I’m writing as a J Street advocacy leader to share important updates from the region as well as J Street’s statements and resources from the past week.

This week, President Trump publicly voiced his opposition to potential Israeli annexation of the West Bank, further underscoring the bipartisan consensus against such actions. Senior US officials continued to shuttle back and forth to Israel in an effort to uphold the ceasefire, while glaring questions remain including how best to support redevelopment, remove Hamas from power and establish alternative security and governing authorities in Gaza. The fragile ceasefire continues to hold, as tension heightens in the West Bank with growing alarm as harvest season begins and Palestinian farmers are at increased risk while gathering olives.

You can find more on each of these developments and others below, along with our most recent statements here.

I invite you to reach out to your J Street 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

Statement

J Street Welcomes Strong Bipartisan Opposition to West Bank Annexation

Word on the Street

We Have a Ceasefire. Now What?

Word on the Street Live

ICYMI: Can Trump’s Peace Plan Survive Reality?

Watch now →

Word on the Street

How to Disarm Hamas

Trump warns Israel that annexation threatens US support

President Trump has warned Israel it could lose all U.S. support if it moves forward on efforts to annex territory in the West Bank, as the Israeli government advances legislation aiming to formalize its sovereignty over settlements in the region. Trump, in an interview with Time magazine conducted Oct. 15 and published Thursday, said he could cut off U.S. assistance to Israel if it moves forward with annexation. “Israel would lose all of its support from the United States if that happened,” he said. “It won’t happen. It won’t happen. It won’t happen because I gave my word to the Arab countries. And you can’t do that now,” the president continued. “We’ve had great Arab support. It won’t happen because I gave my word to the Arab countries. It will not happen.”

Marco Rubio is the latest high-level visitor to tour Israel’s U.S-led coordination center

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday toured a U.S.-led center in Israel overseeing the Gaza ceasefire, as the Trump administration worked to set up an international security force in the territory and shore up the tenuous truce between Israel and Hamas. Rubio was the latest in a series of top U.S. officials to visit the center for civilian and military coordination. U.S. Vice President JD Vance was there earlier this week where he announced its opening, and U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, were also in Israel. Around 200 U.S. troops are working alongside the Israeli military and delegations from other countries at the center, planning the stabilization and reconstruction of Gaza.

A U.S. Plan Splits Gaza in Two—One Zone Controlled by Israel, One by Hamas

The U.S. and Israel are considering a plan that would divide Gaza into separate zones controlled by Israel and Hamas, with reconstruction only taking place on the Israeli side as a stopgap until the militant group can be disarmed and removed from power. Vice President JD Vance and President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner summarized the thinking in a news conference Tuesday in Israel, where they had arrived to press both sides to abide by the current cease-fire, under which Israel pulled back its troops so that it now controls about 53% of the enclave. Vance said there are two regions in Gaza, one relatively safe and the other incredibly dangerous, and that the goal is to geographically expand the area that is safe. Until then, Kushner said, no funds for reconstruction would go to areas that remain under Hamas’s control, and the focus would be on building up the safe side.

Nations Hesitate to Send Troops to Gaza, Fearing Clashes With Hamas

The fragile cease-fire in Gaza that came into force last week rests on some key assumptions: that Hamas militants give up their weapons and that an international troop presence keep the peace as Israel withdraws its military from the enclave. But the countries that might make up that force are skittish about committing soldiers who could potentially come into direct conflict with Hamas while it is still an armed group, diplomats and other people familiar with the deliberations say… The creation and deployment of an international force in Gaza could determine whether the current cease-fire has a chance to evolve into a lasting agreement, and whether Israelis and Palestinians move toward the broader aim of a durable peace.

Smotrich on Saudi normalization: ‘No thank you, keep riding camels’

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says that he won’t agree to a normalization agreement with Saudi Arabia if it means the establishment of a Palestinian state, dismissing Riyadh as being free to keep “riding camels.” “If Saudi Arabia tells us ‘normalization in exchange for a Palestinian state,’ friends — no thank you. Keep riding camels in the desert in Saudi Arabia,” Smotrich says…Riyadh has long insisted that it will only normalize ties with Israel if Jerusalem agrees to establish a time-bound, irreversible pathway to a future Palestinian state — something Smotrich and other members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government vehemently oppose.

Trump mulls asking Israel to free Palestinian leader Barghouti as US looks to Gaza’s post-Hamas rule

President Donald Trump is suggesting he could call on Israel to release imprisoned Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti, the most popular and potentially unifying Palestinian leader, as the United States aims to fill a leadership vacuum in postwar Gaza. Trump, in an interview published Thursday, said he has discussed the potential for Barghouti’s release with White House aides. “I was literally being confronted with that question about 15 minutes before you called,” Trump told Time magazine interview when asked about Barghouti. “So I’ll be making a decision.”… One of the few consensus figures in Palestinian politics, the 66-year-old Barghouti is widely seen as a potential successor to Mahmoud Abbas, the aging and unpopular leader of the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority that runs pockets of the West Bank. Polls consistently show Barghouti is the most popular Palestinian leader.

Israeli settlers beat Palestinian farmers on video as attacks mount during West Bank olive harvest

Israeli settlers descended on Palestinian olive harvesters and activists this week in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, beating them with clubs in an attack Palestinian health officials said sent at least one woman to the hospital with serious injuries. The attack Sunday in the town of Turmus Ayya, which was captured in videos obtained by The Associated Press, came as Palestinians say settler violence in the region is worsening. The United Nations and rights groups have raised the alarm as harvest season begins and Palestinian farmers are at growing risk while gathering olives.

A Florida teenager is in an Israeli prison. Why his family and advocates say he should be released

A Florida family already grieving the beating death of a 20-year-old relative is now pleading with U.S. leaders to help free the dead man’s cousin, a 16-year-old Palestinian-American from Florida who has been held in an Israeli prison for eight months. Relatives, advocacy groups and some Congress members have been seeking the release of Mohammed Ibrahim since he was taken into custody when he was 15 by the Israeli military in February. Mohammed’s 20-year-old cousin, Sayfollah Musallet, was beaten to death by settlers in the West Bank village of Al Mazra as-Sharqiya earlier this year.

Most Americans support US recognition of Palestinian state, Reuters/Ipsos poll shows

Most Americans – including 80% of Democrats and 41% of Republicans – think the U.S. should recognize Palestinian statehood, a sign that President Donald Trump’s opposition to doing so is out of step with public opinion, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found. The six-day poll, which closed on Monday, found 59% of respondents backed U.S. recognition of a Palestinian state, while 33% were opposed and the rest were unsure or did not answer the question. About half of Trump’s Republicans – 53% – opposed doing so, while 41% of Republicans said they would support the U.S. recognizing a Palestinian state.

J STREET GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS NEWS DIGEST | October 24, 2025