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.

Moments after Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke at the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) this morning, J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami and J Street Chief Policy Officer Ilan Goldenberg went live on Substack to discuss the speech. You can find the recording here.

This week, more than three-quarters of House Democrats signed a letter opposing the Netanyahu government’s threats to annex the West Bank. This unified statement of opposition came alongside major developments at UNGA, where Britain, Australia, Canada, and Portugal recognized a Palestinian state, joining France and around 150 other member countries. Also at the UN, President Trump unveiled a US plan to end the war in Gaza which won backing from regional Arab leaders. Meanwhile, as pressure to end the war mounts in both the US and Israel, former Biden officials are publicly supporting restrictions on US aid to Israel, signaling major shifts within the Democratic Party and a growing willingness to speak out against the Israeli government’s policies.

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

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Netanyahu’s UN Speech and the Fallout

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J Street Applauds 178 House Democrats Opposing West Bank Annexation

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J Street Welcomes International Recognition of Palestinian Statehood, Warns Against Short-Sighted Retaliation

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UNGA 2025: Five Middle East Flashpoints to Track

Trump’s Gaza peace plan gets support from regional leaders

President Trump and White House envoy Steve Witkoff presented Arab and Muslim leaders with a “21-point plan” for ending the war in Gaza and for post-Hamas governance on Tuesday, garnering positive responses from the attendees. Why it matters: It’s the first time Trump has presented a U.S. plan for ending the war in Gaza. On Wednesday, several leaders issued statements praising it. Trump told the leaders at the meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly that the war must end urgently, two sources said. Trump noted that he’s presenting the plan because every day the war continues, Israel becomes more and more isolated internationally, one source added. “We’re hopeful, and I might say even confident, that in the coming days we’ll be able to announce some sort of breakthrough,” Witkoff said on Wednesday.

Iran snapback sanctions loom as UN security council set to vote on nuclear programme

A final Russian attempt to defer the snapback of large-scale UN sanctions on Iran is expected to fail at the UN security council on Friday after European countries rejected last-minute Iranian offers to give UN weapons inspectors limited access to its bombed nuclear sites. Russia will call for the reimposition of the sanctions to be deferred for six months to give more time for diplomacy, but European diplomats are confident that Russia will not get the nine votes it needs on the security council for the snapback to be deferred. The last time Russia put the same issue to a vote it received only four votes.

French proposal envisions multinational Gaza force tasked with gradually disarming Hamas

France is advancing an initiative aimed at establishing an “International Stabilization Mission” that would replace the IDF in Gaza and work to disarm Hamas after the war ends, according to a draft of the proposal obtained by The Times of Israel. The proposal aims to operationalize an internationally-backed declaration from July calling for a two-state solution, the disarmament of Hamas and the gradual transfer of internal security in Gaza to the Palestinian Authority. The proposal envisions several states leading the transitional force and specifically names Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar as preferred candidates.

Britain, Australia, Canada and Portugal Recognize a Palestinian State

Britain, Canada and Australia confirmed on Sunday that they now formally recognize Palestinian statehood, piling pressure on Israel to ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and putting three major allies at odds with the Trump administration. The coordinated statements came on the eve of the annual gathering of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Later Sunday, Portugal also confirmed its recognition of Palestine. France, which first announced its intention to do so in July, has pledged to vote for recognition of a Palestinian state at the U.N. this week, joining some 150 members of the body who have already done so. The concerted action, across three continents, will deepen the diplomatic isolation of Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

Palestinians in West Bank stranded as Israel shuts only international crossing

Israel has closed the only crossing between the Israeli-occupied West Bank and neighbouring Jordan, stopping more than two million Palestinians from accessing the outside world. The Israeli airports authority, which oversees the Allenby Bridge crossing, said it would be closed indefinitely from Wednesday morning “at the direction of the political leadership”. It did not provide a reason. The closure has stranded many Palestinians in the West Bank, who are unable to go on planned trips abroad. Those who are abroad have been unable to travel home.

Microsoft Disables Some Services to Israel’s Defense Ministry

Microsoft said on Thursday that it had disabled some services to Israel’s Defense Ministry, after a company review concluded that Israel was violating the terms of service for its products. The review found evidence that Israel was using Microsoft’s cloud storage services to hold surveillance data on Palestinians, according to a company blog post. The data included records of millions of phone calls made daily between Palestinians, confirming reporting this year from The Guardian and the Israeli news site +972. Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president, said in the blog post that the company had “a shared interest in privacy protection, given the business value it creates by ensuring our customers can rely on our services with rock solid trust.” Microsoft would not provide technology to “facilitate mass surveillance of civilians,” he said.

Four IDF soldiers killed in roadside bomb attack in southern Gaza’s Rafah

Four Israeli soldiers were killed and three others were wounded in a roadside bomb attack in southern Gaza’s Rafah on Thursday morning, the military announced hours later. The slain soldiers were named by the Israel Defense Forces as Maj. Omri Chai Ben Moshe, 26, from Tzafria; Cpt. Eran Shelem, 23, from Ramat Yohanan; Lt. Eitan Avner Ben Itzhak, 22, from Har Bracha; and Lt. Ron Arieli, 20, from Hadera. Their deaths on Thursday brought Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip to 469.

Opinion | We Served in the Biden Admin. It’s Time to Impose Conditions on Aid to Israel

“The Netanyahu government has proven it is hellbent not just on continuing the war but expanding it, sending more forces into Gaza, flattening buildings, driving out the population, and refusing to put on the table the deal that could most easily end the war : a full ceasefire, withdrawal of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), and a genuine humanitarian surge, in exchange for Hamas releasing all of the hostages, with no other conditions attached…Under these circumstances, with Hamas decimated and humanitarian conditions in Gaza beyond intolerable, we believe it is long past time for more decisive U.S. action to try to end the war. And that includes the most meaningful and material step the United States could take — arguably the only one of consequence — which is to finally leverage the billions of dollars it provides to Israel annually for security assistance.”

J STREET GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS NEWS DIGEST | September 26, 2025