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I’m writing to share J Street’s statements and news updates. With Israel’s election taking place on Tuesday, I hope you can join us for a special pre-election briefing tomorrow at 10AM with Noa Landau, the deputy editor-in-chief of Haaretz. Be sure to check out Laudau’s op-ed on the high stakes in the Israeli election at the end of this digest. Please register for the briefing at this link.
While Israelis head to the polls, tensions in the occupied West Bank continue to rise, with an Israeli raid in Nablus earlier in the week that destroyed a weapons workshop.
Meanwhile, Israeli President Isaac Herzog is visiting Washington. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer warmly extended an invitation to Herzog to return to Washington to address a joint session of Congress to celebrate Israel’s 75th anniversary (which will occur in May).
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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ANTISEMITISM IN THE US — INEXCUSABLE, DANGEROUS AND SPREADING
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What we’re reading
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Herzog invited to address Congress as Israel turns 75
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| Israeli President Isaac Herzog has been invited to address a joint meeting of Congress as Israel prepares to celebrate the 75th anniversary of its founding, which congressional leaders called a “historic and joyous milestone.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., issued the invitation to Herzog in a joint letter Tuesday. They said the two nations have shared “an unbreakable bond rooted in common security, shared values, and friendship.” |
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Israeli raid on Nablus kills 5, destroys bomb lab in escalating violence
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| Israeli security forces blew up a weapons workshop and killed the leader of an alleged terrorist cell during a deadly raid in Nablus early Tuesday, military officials said. At least five Palestinians were killed and more than 20 injured in the fighting, according to Palestinian health officials, the latest in the near nightly clashes between Israel and militants in West Bank cities…Palestinian media reported that one vehicle was apparently struck by a drone or missile, which would mark an escalation in the fire power Israeli forces usually bring to bear in the West Bank. Airstrikes are common in Israeli attacks on Hamas and Islamic Jihad positions in the Gaza Strip, and Israeli media reported that commanders had recently approved drone attacks in other occupied areas. The IDF declined to comment on the drone report. |
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Resisting Israeli Efforts to Displace Them, Palestinians Move Into Caves
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| But in May, the Israeli Supreme Court approved the expulsion of some 1,200 Palestinians in the villages so the Israeli Army could use the land for a live-fire military training ground. That could set the stage for one of the biggest mass expulsions of Palestinians since 1967, which the United Nations says could amount to a war crime. Residents in the villages scattered across the rolling hills in the area known as Masafer Yatta have been waiting anxiously to see what happens — and preparing their caves… The Defense Ministry has said that declaring the area a firing zone is consistent with international law governing military occupation. |
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Judges, ministers, now army chief: Settlers rise in Israel
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| For the first time, a settler will serve as chief of staff of Israel’s military, becoming the enforcer of Israel’s open-ended occupation of the West Bank, now in its 56th year… Halevi’s rise caps the decades-long transformation of the settler movement from a small group of religious ideologues to a diverse and influential force at the heart of the Israeli mainstream whose members have reached the highest ranks of government and other key institutions. Critics say the settlers’ outsized political influence imperils any hope for the creation of an independent Palestinian state and endangers the country’s future as a democracy. They say Halevi’s appointment lays bare just how interconnected settlers and the military truly are. |
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Analysis: Will Netanyahu Return? What Israel’s Last-minute Election Polls Tell Us – and What They Don’t
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| The “blocs,” of parties who support or oppose Netanyahu forming the next government reflect a nearly unwavering dead heat. But tiny trends can be important: Until the party lists were finalized in mid-September, the parties expected to support Netanyahu held a stable average of around 59 seats. Since then the average has crept steadily upward; reaching 60.3 over the last two weeks – not enough for a majority government, but indicating a rise. The parties expected to oppose a Netanyahu-led government are getting 60 seats. Since the largely Arab Hadash-Ta’al list seems unlikely be invited into a government or to join one, that hypothetical coalition is often counted as 56… In other words: most voters haven’t changed their minds. They meant it the first four times. |
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Opinion: Orbanization and the Impending Disaster Facing Israel
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| And despite the desperation and the warnings trapped in the echo chamber, we have the Sisyphean obligation to keep on reminding people until we grow hoarse: One more term headed by Netanyahu and we will no longer be able to turn back the clock. The next step will be deep structural changes of the justice and electoral systems, and they will block potential change for generations to come. |
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