 |
|
I’m writing to share J Street’s statements and news updates.
Leading our Digest this week is the news that the Israeli military announced it will not bring criminal charges against soldiers involved in the death of 78-year-old US citizen Omar Assad. The former Milwaukee grocery store owner died in January 2022 after he was (as characterized by the Associated Press in the article below) “dragged from a car, bound and blindfolded after being stopped at an impromptu checkpoint” in the West Bank. The troops involved were members of Netzah Yehuda, a battalion composed of ultra-Orthodox soldiers which has been investigated by the IDF due to several incidents of alleged violence against Palestinian detainees.
Additionally, the Israeli government has reportedly told the Biden Administration it will announce later this month thousands of additional new settlement units to be built in Israel’s illegal West Bank settlements. This would be another act of de facto annexation, and is a matter of serious concern. We will keep you posted on further developments and will share information as it becomes available.
I hope you’ll check out, or continue making use of, our regularly updated dossier on the Netanyahu government. As always, you can find our Congressional briefing book, background information on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, recordings of previous briefings and more at J Street’s Congressional Resource Page.
Feel free to reach out with any questions.
Happy Juneteenth!
Debra
—
Debra Shushan, PhD
Director of Policy, J Street
mobile: (757) 746-0366 | [email protected] | @DrShushan
|
This week on j street
|
|
|
| ISSUE BRIEF |
|
‘BLUE IS BLUE’: RECIPROCITY AND ISRAEL’S BID TO ENTER THE VISA WAIVER PROGRAM
|
| Read more → |
|
|
|
|
|
| ISSUE BRIEF |
|
The Role of Special Advisor for Middle East Normalization
|
| Read more → |
|
|
|
|
|
| STATEMENT |
|
J STREET WELCOMES PLAN TO RETURN UNITED STATES TO FULL UNESCO MEMBERSHIP
|
| Read more → |
|
|
|
|
|
What we’re reading
|
Israeli soldiers will not face criminal charges in death of elderly Palestinian-American
|
 |
| The Israeli military said Tuesday that it would not bring criminal charges against soldiers involved in the death of a 78-year-old Palestinian-American who was dragged from a car, bound and blindfolded after being stopped at an impromptu checkpoint last year. The army said that the soldiers would not face prosecution because military investigators could not directly link their actions to the death of American citizen Omar Assad. It said that the soldiers would face only disciplinary measures… Human rights groups long have argued that Israel rarely holds soldiers accountable for the deaths of Palestinians, with military investigations often reflecting a pattern of impunity. B’Tselem, a leading Israeli watchdog, grew so frustrated with the system that in 2016 it dismissed the probes as a whitewash and halted its decades-long practice of assisting investigations. Even in the most shocking cases — and those captured on video — soldiers often get relatively light sentences. The deaths of American citizens have drawn outsized attention, such as the killing of prominent Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh last year in the Jenin refugee camp last year. Several independent investigations determined that Abu Akleh was likely killed by Israeli fire. Israeli officials eventually conceded that an Israeli soldier probably killed her but ruled out any criminal investigation into her death. High-profile cases, like those of Abu Akleh and Assad, have sparked outrage over the dangers of life in the occupied West Bank… Israel announced its decision not to file charges in Assad’s case just before 11 p.m. local time. The news did not surprise Nawaf Assad, Omar’s brother living in Virginia. “Israel somehow gets away with anything it wants,” he said… Nawaf Assad said his family needed time to determine their next steps. “I still want to see justice somehow,” he said. |
| read more |
Israel to announce plans for thousands of new settlement units in West Bank
|
 |
| The Israeli government told the Biden administration it intends to announce later this month the building and planning of thousands of new housing units in the settlements in the occupied West Bank, three Israeli and U.S. officials told Axios. The Biden administration has said it is vehemently opposed to new building in the Israeli settlements, which it sees as undermining the prospects for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict… An Israeli official said the Israeli civil administration planning and zoning committee will convene before the end of June to approve the new settlement plans… A State Department spokesperson said it is “critical for all parties to uphold the commitments made at regional meetings in Aqaba and Sharm El Sheikh to avoid measures that undermine the prospects for a two-state solution.” The Israeli government is facing criticism from some of its supporters over its decision to postpone a scheduled meeting on the settlement plan in the E1 area of the occupied West Bank… Building an Israeli settlement there would prevent Palestinian territorial contiguity between the northern and southern parts of the West Bank, which would make it much harder to establish a Palestinian state in the future. That decision followed pressure from the Biden administration and several European countries. During a press conference on Monday, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich pushed back on criticism regarding the postponement of the E1 plan, saying: “We will have big news for the settlements in the West Bank imminently.” |
| read more |
Israeli parliament vote deals setback to Netanyahu and judicial overhaul plan
|
 |
| Israel’s parliament on Wednesday appointed an opposition lawmaker to the powerful committee that picks the country’s judges, defying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a vote that exposed divisions within the ruling coalition and raised questions about his control over his political allies… The committee for appointing judges — which, among other things, approves the makeup of the Supreme Court — has been a central battleground in the overhaul plan. Both the governing coalition and the opposition traditionally are represented on the nine-member committee. But proponents of the overhaul had demanded that the coalition control both positions, drawing accusations that Netanyahu and his allies were trying to stack the judiciary with cronies. The votes, cast anonymously, raised doubts about Netanyahu’s control over his coalition… Netanyahu ordered his allies to oppose all candidates, including its own members, in a maneuver that he hoped would delay all appointments until another vote a month from now. But in the secret ballot, several coalition members joined the opposition in supporting Elharrar’s appointment in a 58-56 vote. A second candidate, Tally Gotliv of Netanyahu’s Likud party, mustered just 15 votes and did not clear the threshold. That means parliament will have to fill the post in the coming month. Lapid said it was “good news” that an opposition member would remain on the judicial selection committee. But he said it was problematic that there is still no committee. “Netanyahu today prevented its establishment, putting an end to the pretense that he was open to negotiations,” he said. “Netanyahu used to be a liar and powerful. Now he is a liar and weak,” he said. “The committee was not established, the threat to democracy is not removed.” |
| read more |
Israel’s Diaspora Minister ‘Doesn’t Understand Jewish Diaspora,’ Senior U.S. Official Says
|
 |
| A senior official of the Biden administration attacked Israel’s Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli on Wednesday, saying that he “does not understand the American Jewish Diaspora.” Earlier this week, Chikli called J Street a “hostile organization” that was funded by George Soros, whom the minister called “one of the greatest haters of Israel in our times.” The U.S. official warned that there would be consequences for Chikli’s statements. Referring to the minister’s trip to the United States last week, the senior Biden administration official told JTA that Chikli was unable to hold any public meeting with American Jewish officials. “The fact that a senior Israeli official came to the United States and did not have a single public meeting with the American Jewish community, and the fact [that] his only public interaction is to flip someone off or ask them to smile is telling,” said the official, referring to a photo of Chikli during New York’s Israel Parade where the minister made an obscene gesture towards protesters who gathered in front of him. The official requested anonymity because of executive branch rules that prohibit speaking by name without authorization. His comments are the latest in a series of statements from the Biden administration expressing disapproval of the Israeli government’s policies or the conduct of its senior officials… The Biden administration official was especially incensed by Chikli’s defense of the incident in an appearance on Monday night on Israel TV, when Chikli called his critics’ tweets about the photograph “fake news.” He did not say the photograph itself was altered in any way. “Blaming the photographer shows how much he does not understand the American Jewish Diaspora,” the official said. “His comments have ramifications. The Biden administration is watching.” |
| read more |
Hoping to Avert Nuclear Crisis, U.S. Seeks Informal Agreement With Iran
|
 |
| The Biden administration has been negotiating quietly with Iran to limit Tehran’s nuclear program and free imprisoned Americans, according to officials from three countries, in part of a larger U.S. effort to ease tensions and reduce the risk of a military confrontation with the Islamic Republic. The U.S. goal is to reach an informal, unwritten agreement, which some Iranian officials are calling a “political cease-fire”… The broad outlines of the talks were confirmed by three senior Israeli officials, an Iranian official and a U.S. official… The indirect talks, some occurring this spring in the Gulf Arab state of Oman, reflect a resumption of diplomacy between the United States and Iran after the collapse of more than a year of negotiations to restore the 2015 nuclear deal. That agreement sharply limited Iran’s activities in exchange for sanctions relief. Iran accelerated its nuclear program months after President Donald J. Trump withdrew from the deal and imposed a slew of new sanctions on the country in 2018… “None of this is aimed at reaching a groundbreaking agreement,” said Ali Vaez, the Iran director for the International Crisis Group, a conflict prevention organization. Instead, he said, the goal is to “put a lid on any activity that basically crosses a red line or puts either party in a position to retaliate in a way that destabilizes the status quo.” “The objective is to stabilize the tensions, to create time and space to discuss the future diplomacy and the nuclear deal,” Mr. Vaez said… Speaking at a news briefing on Wednesday, the State Department spokesman, Matthew Miller, said that “rumors about a nuclear deal — interim or otherwise — are false or misleading.” “Our No. 1 policy is ensuring that Iran never obtains a nuclear weapon, so of course we’ve been watching Iran’s nuclear enrichment activities,” Mr. Miller added. “We believe diplomacy is the best path to help achieve that, but we are preparing for all possible options and contingencies.” |
| read more |
|
