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I’m writing to share J Street’s statements and news updates.
I hope you’ll check out, or continue making use of, our regularly updated tracker of far-right actions by the Netanyahu government. As always, you can find our Congressional briefing book, background information on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, recordings of previous briefings and more at J Street’s Congressional Resource Page.
Please feel free to reach out with any questions.
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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J STREET WELCOMES RETURN OF AMERICANS HELD BY IRAN
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What we’re reading
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Biden warns Netanyahu about the health of Israel’s democracy and urges compromise on court overhaul
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| President Joe Biden raised “hard issues,” including protecting the “checks and balances” in a democracy, in a Wednesday meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, pushing the Israeli leader to find a compromise on a judicial overhaul that has set off months of mass protests in Israel and concerns in Washington. Biden also raised concerns about the far-right Israeli government’s treatment of the Palestinians, urging Netanyahu to take steps to improve conditions in the West Bank at a time of heightened violence in the occupied territory. The two leaders sat down and took time to chat one-on-one on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly… Israeli media, citing a senior official, said Netanyahu assured Biden he was seeking a compromise. However, Netanyahu has made similar pledges in recent months while pushing ahead with the plan, drawing accusations from his opponents that he is not negotiating in good faith. His coalition pushed the first major piece of the legislation through parliament in July… The location of Biden and Netanyahu’s long-anticipated meeting — a New York hotel room on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly meetings rather than the grandeur of the Oval Office — has been widely interpreted in Israel as a sign of U.S. displeasure with Netanyahu’s new government… Biden held out the possibility of the coveted Oval Office meeting, saying, “I hope we’ll see each other in Washington by the end of the year.” The U.S. later formally invited Netanyahu to the White House, eyeing a meeting in November or December. |
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2,000 protest against Netanyahu outside UN as he addresses General Assembly
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| Around 2,000 protesters opposed to the government’s judicial overhaul rallied Friday against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu outside UN headquarters in New York City, as he delivered a speech to the General Assembly. The demonstration culminated a week of protest activities against Netanyahu while visiting the US for the annual UN gathering, and appeared to be the largest demonstration against the judicial legislation held outside Israel since the government announced the legislative package at the beginning of the year. The Israeli-led crowd included many non-Israeli US Jews and filled a plaza across from the UN with Israeli flags bearing the slogan “free in our land,” a line from Israel’s national anthem… Representatives of Israeli activist groups were in attendance including the Brothers in Arms veterans group, the Anti-Occupation Bloc, academics and high-tech workers. US groups included the dovish rabbinic rights group T’ruah, which led a prayer ahead of the protest… Protest organizers in New York have said their protests are motivated by patriotism and Zionism, and that their public support for democratic rights and equality projects a positive image of Israel… The anti-overhaul demonstrators have hounded Netanyahu throughout his US trip, holding rallies attended by hundreds earlier this week in Times Square and outside a meeting between Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden. Protesters also held a series of events in California as the prime minister visited for a meeting with Elon Musk earlier in the week. |
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UN reports says West Bank settler violence has displaced over 1,100 Palestinians since 2022
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| Violence from Israeli settlers has displaced over 1,100 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since 2022, according to a U.N. report released Thursday, with officials describing the exodus as unparalleled in recent years. The report documented about three settler-related incidents each day in the West Bank — the highest daily average since the U.N. began documenting the trend in 2006. The violence has completely emptied out five Palestinian communities. Six more have seen half their inhabitants leave, and seven have seen a quarter flee, the report said. As Israeli settlements expand under the far-right government of Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinians say the violence from radical Israeli settlers has reached a fever pitch. “The U.N. has recorded unprecedented levels of settler violence against Palestinians this year,” said Lynn Hastings, humanitarian coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory. “The humanitarian community is responding to their immediate needs, but there would be no need for humanitarian assistance if their fundamental rights were upheld”… Experts say the trend is transforming the map of the West Bank and further undermining the prospects for an independent Palestinian state. The Palestinians seek the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip — areas captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war — for their future state… Palestinians who have been displaced report that Israeli authorities, charged with administering the territory, rarely respond to instances of settler violence. According to U.N. data, nearly all the communities where displacement occurred said they had filed complaints with authorities, but only 6% said that Israeli authorities had followed up on the complaint. |
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Six Palestinians are killed in latest fighting with Israel, at least 3 of them militants
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| Israeli military operations in the occupied West Bank and unrest in the Gaza Strip killed six Palestinians, Palestinian health officials said Wednesday, the latest spike in a wave of violence that has roiled the region for more than a year. At least three of those killed were claimed as militant fighters. The Palestinian Health Ministry said an Israeli raid into the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank killed four people and wounded about 30 others late Tuesday, while a raid in a separate refugee camp killed a fifth Palestinian. A sixth Palestinian was killed by Israeli gunfire during unrest in the Gaza Strip, officials said. The deadly violence between Israel and the Palestinians over the last year and a half has surged to levels unseen in the West Bank in some two decades. Israel has stepped up its raids on Palestinian areas and Palestinian attacks on Israelis have been mounting. Tensions also appear to be spreading to Gaza… The bloodshed in the Jenin camp hours earlier was the latest in that stronghold of Palestinian militants where the Israeli military often carries out deadly raids. In July, Israel launched its most intense operation in the West Bank in nearly two decades, leaving widespread destruction in the camp… Israel says the raids are meant to dismantle militant networks and thwart future attacks. Some 190 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the start of the year, according to a tally by The Associated Press. Israel says most of those killed have been militants, but youths protesting the incursions and others not involved in the confrontations have also been killed. |
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Israeli opposition rejects idea for Saudi Arabia to enrich its own uranium
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| Israel’s opposition leader has hit out at the idea of allowing Saudi Arabia to enrich uranium in the kingdom, warning such a development would pose a threat to the Jewish state’s security. Saudi Arabia has been seeking US help to develop a civilian nuclear programme as part of US-brokered talks on normalising relations between Riyadh and Israel in a complex deal with the potential to reshape the geopolitics of the Middle East. Yair Lapid, head of Israel’s largest opposition group, Yesh Atid, on Thursday said the prospect of Israel establishing full relations with Saudi Arabia, a leader of the Arab world, was a “welcome thing”. But he also said a deal should not come at the cost of triggering “a nuclear arms race throughout the Middle East”. “Strong democracies do not sacrifice their security interests for politics. It is dangerous and irresponsible,” Lapid said in a video posted on the social media platform X. “Israel must not agree to any type of uranium enrichment in Saudi Arabia.” Lapid’s comments follow a report in the Wall Street Journal that US and Israeli officials were discussing the establishment of a US-run uranium-enrichment programme in Saudi Arabia, and an interview given by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in which he said that if Iran managed to develop a nuclear weapon, the kingdom would need to follow suit. “If they get one, we have to get one,” he told Fox News’ Special Report in an interview aired on Wednesday. |
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U.S.-Iran prisoner swap could pave the way for talks on bigger issues
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| Faced with crippling sanctions at home and eyeing upcoming U.S. elections, Iran agreed to a prisoner swap that freed five Americans, five Iranians and granted Tehran access to $6 billion of its reserves frozen abroad Monday. After years of escalating tensions with the United States, Iran may have seen Monday’s prisoner swap as a last chance to secure access — albeit limited — to funds at a time when the country’s economy is sputtering after years of international sanctions and economic mismanagement, according to analysts. There is also hope that these small steps could lead to discussion of more substantive issues such as a return to the nuclear deal — though that could be hampered by uncertainty of what sort of leadership will be running the United States after the elections… The Biden administration has pledged to revive a nuclear agreement with Iran, but if a Republican wins the 2024 presidential election, Iran policy is likely to experience a dramatic shift, as happened when Donald Trump took office and withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal… The willingness of the two countries to agree on Monday’s swap shows Washington and Tehran have decided the escalating tensions between the two countries won’t serve either side, analysts and officials say. But that understanding is fragile and could easily collapse. A detainee deal was “the lowest-hanging fruit” of issues the two sides could agree on, [Ali Vaez, the Iran project director for the International Crisis Group] said. The United States and Iran “have not resolved anything, they’ve just agreed to keep a lid on their differences.” |
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