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I’m writing to share J Street’s statements and news updates. I hope you will take a look at J Street’s election night poll of Jewish voters, which show that Jewish Americans are deeply concerned about right-wing antisemitism and ranked the health of US democracy as their top voting issue. Poll numbers also indicate strong support for diplomacy to help resolve difficult issues like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and nuclear tensions with Iran – as well as very strong support for US security assistance to Israel with restrictions to ensure that US aid and arms cannot be used for expanding Israel’s occupation in the West Banks.
Given the overwhelming support among likely members of an incoming Benjamin Netanyahu-led Israeli government for annexation of occupied Palestinian territory in violation of international law, I want to highlight US Ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides’ pledge to fight any possible annexation efforts. J Street is also calling on the Biden administration to avoid normalizing extremists in the next Israeli government and, in particular, not to meet with Itamar Ben-Gvir, the leader of the‘Jewish Power’ faction who has been convicted of multiple terror offenses and is likely to become a cabinet minister.
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.
Let me know if you have any questions or would like further information.
All the best,
Debra
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Debra Shushan, PhD
Director of Policy, J Street
mobile: (757) 746-0366 | [email protected] | @DrShushan
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This week on j street
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| STATEMENT |
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NATIONAL ELECTION NIGHT SURVEY OF JEWISH VOTERS FINDS OVERWHELMING SUPPORT FOR DEMOCRATS, OPPOSITION TO TRUMP AND THE FAR-RIGHT
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| STATEMENT |
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US MUST NOT NORMALIZE EXTREMISTS IN PROSPECTIVE ISRAELI GOVERNMENT
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What we’re reading
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US envoy says White House ‘will fight’ any Israeli West Bank annexation efforts
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| US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides warned in interviews that the White House would push back against any attempts by the expected incoming Israeli government to annex all or parts of the West Bank. “Our position is quite clear: We do not support annexation. We will fight any attempt to do so,” Nides told the Kan public broadcaster’s diplomatic correspondent Gili Cohen in an interview aired Thursday, adding that “most of the Arab countries” feel the same way. Nides’s comments came after senior Likud MK Yariv Levin said following his meeting with President Isaac Herzog during party consultations on Wednesday that West Bank annexation was high on the government’s agenda. |
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Israel, Jordan, UAE sign new MOU on deal to swap solar energy for desalinated water
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| Israel, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates signed a renewed memorandum of understanding on Tuesday regarding a UAE-brokered deal signed a year ago to have Jordan provide solar energy to Israel, and Israel channel desalinated water to the Hashemite Kingdom. The MOU was signed in the presence of US climate envoy John Kerry at the UN COP27 climate conference in the Egyptian resort Sharm el-Sheikh…The deal represented the latest byproduct of the Abraham Accords normalization agreement Israel signed with the UAE in 2020 under the auspices of the Trump administration. The Biden administration has pledged to build on those agreements while remaining adamant that they are not a replacement for Israeli-Palestinian peace. |
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Religious Zionism Will Seek Portfolios With Most Control Over West Bank
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| Religious Zionism leaders are expected to demand portfolios that will help them realize their goals. The most significant agency in this context is the Defense Ministry. The defense minister is the decisive factor in issues relating to policy in the West Bank. The minister also approves the convening of the national planning committee, which is responsible for building permits in the settlements. Members of the Yesha Council of settlements complained last year that the planning body meets infrequently, and Religious Zionism will likely try to change this. The transportation portfolio is also in the party’s sights: When Smotrich controlled the ministry, there was unprecedented spending on infrastructure in the West Bank, particularly in road planning. Outgoing Transportation Minister Merav Michaeli boasted that she had stopped some of the plans, but work began on others that had been included in the state budget. One of Smotrich’s campaign promises was to restore these allocations. |
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Analysis | One More Loser in the U.S. Midterms: Netanyahu
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| Netanyahu’s ultra-Orthodox and ultranationalist allies know exactly how desperate he is and are seeing a historic, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to transform Israel under his rule into a more religious and less democratic country. Doing all of this would have been much easier with a resounding Democratic defeat in Tuesday’s midterms. A large Republican House majority and a comfortable GOP margin in the Senate would have turned Joe Biden into an incredibly weak president, and the U.S. media would have started the countdown to Donald Trump’s return. Under those circumstances, Netanyahu and his allies would have felt emboldened, fending off any protests and warnings from the White House and the Democratic Party as unfortunate white noise that should be ignored. |
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