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I hope you are doing well.
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 on J Street crisis response page.
All the best,
Hannah
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Hannah Morris
She/Her
Director of Government Affairs, J Street
Cell: 832-606-1817
J Street’s Congressional Resource Page
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This week on j street
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| ISSUE BRIEF |
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THE CASE AGAINST SANCTIONING THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT
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| Read more → |
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| WEBINAR |
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NICK KRISTOF ON GAZA, JOURNALISM AND HIS NEW MEMOIR
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What we’re reading
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Biden presents new Israel ceasefire plan, calls on Hamas to accept
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| U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday said Israel had proposed a Gaza ceasefire in exchange for the release of hostages, and called on Hamas to agree to the new offer, saying it was the best way to end the conflict. “It’s time for this war to end and for the day after to begin,” said Biden, who is under election-year pressure to stop the Gaza conflict, now in its eighth month. |
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Blinken: In the absence of Israeli plan for day after, there won’t be a day after
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| US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Wednesday that continued Israeli refusal to advance a viable plan for the post-war management of Gaza will lead to a never-ending war in the enclave. “In the absence of a plan for the day after, there won’t be a day after,” Blinken summarized at a press conference in Moldova. The US has sought to advance its own plan for the “day after” that would see a reformed Palestinian Authority gradually regain control of Gaza with help from Israel’s Arab allies. |
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White House says ICC sanctions “not the right answer”
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| [O]n Tuesday, White House spokesperson John Kirby said in a briefing with reporters that sanctions were “not the right answer” to deal with the ICC arrest warrants and added that the administration opposes that approach. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who spoke after Kirby, reiterated that message and said legislation against the ICC “is not something the administration is going to support.” “Sanctions on the ICC are not an effective or appropriate tool to address U.S. concerns. We will work with Congress on other options to address the ICC overreach,” she said. |
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Far-right Israeli settlers step up attacks on aid trucks bound for Gaza
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| Groups of settler youths are tailing relief convoys, setting up checkpoints and interrogating drivers. In some cases, far-right attackers have ransacked and burned trucks and beaten Palestinian drivers, leaving at least two hospitalized. The assailants use a web of publicly accessible WhatsApp groups to track the trucks and coordinate attacks, providing a window into their activities. Working off what they say are tips from Israeli soldiers and police, in addition to the public, members pore over photos to work out which vehicles might be carrying aid to Gaza and mobilize local supporters to block them. |
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Gantz’s Party Submits Bill to Dissolve Israeli Parliament, Hold Early Elections
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| National Unity Party lawmaker Pnina Tamano-Shata submitted a bill Thursday to dissolve the current Knesset, a move that would trigger a national election. The party, headed by war cabinet minister Benny Gantz, is considered unlikely to bring it to a Knesset vote without a guaranteed majority, as bills that are debated in the Knesset and rejected can’t be brought for a vote again for six months. “October 7 was a disaster that requires us to restore the people’s trust and to establish a broad, stable unity government that can safely lead in the face of the tremendous challenges in security, in the economy and in Israeli society,” Tamano-Shata said. “Submitting the bill now will allow us to bring it up in the current session.” |
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Biden administration straddles its own ‘red line’ on Rafah invasion
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| In statement after statement, Biden and his top national security officials said the United States “would not support” a “major military operation” in Gaza’s southernmost city, especially one that was not preceded by a “credible … executable” plan to ensure the protection and humanitarian support for an estimated 1.5 million Palestinians who had taken refuge there to escape fighting farther north. “What we have seen so far in terms of Israel’s military operations in that area has been more targeted and limited, has not involved major military operations into the heart of dense urban areas,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters Wednesday… But humanitarian organizations on the ground say the administration is simply refusing to acknowledge what it doesn’t want to see. |
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Analysis | Israeli Efforts to Weaken the Palestinian Authority Could Shatter the Limited Calm in the West Bank
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| For at least a decade, Smotrich has not tried to hide his goal of bringing about the demise of the PA in the West Bank. In the current chaos he sees an opportunity to act and is trying to push Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to support him in defiance of the rare consensus among senior defense officials. For him, it would be a double success because in toppling the PA he hopes to prevent another scenario that the far right fears, namely the PA’s involvement in “day after” arrangements in the Gaza Strip (that, for the time being, seems a distant prospect since Hamas has yet to be defeated). |
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Israel in effective control of entire Gaza land border after taking Philadelphi Corridor in south
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| Israel is in effective control of Gaza’s entire land border after taking control of a buffer zone along the border with Egypt, Israel’s military has said, a move that risks complicating its relationship with Egypt. “The Philadelphi Corridor served as an oxygen line for Hamas, which it regularly used to smuggle weapons into the area of the Gaza Strip,” Hagari said, claiming that troops had “discovered around 20 tunnels” in the area. |
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