I’m writing 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.

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

This week on j street

Statement

J Street Statement Opposing War With Iran

Word on the Street LIVE

Opening Night with PM Ehud Olmert, Rula Daood and Elana Kaminka

Watch now →

Word on the Street LIVE

Live from Convention: Sunday Update on Iran with Experts Frank Lowenstein and Jen Gavito

Watch now →

What we’re reading

Did Israel Force Trump into War?

The U.S. decision to strike Iran was a victory for Israel, which had been pushing President Trump for months on the need to hit the country. Now, Israel’s role in spurring the operation has become a point of political tension. The New York Times journalists Mark Mazzetti and Ronen Bergman discuss what we know about the extraordinarily close cooperation between Israel and the United States.

listen now

U.S. Military Death Toll Rises to 6

Administration officials have recently taken to repeating that they expect more U.S. casualties. Earlier Monday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth picked up that mantra. “War is hell and always will be,” Mr. Hegseth said during a Pentagon news conference. “A grateful nation honors the four Americans we have lost thus far.” Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he expected the United States to “take additional losses.”

Kurds backed by Mossad, CIA could lead next phase of war in Iran

Militants from several Kurdish Iranian factions are preparing for a possible ground offensive against Iran’s regime in the northwestern part of the country, according to U.S. and Israeli officials and a senior official in one of the factions. Why it matters: A Kurdish ground offensive coordinated with the U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign against Tehran could increase pressure on the regime and encourage an internal rebellion that could spread to other parts of Iran… The Iranian Kurdish militias are backed by the Mossad and the CIA, two U.S. and Israeli officials and a third source with knowledge said. The goal is to try to take over a specific territory in the Kurdish region inside Iran in order to challenge the regime and inspire a broader uprising, a U.S. official said.

Israel sends troops into southern Lebanon as Hezbollah says it is ready for ‘open war’

Israel sent troops into southern Lebanon on Tuesday and warned residents of more than 80 villages to evacuate as the Iran-backed militant Hezbollah group said it was ready for an “open war” with Israel in the wake of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. The development came after Hezbollah fired rockets and launched drones early Monday toward northern Israel. Israel retaliated with a wave of airstrikes that killed 50 people in Lebanon, including seven children as well as a Palestinian militant and a Hezbollah intelligence official in Beirut’s southern suburbs… A senior Hezbollah official said that after more than a year of abiding by a ceasefire as Israel’s strikes continued on Lebanon, the group’s patience has ended, leaving it with no option but to fight Israel. “The Zionist enemy wanted an open war, which it has not stopped since the ceasefire agreement,” Mohamoud Komati said. “So let it be an open war,” added the Hezbollah official.

Israel Opens One Gaza Crossing for Humanitarian Aid After U.S. Pressure

Under pressure from the United States, Israel reopened the Kerem Shalom crossing shortly before midnight on Monday to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. Haaretz has learned that the decision was made the previous evening after Aryeh Lightstone, a senior adviser to U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and an adviser to the Board of Peace established by U.S. President Donald Trump, approached Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and asked him to resume aid deliveries to Gaza. Lightstone’s appeal came after the IDF Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) announced on Saturday that all border crossings into the Strip would be closed due to the security situation with Iran, until further notice.

Palestinian Brothers Killed as Settler Violence Surges in the West Bank

Two Palestinian brothers were shot dead by Israeli fire in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Monday during a confrontation with Jewish settlers over land, according to local residents and the Palestinian Ministry of Health. The shooting deaths come amid growing tensions over settler activity and violence in the territory, which has intensified since the strikes on Iran began on Saturday, according to Israelis and Palestinians who monitor settler activity.

Was diplomacy with Iran really doomed to fail?

As the Trump administration has struggled to explain its sudden decision to go to war against Iran, it has vilified the Iranian regime as having rejected reasonable offers for peace at recent nuclear talks. But the accounts given by its own negotiators show that is not fully accurate, and that misunderstandings by Trump’s negotiators, lack of expert support, and an artificial time pressure contributed to President Trump abandoning diplomacy before it was exhausted in favor of war.