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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 resources 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 both a Deputy Director of Government Affairs and a registered lobbyist position – please feel free to share with anyone who might be interested.
All the best,
Regev
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Regev (Rae) Ortal (she/her)
Senior Government Affairs Associate, J Street
mobile: (719) 301-8453 | [email protected]
Find J Street: Website | Facebook | Twitter
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This week on j street
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| ISSUE BRIEF |
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THE ESCALATION IN REGIONAL MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT SPARKED BY THE ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
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| STATEMENT |
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J STREET SUPPORTS ACCOUNTABILITY FOR ISRAELI GOVERNMENT ACTIONS IN INTERNATIONAL FORUMS AND IN THE US CONGRESS, REJECTS “GENOCIDE” CHARGE
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| WEBINAR |
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The Risk of Regional Escalation
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What we’re reading
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Biden “running out” of patience with Bibi as Gaza war hits 100 days
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| President Biden and other senior U.S. officials are becoming increasingly frustrated with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his rejection of most of the administration’s recent requests related to the war in Gaza… Biden hasn’t spoken to Netanyahu in the 20 days since a tense Dec. 23 call, which a frustrated Biden ended with the words: “This conversation is over”… In addition to the tax revenue issue, Biden and his advisers believe Israel isn’t doing enough to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza. They’re also frustrated by Netanyahu’s unwillingness to seriously discuss plans for the day after the war and his rejection of the U.S. plan for a reformed Palestinian Authority to have a role in post-Hamas Gaza. U.S. officials are now growing increasingly concerned that Israel won’t meet its timetable to transition to low-intensity operations in Gaza by the end of January, based on where things stand in Gaza, particularly in the southern city of Khan Younis. If Israel doesn’t significantly scale down its operations in Gaza — which U.S. officials have been pressing for in hopes of reducing Palestinian casualties — it will likely become increasingly difficult for Biden to maintain the same level of support for Israel’s military campaign.. The Biden administration is trying to change Netanyahu’s calculus by reviving efforts to reach a mega-deal with Saudi Arabia that would include a historic peace deal with Israel. |
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Senate Rejects Israel Human Rights Measure, but Skepticism on Aid Persists
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| When Hamas unleashed a bloody attack against Israel in October, there was a swift and strong bipartisan clamor of support in Congress for the United States to spare no expense in backing a robust military response by the Jewish state. More than 100 days later, that consensus on Capitol Hill shows signs of fraying, as left-wing Democrats alarmed by the rising human toll of the war in Gaza press to limit aid to Israel or impose strict conditions on it… It reached a peak on Tuesday, when the Senate voted on a resolution threatening to freeze all U.S. security aid to Israel unless the State Department produces a report within 30 days examining whether the country committed human rights violations in its conduct of the war. The Senate tabled the measure, forced to the floor by Senator Bernie Sanders, independent of Vermont, by a vote of 72 to 11. Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, joined Mr. Sanders and nine Democrats in voting to keep the resolution alive. The result highlighted fissures among Democrats about fulfilling President Biden’s request to send a fresh infusion of military aid to Israel, which some on the left say must be limited or otherwise conditioned on changing its approach to the war in Gaza. |
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Report: IDF chief worried Gaza battle gains will erode without a ‘day after’ strategy
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| Military chief Herzi Halevi has warned Israel’s leaders that gains made over three-plus months of fighting in Gaza could be squandered due to the lack of a plan for postwar management and security of the enclave, according to a report Monday. The alleged comments by Halevi in recent weeks were reflective of consternation among military analysts and others regarding the lack of preparation for a so-called “day after” in Gaza, as Israel winds down the intensive phase of its military campaign against the Hamas terror group, which has ruled the enclave since 2007 and which, though weakened, remains in power… Halevi also warned that the Israel Defense Forces “may need to go back and operate in areas where we have already concluded the fighting,” according to the channel. Gallant said Monday that the “intensive phase” of Israel’s ground offensive in northern Gaza has ended, and would soon be over in the Khan Younis area of the Strip’s south as well. But he also warned that “political indecision” regarding the future of Gaza “may harm the progress of the military operation.” “The future government in Gaza must grow from the Gaza Strip. Gaza will be ruled by Palestinians. The end of the military campaign must be anchored in policy,” he said. |
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A former Israeli hostage fears for the women she left behind in Gaza
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| As soon as Hamas gunmen abducted Agam Goldstein-Almog, 17, from her home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza on Oct. 7, they worked to dismantle her identity. They shuffled her between subterranean tunnels, abandoned apartments and a school that doubled as a rocket launching site, she said, covering her in a headscarf and a long dress and commanding her to look at the ground. She said they ordered her to recite Islamic prayers and renamed her Salsabil, the natural springs of paradise mentioned in the Quran. They allowed her to shower five times in 51 days, she said… With guns cocked, Agam said they warned her family — especially her 9- and 11-year-old brothers — against making noise. If Israel found out where they were hiding, she remembers the kidnappers saying, the military would kill them all. In her first interview with international media, Agam described the terror and confusion she endured over nearly two months as a hostage inside Gaza, held with her mother, Chen, and two brothers, Tal and Gal… She turned the conversation again and again to the more than 130 hostages still believed to be held captive in Gaza. The Red Cross has not been allowed to visit them. The youngest, Kfir Bibas, turns 1 this week. |
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Israel’s Army Drafted and Armed Thousands of Settlers. Accounts of Their Violence Are Piling Up
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| Al-Aza’s uniformed neighbors are only two out of thousands of settlers drafted into the reserves when the war broke out. About 5,500 residents of the settlements have been drafted into the ranks of “regional defense” battalions [“Hagmar” battalions in Hebrew] to serve in their settlements and near neighboring Palestinian villages. They are now serving as part of the IDF in the West Bank… About 7,000 people are serving in the battalions, according to a military source. They include members of the settlements’ local security squads drafted in an emergency call-up. Alongside this large-scale mobilization, the IDF has distributed some 7,000 weapons to the battalions as well as to settlers who were not recruited into the army but received them as civilians whom the army considers eligible to carry military arms… While the military seems to have little concern about the accelerated process, at least one settler who was drafted and given a gun previously admitted, in the context of a plea bargain, to assaulting a Palestinian and a left-wing activist. In another case, a military weapon was given to a settler who had admitted in a plea bargain to theft and to attacking Palestinians. In addition to these examples, settlers who are well-known to Palestinians and left-wing activists have also been drafted. Since these settlers started doing reserve duty in the West Bank, video and firsthand accounts have accumulated of their active involvement in violence, threats, and destruction of Palestinian property. In some cases, the IDF reacted by dismissing them or confiscating their weapons. Sometimes, it just said it has “tightened regulations.” |
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As famine looms in Gaza, aid delivery remains difficult and dangerous
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| Describing the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip in increasingly apocalyptic terms, aid agencies are urging Israel to ease the difficult and often dangerous process of delivering supplies to desperate Palestinians. Israel has embarked on a public campaign to defend its humanitarian record, blaming the United Nations and Hamas for the crisis… Aid agencies say the chief factors hampering the delivery of lifesaving assistance to Gazans fall almost entirely under Israel’s control — the Israeli inspection process for aid remains lengthy and inefficient; there aren’t enough trucks or fuel inside Gaza to distribute the aid; mechanisms to protect humanitarian workers are unreliable; and commercial goods have only just begun to trickle in. Large swaths of Gaza remain off-limits to aid workers. Frequent telecommunications blackouts complicate their work. And the war still rages… Under U.S. pressure, Israel opened a second crossing in December, at Kerem Shalom, where the inspection process moves faster. The World Food Program has also begun sending convoys from Jordan to Gaza via the West Bank and Israel. “That is some good news, but it’s important to recognize that it’s not a permanent solution,” said Steve Taravella, a senior WFP spokesman. “We need the opening of all border crossings for faster aid delivery.” Nine in 10 Gazans are eating less than one meal a day, the U.N. agency says. And winter cold is setting in. |
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Analysis | Israel-Hamas Hostage Deal Takes Back Seat Due to Netanyahu’s Political Calculations
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| The two main goals of the war in the Gaza Strip – dismantling Hamas’ capabilities and creating conditions for the return of the hostages – not only clash, but their timetables aren’t synchronized… On Monday, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant reiterated his claim that only continued military pressure on Hamas will lead to another hostage deal, and that without the IDF’s offensive, nothing would happen. A significant portion of the army brass shares this view, though most are less adamant than Gallant. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also keeps repeating his empty slogans (“we’ll fight until victory”), but in his case, this stems mainly from considerations of political survival. Netanyahu knows that despite the growing public support for a hostage deal that would include difficult concessions, such a deal would break up his government, because his far-right partners would likely quit over it. |
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Analysis | Israel-Hamas War Marks 100 Days. Force Cannot Remain the Only Way Forward
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| Israel and the world marked the 100th day of the war Sunday, but aside from its symbolic aspect and the way the number was leveraged for the media, it is not a watershed moment. For both Israelis and Palestinian public, the 101st day is expected to look very similar, as will the days that follow. They will include the continuation of the ground operations and the attacks in the Gaza Strip, which will bring additional death and destruction to the Palestinians living there. The steady drip of deaths on the Israeli side, primarily of soldiers, will also continue, as will the protests by the families of the hostages. In the north, the escalation with Hezbollah will likely continue, and in the West Bank Israeli security forces will expand their raids. Consequently, no one will be surprised if those 100 days quickly become 200. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says so explicitly… It’s high time to seek to end the war and to think about how it is possible for something to grow from the horror, despite our pain. To do this, we must demand the return of the hostages, even at the price of freeing every Palestinian prisoner in Israel, and launch an international process that will create an agenda for the future. |
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