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I’m writing to share key updates and J Street statements from the past week.
This week, U.S. officials admitted they have no clear insight into the fate of Tehran’s uranium stockpile, as a fragile ceasefire with Iran shifted international attention back to ending the war in Gaza. Amid these developments, Israeli forces recovered the bodies of three hostages from Gaza, and alarming reports revealed escalating violence by settlers in the West Bank, leaving three Palestinians dead after IDF intervention.
You can find more on each of these developments and others below, along with our most recent statements here.
Please feel free to reach out if you have 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 |
This week on j street
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J Street Statement on Israel-Iran Ceasefire
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J Street and Members of the Progressive Israel Network Statement Following US Attack on Iran
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J Street Responds to Iranian Counterattack on US Base in Qatar
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Hesitation to Alignment: How the US Entry Into the Iran War Reshaped Israeli Perceptions – And Validated Netanyahu’s Gamble
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Explainer: The West Bank Violence Prevention Act (H.R. 3045)
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What we’re reading
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Officials Concede They Don’t Know the Fate of Iran’s Uranium Stockpile
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| A day after President Trump declared that Iran’s nuclear program had been “completely and totally obliterated” by American bunker-busting bombs and a barrage of missiles, the actual state of the program seemed far more murky, with senior officials conceding they did not know the fate of Iran’s stockpile of near-bomb-grade uranium. |
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Ceasefire in Iran gives rise to new calls for a deal to end Gaza war
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| Almost as soon as Trump announced Monday evening that Israel and Iran had agreed to stop their mutual attacks, Arab countries sought to turn diplomatic attention back to Gaza, where a humanitarian crisis has spiraled out of control. “We must not forget in this regard that everything that is happening in the region is an expansion of the conflict taking place in Gaza,” Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said in a news conference Tuesday, adding that Qatar was working with Egypt to “reach a ceasefire in Gaza as soon as possible.” |
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It’s a Killing Field’: IDF Soldiers Ordered to Shoot Deliberately at Unarmed Gazans Waiting for Humanitarian Aid
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| Israeli soldiers in Gaza told Haaretz that the army has deliberately fired at Palestinians near aid distribution sites over the past month. Conversations with officers and soldiers reveal that commanders ordered troops to shoot at crowds to drive them away or disperse them, even though it was clear they posed no threat. One soldier described the situation as a total breakdown of the Israel Defense Forces’ ethical codes in Gaza. According to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza, 549 people have been killed near aid centers and in areas where residents were waiting for UN food trucks since May 27. Over 4,000 have been wounded, but the exact number of those killed or injured by IDF fire remains unclear. |
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Israel recovers bodies of three hostages from Gaza
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| The bodies of three Israeli hostages have been recovered from the Gaza Strip, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said. He confirmed that Yonatan Samerano, Ofra Kedar and Staff Sgt Shai Levinson’s remains were retrieved on Saturday in a military operation. “I thank our commanders and fighters for a successful operation, for their determination and courage,” Netanyahu said in a statement. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have recovered the bodies of eight hostages from Gaza so far this month. |
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Israeli Settlers Rampage Through West Bank Village; Three Palestinians Killed by IDF Fire
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| Three Palestinians were killed by Israeli army gunfire and seven were wounded next to Ramallah in the West Bank on Wednesday evening. According to the IDF, dozens of Israeli settlers set fire to property in the village and threw stones at residents. IDF forces who arrived at the scene claimed that several people from the village fired at them and threw stones, prompting the soldiers to return fire, which killed three and wounded several others. The IDF said five settlers were arrested and handed over to the police. All five were released the following morning after being cleared of any suspicion, according to the Israel Police. |
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Trump calls for end to Netanyahu corruption trial
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| US President Donald Trump has called for Israel to “pardon” Benjamin Netanyahu, who is on trial for alleged corruption, or drop the case altogether. He also claimed in a social media post that the US had saved Israel – alluding to its intervention in Israel’s war with Iran – and would now also “save” Netanyahu. The Israeli prime minister denies charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, for which he has been on trial since 2020. |
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Opinion | Is This Trump’s ‘Mission Accomplished’ Moment?
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| Former U.S. President George W. Bush infamously gave a speech in 2003 in front of a “Mission Accomplished” banner on an aircraft carrier, declaring an end to major combat operations in Iraq—prematurely implying that the U.S. war in the country was over. Is President Donald Trump now in danger of repeating history with Iran’s nuclear program? Trump has repeatedly claimed that the U.S. strikes “obliterated” Iran’s key nuclear sites, contending the mission was a “LEGENDARY” success. But a leaked preliminary intelligence assessment suggests that the operation set Iran’s nuclear program back by just a few months. The Trump administration has launched an aggressive campaign to control the narrative surrounding the impact of the U.S. strikes in the wake of the leak, raging against the media in the process. |
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Analysis | Why Do Israelis Overwhelmingly Back War With Iran but Want to End the War in Gaza?
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| Despite the shocking sights of Iranian ballistic missiles grinding city blocks to gravel, over two dozen civilian deaths in the 10 days since the start of the campaign, intensifying fatigue due to nighttime missile fire and swarms of attack drones by day, two polls from the first week of the war show sweeping support for “Operation Rising Lion” – at least among the Israeli Jewish population…. The polls show an Israeli Jewish population that expresses definitive support for the campaign against Iran (or opposition, for Arab respondents). This trend stands in stark contrast to the Israeli public’s divided and dejected attitudes toward the war in Gaza. In the very same Agam Labs survey, 75 percent of the Israeli public preferred to end that war in exchange for the release of all hostages held by Hamas. |
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