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As we near a week since the horrific assault on Israel and the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war, J Street will continue to send additional updates and resources, as well as briefing invitations and recommendations for Congressional action.
On that note, I wanted to share that J Street strongly supports the Meeks-McCaul resolution in the House and the Cardin-Risch resolution in the Senate supporting Israel and condemning Hamas’s inhumane attack. We urge all Members of Congress to support these vehicles, and thank all those who have put out statements in show of solidarity.
We will continue updating the J Street website with the latest statements and resources. In the meantime, please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions about the situation in Israel, Congressional action, or any other concern.
Best,
Regev
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Regev (Rae) Ortal (she/her)
Senior Government Affairs Associate, J Street
mobile: (719) 301-8453 | [email protected]
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This week on j street
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J STREET CALLS ON BIDEN ADMINISTRATION TO ADDRESS HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN GAZA, STRESS ADHERENCE TO INTERNATIONAL LAW
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| Expert Briefing |
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Terror Onslaught, Israel at War with Hamas
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What we’re reading
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Israel orders million Gazans to evacuate; U.N. says that’s impossible
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| Israel’s military ordered the evacuation Friday of more than 1 million Palestinians from the northern Gaza Strip, a move that the United Nations described as potentially “calamitous” amid heavy airstrikes and a rapidly declining humanitarian situation. Israel has indicated that it is readying a ground invasion of the besieged enclave, a move aimed at ending the rule of Hamas, the militant group that controls the area and which launched an unprecedented attack on Israel on Saturday, killing more than 1,300 civilians and soldiers, and trucking scores of hostages into Gaza. But, with exits to Israel and Egypt shut, the retaliatory military operations have effectively turned the narrow 25-mile long Gaza Strip into a kill box… Hamas dismissed the warnings and told citizens to stay. “Our Palestinian people reject the threat made by the leaders of the occupation and its call for Gazans to leave their houses and leave to the south or to Egypt,” the group said, describing the evacuation order as “psychological war.” In a briefing, IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari retorted that whatever now happened to Gaza residents was the responsibility of Hamas for telling them not to leave… The United Nations said that the evacuation that Israel was urging was not only unfeasible, but risked worsening an already dire situation. “The United Nations strongly appeals for any such order, if confirmed, to be rescinded avoiding what could transform what is already a tragedy into a calamitous situation,” it said in a statement… “No one will be able to evacuate the patients and injuries who are in the ER room connected to medical devices, it’s an impossible mission,” said Nebal Farsakh, a spokeswoman for the Red Crescent. |
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At least 27 Americans were killed in Israel. Here’s what we know so far.
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| A scholar committed to peace between Israelis and Palestinians. A former intensive-care nurse. A Missouri native who died shielding her teenage son. These are some of the 27 Americans who were killed following Saturday’s terrorist attacks on Israel. An unknown number of U.S. citizens are also being held hostage by Hamas. It is unclear whether any American citizens have been killed by retaliatory Israeli strikes on Gaza. Here’s what we know about the Americans killed in the attacks. |
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Blinken Stresses Support for Israel While Urging Restraint on Gaza Airstrikes
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| Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken stood next to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Thursday at a military base in Tel Aviv and promised to help defend Israel “as long as America exists.” But he also suggested the need for restraint in Israel’s military strikes in Gaza after deadly Hamas attacks over the weekend, saying “it’s important to take every possible precaution to prevent harming civilians.” Mr. Blinken said the main message from President Biden was that “we will always be there by your side”… Mr. Blinken said he had talked with Mr. Netanyahu about how Israel should approach defending itself after suffering such an extraordinarily brutal terrorist attack. “The value that we place on human life and human dignity — that’s what makes us who we are,” he said… When asked about the possible goals of Hamas in carrying out the attacks, Mr. Blinken said he could only speculate. “The simplest explanation may be the most compelling — this is pure evil,” he said. He also noted that the United States and Israel had been engaged in efforts to try to get Saudi Arabia to normalize relations with Israel, and that Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran were opposed to those talks. U.S. officials and analysts say the attacks may make the talks more difficult. |
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Israel Forms Unity Government and Bombs Gaza in the Wake of Hamas Attack
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| After the deadliest assault on Israel in 50 years, the right-wing government and members of the centrist opposition formed a unity government on Wednesday to navigate the crisis, while its warplanes rained destruction on the Gaza Strip and both sides braced for an escalating war between Israel and Hamas… The deal for an Israeli unity government, between Mr. Netanyahu and Benny Gantz, the leader of an opposition party, creates an emergency “war management cabinet” composed of the two of them and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Decision-making will largely remain in the hands of the broader security cabinet, according to a spokesman for Mr. Netanyahu’s party, Likud. The agreement infuses the government with far greater military experience, a move that could bolster public trust, which has been battered by months of fighting a proposed overhaul of the judiciary by Mr. Netanyahu’s far-right and religiously conservative governing coalition, and now by the failure of Israel’s vaunted security services to anticipate or quickly defeat the assault from Gaza. “It’s about bringing in people who were chief of staff, and who were not involved in the current disaster,” said Gideon Rahat, a political scientist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. “They are not responsible for it, so they can help to get out of it.” |
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No power, water or fuel to Gaza until hostages freed, says Israel minister
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| Israel has said there will be no humanitarian break to its siege of the Gaza Strip until all its hostages are freed, amid growing concern over dwindling water, food and fuel supplies after a fifth night of bombardment… The United Nations experts have condemned the Israeli bombardment as “collective punishment”, which is a war crime. Israel is preparing to launch a ground invasion in response to bloody massacres carried out in 20 Israeli communities by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas last weekend, during which dozens of hostages were also seized, in the most serious escalation in the region for 50 years… Israel Defence Forces strikes killed at least 33 people within two hours overnight on Thursday, according to Al Jazeera’s local reporter, bringing the death toll in Gaza to 1,354… According to the report, since the fighting began, six neighbourhoods in the strip have been destroyed. Eighteen healthcare facilities and 20 ambulances had been affected and 11 healthcare workers killed, the World Health Organization said, in the most intense bombing campaign the strip has suffered in the 16 years since Hamas seized control of the tiny, overcrowded area, home to 2.3 million people. The UN said late on Wednesday the number of people displaced by the airstrikes had soared 30% within 24 hours to 339,000 – two-thirds of them crowding into UN schools. |
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As Deaths Soar in Gaza From Israeli Strikes, Egypt Offers Aid, but No Exit
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| As Israeli warplanes pound Gaza, killing more than 1,400 people and crushing buildings in response to last weekend’s unprecedented attack by Hamas, Israel’s leadership has repeatedly urged civilians to flee the territory while they can. “Get out now,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday, vowing to unleash the full force of Israel’s military. But the only viable exit is a border crossing into Egypt, and that country, as ever in times of war, is keeping it firmly shut… Gazans must “stay steadfast and remain on their land,” President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said on Thursday in response to growing calls, including from American officials, for Cairo to allow safe passage to civilians fleeing Gaza. Egyptians have long feared that Israel could use the crisis to make the Gaza conflict Egypt’s problem, too. “Egypt will not allow the Palestinian cause to be settled at the expense of other parties,” Mr. el-Sisi said earlier, on Tuesday. But pressure is growing to provide an escape valve for at least some of Gaza’s 2.3 million people, who, fearing for their lives, have nowhere to go. |
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The US is moving quickly to boost Israel’s military. A look at what assistance it’s providing
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| Within hours of the horrific attack by Hamas, the U.S. began moving warships and aircraft to the region to be ready to provide Israel with whatever it needed to respond. A second U.S. carrier strike group departs from Norfolk, Virginia, on Friday. Scores of aircraft are heading to U.S. military bases around the Middle East. Special operations forces are now assisting Israel’s military in planning and intelligence. The first shipment of additional munitions has already arrived. More is expected, soon. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will arrive in Israel Friday to meet with Israeli leaders to discuss what else the U.S. can provide.For now, the buildup reflects U.S. concern that the deadly fighting between Hamas and Israel could escalate into a more dangerous regional conflict. So the primary mission for those ships and warplanes is to establish a force presence that deters Hezbollah, Iran or others from taking advantage of the situation. But the forces the U.S. sends are capable of more than that. |
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U.S. and Qatar Deny Iran Access to $6 Billion From Prisoner Deal
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| The United States and Qatar have agreed to deny Iran access to $6 billion recently transferred to the nation as part of a deal between Washington and Tehran that led to the release of five imprisoned Americans from Iran last month… The money was under close supervision and strict conditions that it be used only for humanitarian purposes. U.S. officials did not describe the money as frozen permanently but said that case-by-case applications to spend it under the current arrangement will be denied for the foreseeable future. The move comes after harsh criticism, mainly from Republicans, that the Biden administration had given Iran a vast sum that freed up other funds for Tehran to provide support to Hamas before it attacked Israel over the weekend. U.S. officials said they had not seen intelligence that Iran had directly assisted with the assault and that some senior Iranian officials were taken by surprise. But Tehran has been a major backer of Hamas for decades, and critics said the fungibility of money meant the restrictions had little meaning… It is unclear whether the Biden administration may yet declare the funds permanently off limits. It is also unclear whether the action reflects any new analysis by the administration about Iran’s role in the attack. Regardless, it is certain to infuriate Iran’s leadership after a painstaking prisoner swap that took many months to construct and weeks more to complete. |
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Why Tensions Are Rising on Israel’s Border With Lebanon as It Fights Hamas in Gaza
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| As Israeli forces finish securing southern towns after the Hamas-led incursion and assemble forces on the border with Gaza, attention is also falling on the country’s volatile northern frontier with Lebanon, where the Israeli Army has been engaged in four consecutive days of clashes with armed militants. Various Palestinian factions in Lebanon have claimed responsibility for attacks this week into Israeli territory, prompting retaliatory strikes from Israel. But it is Lebanon’s most powerful militant organization, Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Shiite group committed to the destruction of the Jewish state, that remains the most serious threat to Israel… The fighting in recent days is the most serious escalation since the 2006 war. Israeli forces have also exchanged fire across the border with Syria, where some Hezbollah fighters are based. The clashes, though limited for now, means that Israel’s military could be engaged in fighting on three fronts as it tries to respond to the broadest incursion in 50 years. |
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Opinion | Israelis Must Maintain Their Humanity Even When Their Blood Boils
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| On Saturday, Hamas committed an abominable war crime for which there can be no forgiveness. Our eyes see but our hearts refuse to believe that human beings can be capable of such cruelty – an inconceivable slaughter of hundreds of civilians in their own homes and at the scene of a party, the abduction of civilians, the abduction of children and the elderly, and sadistic psychological abuse of families whose loved ones have disappeared. The truth is that this is a crime against humanity, a crime against everything human. Each of us knows someone who was murdered, or abducted, or whose relatives were wounded. Tens of thousands of Israelis will walk around in the coming years with severe psychological wounds, some from shell shock and some from post-traumatic stress. The atrocity is impossible to grasp… And yet. And yet, the laws of war weren’t designed only for situations in which our blood is cool, in which there is no justified anger or understandable desire for revenge. The laws of war constitute humanity’s renunciation of the idea of a complete prohibition on the use of force, its renunciation of the pacifist worldview, in exchange for an approach that sets rules of basic humanity and boundaries on the harm to civilians… Indeed, war crimes could be committed not only by people with Kalashnikovs riding Toyota trucks. They can also be committed from defense headquarters in Tel Aviv, or from the pilot’s seat in a fighter plane or helicopter. Our grasp of cruelty might differ when the attacker isn’t looking his victim in the eye, but the pain of losing a mother, father, child, sibling or spouse is quite the same. |
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