 |
|
I’m writing to share J Street’s statements and news updates.
We continue to see extremely significant developments in Israel and the occupied West Bank. They include huge protests by Israelis against the radical judicial overhaul – referred to many as a coup – being rushed through the Knesset by Prime Minister Netanyahu’s ultra right-wing government; terrorist attacks in the West Bank that killed three Israelis, including an American-Israeli; and a rampage by hundreds of Israeli settlers through the West Bank town of Huwara that the Israeli army chief of staff and other Israelis are calling a “pogrom.”
I also want to draw your attention to a significant letter by Senator Peter Welch, which he hand-delivered to President Biden following his visit to Israel and the West on the CODEL led by Majority Leader Schumer. In the letter, featured in this NBC article, Welch concludes: “We have a choice: stand by passively as a withered two-state approach recedes into oblivion or do our best to re-energize it with more assertive efforts to persuade the Netanyahu government to stop further expansion of settlements in the West Bank, to halt all de facto annexations, and to reaffirm Israel’s commitment to a viable two-state solution. Any hope for peace and prosperity in the region depends on the United States making the right choice, right now.”
My colleagues and I are hearing from many of you that you’re finding our dossier on the Netanyahu government to be extremely useful. Please continue to check back for updates – and don’t hesitate to be in touch with any questions. 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.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
All the best,
Debra
—
Debra Shushan, PhD
Director of Policy, J Street
mobile: (757) 746-0366 | [email protected] | @DrShushan
|
This week on j street
|
|
|
| STATEMENT |
|
BIDEN ADMINISTRATION SHOULD CONDEMN, TAKE STEPS IN RESPONSE TO SMOTRICH’S INCITEMENT
|
| Read more → |
|
|
|
|
|
| STATEMENT |
|
STATEMENT ON THE TERRORIST MURDER OF ELAN GANELES (Z”L)
|
| Read more → |
|
|
|
|
|
| STATEMENT |
|
STATEMENT ON THE DEEPENING CRISIS AND ESCALATING VIOLENCE IN ISRAEL AND THE WEST BANK
|
| Read more → |
|
|
|
|
|
What we’re reading
|
Palestinian gunman kills Israeli as violence roils West Bank
|
 |
| A suspected Palestinian gunman on Monday shot and killed an Israeli motorist in the occupied West Bank, the latest bloodshed in a fresh wave of fighting that showed no signs of slowing. The killing occurred a day after two Israelis were killed by a Palestinian gunman in the northern West Bank, triggering a rampage in which Israeli settlers torched dozens of cars and homes in a Palestinian town and one Palestinian was killed. It was the worst such violence in decades… The 27-year-old Israeli motorist was transferred to Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem, where he later died of his injuries, the hospital said. The man was not immediately identified, but the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Tom Nides, said the man held American citizenship. Earlier, Israel sent hundreds more troops to the northern West Bank to restore calm after Sunday’s violence. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, the most right-wing in Israel’s history, came under criticism for its failure to halt a surge in violence and for sending what some saw as mixed messages. As Netanyahu appealed for calm, a member of his ruling coalition praised the rampage as deterrence against Palestinian attacks. The events also underscored the limitations of the traditional U.S. approach to the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Washington has been trying to prevent escalation while staying away from the politically costly task of pushing for a resolution of the core disputes. |
| read more |
Top Israeli General Dubs Settler Rampage ‘Pogrom,’ Claims Military Was Caught Off Guard
|
 |
| One of the Israeli military’s highest-ranking generals called Sunday’s settler rampage through a Palestinian village a “pogrom,” the most biting denunciation of the deadly attack from Israel’s security echelon thus far… Earlier on Tuesday, chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces Herzl Halevi pledged to investigate the settler rampage in the West Bank town of Hawara. “The serious calamities will be investigated thoroughly,” Israel’s top brass said at the end of a security briefing. Hundreds of Jewish settlers descended on the northern West Bank town, killing 37-year-old Sameh Aqtash and wounding 98 other Palestinians, after two Israelis were gunned down by a Palestinian affiliated with the Nablus-based Lion’s Den militant group. Thirty-six houses were also burned down, along with 15 cars, in one of the most extensive cases of settler violence in recent years… The comments also came after a settler reportedly attempted to ram into Israeli soldiers stationed in the West Bank on Monday. Another group of settlers attacked an Israeli soldier on Tuesday outside a Palestinian village in the West Bank… Six Israeli citizens were arrested over violent conduct toward the soldiers in the northern West Bank town, four of whom were released on restrictive conditions on Monday. |
| read more |
Israeli Police Use Water Cannons and Stun Grenades on Protesters in Tel Aviv
|
 |
| The Israeli police deployed water cannons and stun grenades on Wednesday against thousands of protesters blocking a main road in Tel Aviv, a significant escalation of the confrontation between the political leadership and opponents of the government’s plan to rein in the powers of the country’s judiciary. The rare use of force by the police against Israeli citizens came as groups of protesters carrying Israeli flags blocked roads, bridges and busy intersections around the country in what organizers called a “day of national disruption.” These actions followed regular protests that began eight weeks ago and have at times disrupted life in Israel’s major cities… Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his hard-line minister of national security, the ultranationalist Itamar Ben-Gvir, denounced the protesters as “anarchists” and defended the police… The protest organizers accused the police of becoming politicized and said they had crossed the line on Wednesday by obstructing a democratic protest… As the initially peaceful protests turned into heated confrontations, Mr. Netanyahu’s far-right governing coalition in Jerusalem pressed on with its plans to make sweeping changes within the judiciary, advancing bills in Parliament that legislators are expected to eventually vote on in coming weeks. |
| read more |
U.S. Announced Israeli Settlement Freeze, Netanyahu Rushed to Deny It
|
 |
| Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, vehemently denied agreeing to any settlement freeze on Sunday, after Washington published a joint communique stating that Jerusalem had agreed “to stop discussion of any new settlement units for 4 months and to stop authorization of any outposts for 6 months.” The joint statement came at the end of a security summit in the Jordanian port city of Aqaba attended by security and diplomatic officials from Israel, the PA, the U.S., Egypt and Jordan. Washington and Jerusalem’s narratives of the meetings appeared to diverge almost immediately, however, when Netanyahu tweeted that “construction and legalization in Judea and Samaria will continue according to the original planning and construction schedule, without any changes”… A series of statements by high level cabinet officials seemed to indicate a broad consensus within the government not to take any steps to limit Israel’s expansion in the West Bank. Calling the Aqaba gathering an “unnecessary conference,” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that he had “no idea what they talked about or didn’t talk about in Jordan” but that he knew that “here will not be a freeze on construction and development in the settlements, not even for one day.” |
| read more |
U.S. says Israeli minister’s call to wipe out Palestinian town is “disgusting”
|
 |
| Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s call for the Palestinian village of Hawara to be wiped out by the Israeli government is “irresponsible, repugnant and disgusting,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Wednesday. Smotrich, a far-right Israeli settler known for his Jewish supremacist rhetoric, is also the minister in the Ministry of Defense in charge of civilian affairs in the West Bank. Many, including opposition leader Yair Lapid, have accused Smotrich of inciting “war crimes” over his comments and actions related to the violence in Hawara… After Israeli authorities said a Palestinian gunman killed two Israelis who were driving in Hawara on Sunday, Smotrich liked a tweet that called for the village to be wiped off the map. Asked at a public conference on Wednesday why he liked the since-deleted tweet about Hawara, Smotrich said in comments caught on camera: “Because I think the village of Huwara needs to be wiped out. I think the State of Israel should do it”… Price at a briefing later Wednesday said the Biden administration condemns Smotrich’s comments and defines them as “incitement to violence. Price added that the U.S. calls on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to publicly disavow his minister’s remarks. Netanyahu has not spoken publicly about Smotrich’s comments…. Smotrich is expected to visit the U.S. the second week of March for a meeting of the Israel Bonds organization. Israeli officials said he hasn’t asked for any meetings with the Biden administration. Two U.S. officials told Axios that even if he asked for meetings with Biden officials, he likely wouldn’t get them. |
| read more |
U.S. report: Israel often did not prevent settler attacks against Palestinians in 2021
|
 |
| The State Department’s 2021 report on terrorism, published on Monday, concludes that Israeli security forces often did not prevent violent attacks by settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and almost never held violent settlers accountable. This is the most serious determination made in an official and public State Department report regarding the issue of settler violence against Palestinian civilians. The publication date of the report was scheduled long in advance, but its timing — a day after the rampage by hundreds of settlers in the Palestinian village of Hawara — put it in a more relevant context. The report says that according to UN monitoring data and also according to the Israeli Shin Bet intelligence agency, there was a significant increase in the number, scale, severity and geographical scope in 2021… The report stresses that regardless of some efforts by the Israeli Defense Ministry and the police, Israeli security personnel often did not prevent settler attacks and rarely detained or charged perpetrators of settler violence. “Some Israeli NGOs allege IDF presence during some attacks and accuse the IDF of enabling a permissive environment by its lack of enforcement,” the report says. The conclusions in the report were echoed by State Department spokesperson Ned Price during the daily press briefing when he called on Israel to pursue with “equal rigor” the Israeli perpetrators of Sunday’s rampage in the Palestinian town of Hawara as it does with Palestinians who carry out attacks against Israelis. |
| read more |
UN nuclear watchdog head to go to Iran for high-level talks
|
 |
| The U.N. nuclear watchdog said Thursday that its director-general will travel to Tehran for high-level meetings at the invitation of Iran’s government. The announcement by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency comes days after it reported that uranium particles enriched up to 83.7% were found in Iran’s underground Fordo nuclear site. The IAEA tweeted that Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi would hold a news conference upon his return from Iran to Vienna on Saturday. The confidential quarterly report by the IAEA, which was distributed to member states on Tuesday, likely will raise tensions further between Iran and the West over its nuclear program… The IAEA report only spoke about “particles,” suggesting that Iran isn’t building a stockpile of uranium enriched above 60% — the level it has been enriching at for some time. However, the agency also said in its report that it would “further increase the frequency and intensity of agency verification activities” at Fordo after the discovery. |
| read more |
|
