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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, officials voiced cautious optimism that a ceasefire may be within reach ahead of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s US visit. At the same time, serious concerns persist over the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the role of Israeli military operations in creating deadly conditions near aid sites. In the West Bank, violent settler attacks, including the torching of a Palestinian village and clashes with Israeli forces, highlight the growing instability and the urgent need for accountability. Meanwhile, Iran announced it would suspend cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency in the wake of heightened tensions with Israel and the United States.
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
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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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What we’re reading
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Violence Erupts Between Israeli Settlers and Military in West Bank
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| Dozens of Israelis clashed with Israeli troops outside a military base in the occupied West Bank and set fire to a nearby security installation overnight, the Israeli military said on Monday, in the latest violence perpetrated by hard-right Jewish extremists in the territory. …The confrontation occurred against a backdrop of rising tensions between settlers and the security forces over the Israeli military’s response to clashes between the settlers and Palestinians, and at least 11 Israelis have been detained in multiple incidents. |
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IDF chief said to warn ministers further fighting in Gaza endangers hostages
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| Israel’s military chief has advised cabinet ministers against ordering the Israel Defense Forces to expand operations in the Gaza Strip, over fears that doing so could significantly endanger the lives of hostages still held in the Palestinian enclave, according to Hebrew media accounts Monday. Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir reportedly made the comments to ministers Sunday night during discussions over efforts to reach a deal with Hamas for a ceasefire and hostage release deal in the Gaza Strip. He also expressed fears that hostages were being subjected to intensifying torture. |
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Hamas seeks ceasefire guarantees as scores more are killed in Gaza
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| Hamas is seeking guarantees that a new U.S. ceasefire proposal for Gaza would lead to the war’s end, a source close to the militant group said on Thursday, as medics said Israeli strikes across the territory had killed scores more people. Israeli officials said prospects for reaching a ceasefire deal and hostage deal appeared high, nearly 21 months since the war between Israel and Hamas began. Efforts for a Gaza truce have gathered steam after the U.S. secured a ceasefire to end a 12-day aerial conflict between Israel and Iran, but on the ground in Gaza intensified Israeli strikes continued unabated, killing at least 59 people on Thursday, according to health authorities in the territory. |
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Iran’s president suspends cooperation with UN nuclear watchdog after U.S. and Israeli strikes
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| Iran’s president on Wednesday ordered the country to suspend its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency after American and Israeli airstrikes hit its most-important nuclear facilities, likely further limiting inspectors’ ability to track Tehran’s program that had been enriching uranium to near weapons-grade levels. The order by President Masoud Pezeshkian included no timetables or details about what that suspension would entail. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi signaled in a CBS News interview that Tehran still would be willing to continue negotiations with the United States. |
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US contractors say their colleagues are firing live ammo as Palestinians seek food in Gaza
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| American contractors guarding aid distribution sites in Gaza are using live ammunition and stun grenades as hungry Palestinians scramble for food, according to accounts and videos obtained by The Associated Press. Two U.S. contractors, speaking to the AP on condition of anonymity because they were revealing their employers’ internal operations, said they were coming forward because they were disturbed by what they considered dangerous and irresponsible practices. They said the security staff hired were often unqualified, unvetted, heavily armed and seemed to have an open license to do whatever they wished. |
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Trump signs executive order lifting most sanctions on Syria
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| President Trump signed an executive order on Monday rescinding most U.S. sanctions imposed on Syria since the 1970s, a major step toward offering the war-torn country a path to normalization with the West. Why it matters: Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former Islamist rebel who overthrew the Assad regime last year, had urged the U.S to lift sanctions to give Syria a chance to rebuild after 14 years of civil war. |
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Opinion | What’s More Powerful Than Bombs
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| I’ve wondered how an Iranian regime that is so unpopular can have so much staying power: Everywhere I’ve gone in Iran, on each visit, I’ve found many people (while out of the hearing of the secret police) to be scathing about the government’s corruption, hypocrisy and economic mismanagement. And though it has been a while since I’ve been allowed into the country, Iranians tell me that people are seething all the more today with frustration and anger at the oppression and misrule; the government’s brutal and misogynistic suppression of the Women, Life, Freedom uprising appeared to compound the anger. President Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel are therefore right in their aims: to keep Iran from developing nuclear weapons and, ideally, to nurture the emergence of a better government. The question is how to advance these goals. |
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