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I’m writing as a J Street advocacy leader to share several updates from the past week, including progress in ceasefire negotiations in Lebanon, new U.S. sanctions against extremist settler groups, and a historic Senate debate on Israel’s conduct of war in Gaza and support for U.S. enforcement of foreign security assistance laws.
As always, please feel free to reach out to J Street’s Public Affairs staff with 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
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This week on j street
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J Street Welcomes Groundbreaking Senate Debate Over Gaza War
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J Street Dismayed by Passage of HR 9495 in the House
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J Street Statement on International Criminal Court Warrants
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J Street to Biden Administration: Time to Withhold Some US Weapons to Israel for Continuing to Block Humanitarian Assistance to Gaza
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J Street U Board Alarmed by Campus Extremism
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What we’re reading
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Defense official says major chance for Lebanon truce after US envoy visits for talks
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| There is a substantial chance of Israel reaching a ceasefire agreement in Lebanon, a senior Israeli defense official told reporters Thursday, saying that a US-backed agreement that would see Hezbollah gradually withdraw north of the Litani River and the Lebanese Army retake responsibility for southern Lebanon is in reach. US special envoy Amos Hochstein was in Israel Thursday meeting separately with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz along with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, to discuss the ceasefire negotiations. Hochstein held meetings with the Lebanese side in recent days and said that “additional progress” had been made. |
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Trump ambassador pick Huckabee says administration could back West Bank annexation
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| US President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to be the next US ambassador to Israel said the incoming administration could support the annexation of the West Bank, though such a decision would be out of his hands. Mike Huckabee, a politician and Evangelical Christian leader with a history of strong support for Israeli building in the West Bank, was named Tuesday as Trump’s nominee for the post, drawing plaudits from settlement leaders. Speaking to Israel’s Army Radio Wednesday morning, Huckabee was asked whether annexation would be a possibility after Trump takes office in January. “Well of course,” Huckabee answered. “I won’t make the policy, I will carry out the policy of the president.” |
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Washington Divided as Israel Weighs New Gaza Aid Plans Under Global Pressure
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| The Israeli government is evaluating plans to improve humanitarian aid delivery to Gaza as international criticism over the ongoing crisis intensifies. Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, a close ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is spearheading a proposal drafted by a U.S.-based consultancy. The plan would transfer full responsibility for aid distribution to international organizations, which would operate a logistics hub in Gaza secured by private companies. Another option under discussion involves establishing a military administration in Gaza, with the IDF directly managing aid distribution. These proposals come amid growing concerns within Israel about the political fallout of the humanitarian crisis, particularly in northern Gaza. Despite government orders to increase aid, the current flow of around 100 trucks per day falls far short of the 350 trucks requested by the Biden administration. |
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Family of American woman killed in Israeli-occupied West Bank says U.S. response “even more heartbreaking”
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| More than two months after American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi was killed in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, allegedly by a member of Israel’s security forces, her family tells CBS News their faith in the United States has been shattered due to the lack of any independent criminal investigation. Eygi’s husband Hamid Ali said he was appalled by the reaction of the Biden administration. “I would hope that the U.S. government is able to implement its own law in this case and withhold, at the very least, funding from its own taxpayers that went to this unit or this soldier that killed one of its own citizens,” he told CBS News. |
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Israel and US to establish channel for discussing incidents of IDF harm to civilians
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| Israel has agreed to establish a new bilateral channel through which the US will be able to raise concerns regarding specific military incidents in which civilians have been harmed, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller announced Tuesday. The establishment of the channel was one of over a dozen demands made by the US in a letter to Israel on October 13, warning Israel that failure to meet them risked a partial arms embargo. Explaining the need for the new committee, the US stated in the letter that existing channels have been insufficient to address the number of cases in which Palestinian civilians have been killed amid Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. |
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Democrats Split as Senate Rejects Bills to Block Weapons Transfers to Israel
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| The Senate on Wednesday resoundingly rejected a series of three resolutions to block weapons transfers to Israel, but the move to curtail American support for the war in Gaza drew substantial support from Democrats, reflecting growing consternation in the party over the conflict. Seventeen Senate Democrats and two independents backed at least one of the measures, a display of deepening divisions over Israel’s conduct after 13 months of war and the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinians. The vote showed that support for restricting Israel’s military operations has grown beyond just the most progressive lawmakers, with notably more senators joining them than in previous efforts. |
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Analysis | Gangs looting Gaza aid operate in areas under Israeli control, aid groups say
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| Officials said criminal looting has become the greatest impediment to distributing aid in the southern half of Gaza, home to the vast majority of displaced Palestinians. Armed bands of men have killed, beaten and kidnapped aid truck drivers in the area around Israel’s Kerem Shalom crossing, the main entry point into Gaza’s south, aid workers and transport companies said… An internal United Nations memo obtained by The Washington Post concluded last month that the gangs “may be benefiting from a passive if not active benevolence” or “protection” from the Israel Defense Forces. One gang leader, the memo said, established a “military like compound” in an area “restricted, controlled and patrolled by the IDF.” |
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