J STREET GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS NEWS DIGEST | January 24, 2025

January 24, 2025

 

Government Affairs News Digest
I hope you are doing well.

I’m writing to you as a J Street advocacy leader 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, and I invite you to reach out to your J Street Public Affairs staff with any questions.

As always, 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
J Street’s Congressional Resource Page

This week on j street

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STATEMENT

J Street Welcomes Long-Overdue, Much-Needed Hostage Release and Ceasefire Deal

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STATEMENT

J Street Appalled by Surge in Post-Ceasefire West Bank Settler Violence

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POLICY CENTER ANALYSIS

THE ISRAEL-LEBANON CEASEFIRE MUST HOLD

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POLICY CENTER EXPLAINER

EXPLAINER: THE RESIGNATION OF IDF CHIEF HERZI HALEVI AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR THE GAZA WAR

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What we’re reading

Gaza at Last Welcomes More Aid. It Needs a Deluge.

In the week since a cease-fire agreement stopped the fighting in Gaza, Palestinians in Gaza and aid officials say that more food deliveries and other much-needed items are streaming in. The question now is how to maintain the level of aid they say Gaza needs, despite many logistical challenges and uncertainties over how long the truce will hold.
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Hamas names four Israeli female soldier hostages to be freed in second swap

Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy and Liri Albag would be released on Saturday, the group said…The release of the first three hostages last week brought an emotional response from Israelis. But the phased release has drawn protests from some Israelis who fear the deal will break down after women, children, elderly and ill hostages are freed in the first phase, condemning male hostages of military age whose fate is not to be resolved until later.
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Despite truce, Israel has damaged or destroyed hundreds of buildings in Lebanon

The Israel Defense Forces launched near-daily strikes on Hezbollah’s stronghold during that period, according to the data and imagery. But it’s unclear whether these military actions constitute violations of the ceasefire because the U.S.-led committee to monitor the deal has yet to define what counts as a violation of the truce, diplomats said.…In a country that was shattered economically before the war, rebuilding presents an enormous challenge. “We’re tolerating it for the 60 days, but after that it’s not acceptable,” a senior Lebanese official said of Israel’s military operations. “We’re a small country. We’re not going to declare war on Israel,” the official said, adding that Hezbollah will “reemerge to resist violations if the occupation continues and if the violations continue.”
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Suspected settlers attacked Palestinian villages hours before Trump rescinded Biden sanctions

Shortly after suspected Jewish settlers stormed Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank late Monday, setting cars and property ablaze, U.S. President Donald Trump canceled sanctions against Israelis accused of violence in the territory. The reversal of the Biden administration’s sanctions, which were meant to punish radical settlers, could set the tone for a presidency that is expected to be more tolerant of Israel’s expansion of settlements and of violence toward Palestinians.
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The Coming Iranian Nuclear Challenge in 2025

In the last several months of 2024, Iran took steps that dramatically expanded its capacity to enrich uranium and its production of uranium that’s enriched to near weapons-grade levels. When the Trump administration takes office in January 2025, it will only have six to eight months to negotiate a deal and then implement it before October 2025, which is widely viewed as a deadline for progress. So, any de-escalation package would need to be narrowly construed, fairly straightforward and quickly implementable by both the United States and Iran. Ideally, a narrow agreement would buy time and create political will for Washington and Tehran to negotiate a more comprehensive nuclear accord
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Hamas Takes Charge in Gaza After 15 Months of War

Since the cease-fire started on Sunday, Hamas has been working overtime in an attempt to show it still controls Gaza, even after Israel killed thousands of its members and demolished its tunnels and weapons factories in retaliation for the Oct. 7, 2023, cross-border attack that killed an estimated 1,200 people. Throughout the war, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has vowed to eliminate Hamas, but he never offered a plan for a realistic alternative that could take control of Gaza, leaving behind a vacuum that the armed group filled.
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