J STREET GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS NEWS DIGEST | October 18, 2024

October 18, 2024

 

Government Affairs News Digest

I hope you are doing well.

I’m writing to you as a J Street advocacy leader to share a few significant developments from the region over the past week, including the renewed push for a hostage deal following the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, US pressure to increase the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, and a potential post-war plan from the Biden administration.

As always, please feel free to reach out to J Street’s 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
J Street’s Congressional Resource Page

This week on j street

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J Street Statement on the Killing of Hamas Leader Yahya Sinwar

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J Street Welcomes Biden Administration Letter on Gaza Humanitarian Crisis

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What we’re reading

Stern U.S. letter prompts Israel to allow first aid into northern Gaza this month. Will it last?

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The lengthy letter from Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, was published by Axios on Tuesday. It suggested that the U.S. would restrict weapons sales if the Israeli government did not allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza… “The reason that we haven’t had sufficient levels of humanitarian assistance throughout this entire period is in part there haven’t been consistent consequences for failing to meet those standards,” said Andrew Miller, former deputy assistant secretary for Israeli-Palestinian affairs at the State Department, who called the humanitarian situation in Gaza “a catastrophe.”
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Israel said to view Sinwar’s death as singular opportunity to advance hostage deal

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Families of hostages held captive in Gaza on Thursday welcomed the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar while urging the government to leverage his death to secure an immediate deal for the release of their loved ones after over a year in captivity. Reacting to the killing of the terror chief, the Hostages Families Forum expressed “appreciation for the significant achievement” but said it still had “grave concern for the fate of the 101 hostages who are still being held captive by Hamas in Gaza.” As such, it called on the government to “leverage the military achievement to secure an immediate deal to bring about their return.” The comments came amid reports that Israeli hostage negotiators were engaged in intensive discussions on revitalizing the long-stalled talks, viewing the Hamas leader’s death as a unique and potentially brief opportunity to finally secure a deal.
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Blinken weighs presenting Gaza post-war plan after November election

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Secretary of State Antony Blinken is considering a post-war plan for Gaza based on ideas developed by Israel and the United Arab Emirates that would be presented after the presidential election, U.S. officials say… Several officials in the White House and State Department are concerned the plan would marginalize Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his government, which is what Israel and the UAE are pushing for in the immediate term. But with no deal in sight to release the hostages held by Hamas and establish a ceasefire in Gaza, presenting a “day-after” plan could be a potentially positive part of the Biden administration’s legacy surrounding the conflict.
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Netanyahu tells U.S. that Israel will strike Iranian military, not nuclear or oil, targets, officials say

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told the Biden administration he is willing to strike military rather than oil or nuclear facilities in Iran, according to two officials familiar with the matter, suggesting a more limited counterstrike aimed at preventing a full-scale war… An Israeli strike on Iranian oil facilities could send energy prices soaring, analysts say, while an attack on the country’s nuclear program could erase any remaining red lines governing Israel’s conflict with Tehran, triggering further escalation and risking a more direct U.S. military role. Netanyahu’s stated plan to go after military sites instead, as Israel did after Iran’s attack in April, was met with relief in Washington.
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Lebanon’s Hospitals Buckle Amid Israel’s Offensive Against Hezbollah

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The United Nations said some hospitals had shut down after they were damaged in attacks. Others have been abandoned after staff fled, fearing for their safety. The ones that remain operational say they are quickly running out of beds as patients evacuated from other facilities are brought in. Last month, Israel mounted a major offensive in Lebanon, targeting the leaders of Hezbollah, the Shiite militant and political group, and destroying much of its arsenal. The bombing has forced nearly one million people to leave their homes. Hezbollah began launching rockets at Israeli positions in support of the Hamas-led attack of Oct. 7, 2023. The Lebanese group and the Israeli military traded blows back and forth over the past year, displacing communities on both sides of the border.
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‘It is doable’: 10 Likud MKs to attend conference calling for ‘resettling Gaza’

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Ten of the 32 lawmakers from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, including a cabinet minister, announced on Wednesday that they will be participating in a conference tagged “Preparing to Resettle Gaza” scheduled for next week in the Gaza border region close to Sderot. “A year after the pogroms (of October 7), we will stand together — Likud members, regional [Likud] branch chairs, MKs and ministers — to jointly declare that ‘Gaza is ours. Forever,’” a poster advertising the October 21 event read… The event — in which relatives of some of the Gaza hostages will participate along with bereaved families and families of active duty soldiers — is being organized by the Nachala Settlement Movement organization, which advocates for Jewish settlement in the West Bank where it has helped establish illegal settlement outposts.
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Opinion | How the Biden Team Plans to Build Peace From Sinwar’s Death

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“The death of Sinwar alone is not the sufficient condition to end this Gaza war and put Israelis and Palestinians on a pathway to a better future. Yes, Sinwar and Hamas always rejected a two-state solution and were committed to the violent destruction of the Jewish state. No one paid a bigger price for that than the Palestinians of Gaza. But while his death was necessary for a next step to be possible, it was never going to be everything. The sufficient condition is that Israel have a leader and a governing coalition ready to step up to the opportunity Sinwar’s death has created. To put it bluntly, can Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel live up to his Churchillian self-image and go along with something that he has previously rejected? That is the participation of a reformed West Bank Palestinian Authority in an international peacekeeping force that would take over Gaza in the place of the Sinwar-led Hamas.”
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