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 was marked by two terror attacks in Israel: a bus shooting on Sunday that killed six Israelis and a stabbing today that injured two more. On Tuesday, Israel launched an airstrike targeting Hamas leadership in Qatar, a move which hostage families fear risks the lives of loved ones in captivity. In Gaza, the IDF Chief of Staff moved forward with plans to evacuate the entire population of Gaza City, against objections from Israel’s top military lawyer. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Netanyahu signed plans for E-1 settlement expansion in an effort to further foreclose on prospects for a Palestinian state while 142 members of the UN passed a non-binding resolution to establish a Palestinian state and remove Hamas from power in Gaza.

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 Condemns Horrific Jerusalem Terror Attack

Statement

J Street Responds to Doha Strike

Word on the Street

Netanyahu’s Gift to Hamas

Word on the Street

Israel Strikes Hamas in Doha

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What we’re reading

Families fear for hostages after Israel’s strike on Hamas in Doha

The families of Israeli hostages held in Gaza said they were fearful for the fate of their loved ones after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to launch strikes on the Hamas leadership in Qatar, just as a new ceasefire push was underway. Qatar has been hosting leaders of the Palestinian militant group which is still holding 48 hostages in Gaza, and is one of the mediators, along with the United States, trying to secure a ceasefire deal that would include the captives’ release. Some hostage families said they were outraged by Tuesday’s assassination attempt in Doha, fearing Hamas could take retribution against their loved ones.

Two wounded, one seriously, in terror stabbing at hotel west of Jerusalem

A Palestinian man stabbed and wounded two people in a suspected terror attack at a hotel in Kibbutz Tzuba near Jerusalem on Friday, police and medics said. The wounded are a 50-year-old man, seriously injured, and a 23-year-old man, moderately injured. Both were conscious and suffering from stab wounds, the hospital said. The assailant was an employee of the hotel, with a history of security offenses, according to the police. He is from Shuafat in East Jerusalem.

UN overwhelmingly passes non-binding resolution to establish Palestinian state sans Hamas

The United Nations General Assembly votes overwhelmingly to endorse a declaration outlining “tangible, time-bound and irreversible steps” toward a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians, without the involvement of Hamas. One hundred and forty-two countries vote in favor of the non-binding resolution enshrining the New York Declaration, which also calls on Hamas to release all hostages and condemns the terror group’s October 7 onslaught. Joining Israel and the United States in opposing the resolution were Argentina, Hungary, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay and Tonga. Twelve countries abstained.

Palestinian gunmen kill 6 people in attack on Jerusalem bus stop

Palestinian attackers opened fire at a bus stop during the morning rush hour in Jerusalem on Monday, killing six people and wounding another 12, according to Israeli officials… The war in Gaza has sparked a surge of violence in Israel and the occupied West Bank, with a rise in attacks by Palestinian militants as well as settler violence against Palestinians. Monday’s shooting — at a major intersection, with a road leading to Jewish settlements in east Jerusalem — was the deadliest in Israel since October 2024.

‘There will be no Palestinian state’: Netanyahu signs plan for E1 settlement expansion

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared on Thursday evening that “there will be no Palestinian state,” as he signed an agreement to push ahead with the controversial E1 settlement expansion plan that will cut across West Bank land Palestinians seek for a state. “We are going to fulfill our promise that there will be no Palestinian state; this place belongs to us,” Netanyahu said during a visit to the Ma’ale Adumim settlement in the West Bank, on the outskirts of Jerusalem, where thousands of new housing units would be added. “We will safeguard our heritage, our land and our security… We are going to double the city’s population,” he added.

IDF Chief Ignores Top Military Lawyer in Ordering Full Gaza City Evacuation

IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir on Monday ordered the evacuation of the entire population of Gaza City, contrary to the position of the army’s top lawyer, the IDF’s Military Advocate General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi. Last week, Tomer-Yerushalmi warned Zamir that it could not be determined that the planned evacuation operations to southern Gaza would be legal and demanded that evacuation notices be postponed until the necessary conditions for receiving the population were in place, but he ignored her position. A few days later, he convened a meeting with IDF Southern Command Chief Yaniv Asor and Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) Ghassan Alian, excluding the Military Advocate General, and the three decided to order all residents of Gaza City to move south without informing Tomer-Yerushalmi of the decision.

A Houthi drone strikes an Israeli airport in a rare hit as Israel steps up Gaza City attacks

A drone fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels breached Israel’s multilayered air defenses on Sunday and slammed into the country’s southern airport, the Israeli military said, blowing out glass windows, wounding one person and briefly shutting down commercial airspace. The damage to Ramon Airport appeared limited and flights resumed within hours. The Houthis claimed responsibility for the strike. The attack follows Israeli strikes on Yemen’s rebel-held capital that killed the Houthi prime minister and other top officials in a major escalation of the nearly 2-year-old conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group in Yemen.

Saudi Arabia, UAE said to agree on freezing normalization over West Bank annexation plan

Saudi Arabia has given the United Arab Emirates its blessing to reconsider normalization with Israel should moves be made toward the annexation of the West Bank, Israel’s Kan news outlet reports, citing a source close to the Saudi royal family. According to the report, the issue was discussed during a recent meeting between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed, who met in Riyadh last week. The Saudi Press Agency reported that the two discussed “the latest developments in Palestine,” among other matters. Kan quotes the source saying the two agreed that a pullback from the Abraham Accords would be a “realistic” option should moves toward annexation be made.