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I hope you are doing well.
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 this whirlwind week. This week, American allies condemned President Trump’s plan to relocate Gazans; the status of Phase II of the ceasefire negotiations remained unclear, as Israelis await the release of three more hostages; and the USAID funding freeze imperiled critical humanitarian work in Gaza. You can find more on each of these topics below, and you can always find our most recent statements here.
Additionally, you can read J Street’s statement on this week’s barrage of Trump Administration Executive Orders here.
I invite you to reach out to your J Street Public Affairs staff with any questions.
All the best,
Lily
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Lily Adelstein
She/Her
Deputy Director of Government Affairs, J Street
Cell: 202-699-2701
J Street’s Congressional Resource Page
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This week on j street
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| STATEMENT |
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Trump’s Executive Actions Weaken US Influence Undermine Our Interests
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| WEBINAR |
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Emergency Briefing: Trump’s Horrific Vision for Gaza
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| STATEMENT |
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J Street Condemns Illegal, Destabilizing Power Grab Against Foreign Assistance and USAID That Threatens Middle East Ceasefires and US Global Leadership
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What we’re reading
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Israel minister tells army to plan for Palestinians leaving Gaza
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| Israel’s defence minister has told its military to prepare a plan to “allow any resident of Gaza who wishes to leave to do so”, in line with President Donald Trump’s proposal for the US to take over the territory and resettle its 2.1 million Palestinians elsewhere. Israel Katz said Gazans should have “freedom of movement and migration” and countries critical of Israel’s war with Hamas were “obligated” to take them in. Israel controls the movement of people into and out of Gaza. Trump meanwhile said Gaza would be “turned over” to the US by Israel “at the conclusion of fighting”. But the Palestinian presidency reiterated its rejection of the plan, which it has said would violate international law, and insisted that “Palestine… is not for sale”. |
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U.S.A.I.D. Turmoil Threatens Key Aid Supplies to Gaza, Officials Say
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| The Trump administration’s efforts to downsize the United States Agency for International Development have endangered the funding for food, tents and medical treatment for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza, according to U.S. officials and workers for humanitarian groups funded by the agency. Officials said that the threats to the aid supply chain risked destabilizing the fragile cease-fire agreement between Hamas and Israel, which is contingent on the weekly entry of 4,200 aid and commercial trucks to the territory. With almost all U.S.A.I.D. staff set to be placed on administrative leave by Friday night, there will be only a handful of officials left to sign off on and audit hundreds of millions of dollars in outstanding payments to the agency’s partners on the ground in Gaza, raising alarm about how those groups will fund their operations. |
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Three more hostages due to be freed on Saturday amid uncertainty over deal’s future
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| Hamas is expected to release a fifth batch of Israeli captives on Saturday as part of the hostage release and ceasefire deal, as US President Donald Trump’s controversial proposal to relocate Palestinians from Gaza fueled further uncertainty on whether the multiphase agreement will hold up. A list of the three hostages to be released is expected in Israel by 4 p.m. on Friday. According to Channel 12 news, Israel is pressuring mediators to secure the release of Shiri Bibas and her young sons, Ariel, 4, and Kfir, 2. Hamas has violated the deal by releasing captive female troops and male civilians before the children and their mother, and Israel has said it has “grave concern” for their lives. The father, Yarden Bibas, was released last Saturday. |
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Angry’, ‘numb’ – Palestinian Americans on Trump’s Gaza comments
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| Laila El-Haddad, a Palestinian-American author and activist, said she was “stunned”. “It was appalling,” the Maryland resident told the BBC. “It just showed an utter sort of callous disdain and disregard for Palestinian lives and Palestinian humanity and Palestinian dignity, like it’s as though they’re just a pawn that are being played around with,” she continued. “He was talking about Palestinians as though, again, they existed in some vacuum, as though they had just been the unfortunate victims of some natural disaster.” |
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Countering Trump, Saudi Arabia says no Israel normalization without Palestinian state
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| Saudi Arabia reiterated its stance against normalizing relations with Israel before a two-state solution has been reached, after US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Riyadh has not made the establishment of a Palestinian state a condition for a peace deal with Israel. A statement from Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry said the kingdom’s stance in favor of a Palestinian state on the pre-1967 lines with East Jerusalem as its capital is “firm and unwavering.” The statement was issued after 4 a.m. in Riyadh, demonstrating the urgency with which the kingdom felt in responding to Trump. |
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West Bank? No, Judea and Samaria, Some Republicans Say.
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| Donald J. Trump’s return to power as president has bolstered right-wing lawmakers in Israel and the United States who support Israeli annexation of the West Bank, an occupied territory long seen by Palestinians and the international community as part of an eventual Palestinian state. On Friday, Republican lawmakers in the House and Senate introduced bills that would bar the use of the term “West Bank” in United States government documents and materials, replacing the phrase with “Judea and Samaria,” the biblical names for the region that are widely used in Israel and the administrative name used by the state to describe the area. The linguistic proposition is aimed at strengthening and supporting Israel’s historical claim to territory that it captured from Jordan in the 1967 war and has occupied militarily ever since. And it comes as the Israeli military has been conducting intense raids in the area, which it says are intended to eradicate terrorism. |
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Opinion | Here’s How Trump Can Make a Strong Deal With Iran
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| “Donald Trump built his reputation as the ultimate dealmaker—someone who turns chaos into opportunity and delivers results where others fall short. Now, with the Middle East still reeling from tenuously paused conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon and U.S.–Iran tensions at a critical juncture, Trump has the chance to cement his place in history by achieving what no president before him could: a bold, transformative deal with Iran. Such a deal would not just stabilize a turbulent region, but could unlock economic opportunities for American workers, bolster U.S. security, and showcase Trump’s unique ability to outmaneuver the Washington establishment and deliver a historic win… Such a deal wouldn’t just accomplish Trump’s vital goal of preventing Iran from ever acquiring a nuclear weapon—it would also keep America out of another endless, costly war, fulfilling Trump’s inaugural speech promise to avoid the disastrous foreign entanglements of past administrations.” |
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Analysis | Axis of Alarm: How Trump’s Plan to Expel Gazans Is Uniting Arab States – and threatening Israel
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| “With a few smug and self-assured words, U.S. President Donald Trump thrust the Israeli-Palestinian conflict back into the heart of international discourse, pulling the Gaza Strip out of the “humanitarian disaster” category and turning it into a symbol of national “steadfastness.”In doing so, he fostered a new sense of Arab unity – not just to defend the Palestinians, but primarily to shield Arab states from the conflict spilling over into their territory.” |
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