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 the past week.

This week, Trump’s Board of Peace dominated global headlines, raising questions about its participants, mission, scope, and potential impact on conditions on the ground in Gaza. As the world rushed to untangle these developments, the recently established Gaza technocratic committee remained blocked from entering the Strip, while U.S.-backed technocrat Ali Shaath announced that the Rafah crossing would finally reopen next week. J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami outlined the political implications of these moves in his weekly Substack, while J Street policy fellow Larry Garber examined Israel’s deregistration of international aid organizations and the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza in the Policy Center’s latest publication. Meanwhile, in the US, the assault on free speech continued, with reports that the Department of Homeland Security cited students’ writings and protest activity in deportation decisions.

You can find more on each of these developments and others below, along with 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

Substack

The Good, The Ugly and The Insane of This Week’s White House Gaza Announcements

Word on the Street

ICYMI: Another Boring Week? Not Here!

Expert Analysis

Israel’s Deregistration of International Aid Organizations

Europe backs away from Trump’s Board of Peace

European leaders rushed to praise Donald Trump’s announcement of a peace deal in the Middle East. Now they’re not so sure they want anything to do with it… In particular, skeptics point out that the board’s charter makes no direct reference to Gaza and appears to hand it a broad mandate to resolve global conflicts which some fear could effectively create a shadow United Nations. The decision to invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to participate has in particular unnerved America’s traditional allies on the continent, and countries seeking a permanent seat on the peace board have been asked to contribute at least $1 billion to participate, creating another political obstacle.

Israel Blocks Entry of Committee Meant to Run Gaza Under Trump Plan, Palestinians Say

Israel is refusing to allow members of the Palestinian committee set to administer Gaza to enter it, Palestinian sources said. The committee was set to enter the territory through the Rafah Crossing this week and take over the civilian administration by the week’s end. Committee members continue to meet in Cairo, and representatives of mediating countries, particularly Egypt, are working with the United States to approve their entry to Gaza by the end of the month. Given Israel’s refusal to admit them into Gaza, sources involved in committee discussions in Cairo said they do not know when and how they will begin work on the ground.

D.H.S. Cited Foreign Students’ Writings and Protests Before Their Arrests

Secretary of State Marco Rubio personally approved the deportation of five student activists last year after receiving memos largely describing their participation in pro-Palestinian protests and their writings about the war in Gaza, according to internal government documents unsealed by a federal judge on Thursday. The documents reveal new details about how the Trump administration decided to target the activists, who were all foreign students visible in campus protests. They had been in the United States legally but were arrested and threatened with deportation last spring.

Gaza’s Rafah crossing with Egypt to open next week, Palestinian official says

Gaza’s border crossing with Egypt will reopen next week after largely being shut during the Israel-Hamas war, the Palestinian technocrat leader backed by Washington to administer the enclave announced on Thursday… A key unfulfilled element of the ceasefire, brokered by Trump in October, has been the reopening of Gaza’s main gateway to the world to allow the entry and exit of Palestinians. “I am pleased to announce the Rafah crossing will open next week in both directions. For Palestinians in Gaza, Rafah is more than a gate. It is a lifeline and symbol of opportunity,” Shaath said. “Opening Rafah signals that Gaza is no longer closed to the future and to the war,” Shaath said. There was no immediate comment from Israel, which has controlled the Rafah crossing since 2024.

Israel Razed UNRWA’s East Jerusalem HQ, Now It’s Planning to Build 1,400 Housing Units on the Site

The Israeli government plans to build some 1,400 housing units on an East Jerusalem site used by the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA, after its buildings were demolished early on Tuesday. The compound, which served as UNRWA’s headquarters in the Ma’alot Dafna neighborhood near Sheikh Jarrah, will now come under state management. The authority said another UNRWA compound in the Kafr Aqab area of Jerusalem is also slated for evacuation in the near future, in accordance with the law.

How Israel moved its ‘Yellow Line’ deeper into a shattered Gaza City neighbourhood

As Israel moved the blocks marking its armistice line with Hamas deeper into one Gaza neighbourhood in December, it destroyed dozens of buildings and displaced Palestinians in violation of a U.S.-backed ceasefire deal, according to satellite imagery reviewed by Reuters and resident testimony. In areas across Gaza, Israel has placed the concrete blocks meant to demarcate its “Yellow Line” dozens or sometimes hundreds of metres inside Hamas-controlled territory, and its military has built up at least six fortifications to station troops, the satellite imagery shows. The imagery depicts how Israel has unilaterally shifted its line of control in Gaza — and cordoned off more land where Palestinians could live — even as President Donald Trump presses ahead with a ceasefire plan that calls for further Israeli troop withdrawals.

Opinion | How Trump Uses the Oval Office to Flex Power on the World Stage

“During the first year of his second term, President Trump used the Oval Office in a way his predecessors haven’t, as a veritable reality show with a revolving cast of world leaders. More than 40 international leaders made the trek to Washington to meet with the American president last year, many with the cameras rolling. There were ambushes, threats, obsequious displays and the realignment of longstanding American foreign policy. Where previous presidents would have briefly posed for a photo before getting down to business behind closed doors, Mr. Trump relished the spectacle of the lengthy exchanges in front of the press in an Oval Office he has redecorated in gold.”

Baby dies from cold in Gaza as leaders meet to discuss Trump’s Board of Peace

A Palestinian baby died from hypothermia on Tuesday in the Gaza Strip, underscoring the grim humanitarian conditions in the territory as world leaders were gathering at a Swiss resort where U.S. President Donald Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan is high on the agenda… The family is among hundreds of thousands of people sheltering in tent camps and war-battered buildings in Gaza which experiences cold, wet winters, with temperatures dropping below 10 degrees Celsius (50 Fahrenheit) at night… Shaza Abu Jarad was the ninth child to die from severe cold this winter in Gaza, according to the strip’s health ministry, part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. The U.N. and independent experts consider it the most reliable source on war casualties. Israel disputes its figures but has not provided its own.

J STREET GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS NEWS DIGEST | January 23, 2026