraq war. A US military operation in Iran would likely be a massive, weeks-long campaign that would look more like a full-fledged war than the early January operation to remove Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro from power. At this moment, there’s no clarity on whether the United States will strike, what in Iran it would strike, or what might follow. In the absence of answers, it’s all the more important to ask the right questions.”

J STREET GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS NEWS DIGEST | February 20, 2026