 |
|
I hope you are doing well.
I wanted to highlight a few important updates from the region over the past week, including the renewed push by the Biden Administration to seal a ceasefire deal after the brutal murder of six Israeli hostages by Hamas, the tragic killing of a US citizen in the West Bank, and the progress of the polio vaccination campaign.
I hope you find these resources helpful. As always, please feel free to reach out with any questions.
All the best,
Hannah
—
Hannah Morris
She/Her
Director of Government Affairs, J Street
Cell: 832-606-1817
J Street’s Congressional Resource Page
|
This week on j street
|
|
|
| STATEMENT |
|
J Street Deeply Alarmed by Killing of US Citizen in West Bank, Calls for Transparency and Accountability
|
| Read more → |
|
|
|
|
|
| SHUSHAN STREET |
|
SHUSHAN STREET: PRESIDENT BIDEN MUST USE LEVERAGE TO ACHIEVE A CEASEFIRE AND SAVE THE HOSTAGES
|
| Read more → |
|
|
|
|
|
| STATEMENT |
|
J Street Commends Justice Department Charges Against Hamas Leaders
|
| Read more → |
|
|
|
|
|
| STATEMENT |
|
J Street to President Biden: It’s Time for Maximum Pressure on Netanyahu and Hamas to Seal the Deal Now
|
| Read more → |
|
|
|
|
|
| STATEMENT |
|
J Street Community Utterly Devastated By Murder of Six Israeli Hostages
|
| Read more → |
|
|
|
|
|
What we’re reading
|
US says Netanyahu’s Philadelphi statements complicating talks, slams ministers speaking out against deal
|
 |
| The Biden administration says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s repeated declarations that Israel plans to indefinitely remain in the Philadelphi Corridor have complicated the ongoing hostage negotiations.“I’ve never been involved in a negotiation where every day there’s a public statement about the details of negotiation. It makes it difficult. The less that is said about particular issues, the better,” says a senior administration official in a briefing with reporters. “Staking out concrete positions in the middle of negotiations isn’t always particularly helpful,” the top US official says in what appears to be one of the first criticisms of Netanyahu’s comments regarding the Philadelphi Corridor. To date, US officials had avoided commenting more directly on the prime minister’s comments. |
| read more |
Hamas’ brutal new tactics signal new phase in war and hostage crisis
|
 |
| With its announcement that militants guarding Israeli hostages in the buildings and tunnels of Gaza had “new instructions” to kill them if Israeli troops closed in, Hamas signaled the opening of a chilling new chapter in an already brutal war. Seizing on a spasm of public outrage in Israel at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s inability to bring home the remaining hostages, Hamas released a comic book-style image of a kneeling figure threatened with a gun, followed by a video of Eden Yerushalmi, 24, a bartender at the Nova music festival and one of six hostages who Israel says were shot at close range in Hamas captivity last week before Israeli forces could reach them. |
| read more |
US activist killed after Israeli military fires at protest in West Bank
|
 |
| A 26-year-old American activist, Aysenur Eygi, has been shot and killed during an anti-settlement protest near Nablus, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, according to US and Palestinian officials. The Israeli military has admitted to firing at the demonstrators and has not said if any other gunmen were present. US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew confirmed that Eygi, who was born in Turkey, was the victim and said the embassy was “urgently gathering more information about the circumstances of her death.” She was shot during a weekly demonstration against an Israeli settlement near the Palestinian village of Beita, according to a fellow demonstrator and a resident. Eyewitnesses and Palestinian officials said the Israeli military was responsible. |
| read more |
Reports: 13-year-old Palestinian girl shot dead by Israeli forces after settlers storm West Bank village
|
 |
| Palestinian media reports that a 13-year-old girl died of her wounds after being shot by Israeli forces near Nablus in the West Bank amid a clash between extremist settlers and local villagers. She was evacuated in serious condition from the village of Qaryut to a hospital in Nablus, according to the PA official news agency Wafa, where doctors pronounced her death. According to the report, Bana Amjad Bakr was shot in her room at her home in Qaryut. The Yesh Din rights group says the incident began when dozens of settlers, allegedly guarded by Israeli soldiers, stormed the West Bank village and lit fires in the area. The shots that killed Bakr were fired during clashes between Palestinian villagers and settlers that ensued. |
| read more |
UN welcomes progress in Gaza polio campaign, calls for permanent ceasefire
|
 |
| The campaign was prompted by the discovery of a case of polio in a baby boy last month, the first in the Gaza Strip for 25 years. Israel and Hamas militants agreed to daily pauses of eight hours in the fighting in pre-specified areas to allow the vaccination program. No violations have been reported. “Great progress! Every day in the Middle Areas of #Gaza, more children are getting vaccines against #Polio,” the head of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, said on X on Wednesday. “While these polio ‘pauses’ are giving people some respite, what is urgently needed is a permanent ceasefire, the release of all hostages + the standard flow of humanitarian supplies including medical and hygiene supplies (into Gaza),” he said. |
| read more |
UK suspends 30 arms export licenses to Israel after review
|
 |
| The UK has broken with the Biden administration on a significant part of their tightly coordinated policy towards Israel by announcing it is suspending some arms export licenses to Israel because of a “clear risk” they may be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law. The Foreign Office said a two-month internal review had raised concerns about the way Israel had conducted itself in the conflict in Gaza and that the decision specifically related to concerns around the treatment of Palestinian detainees and the supply of aid to Gaza. No definitive conclusion has been reached about whether UK arms export licenses have contributed to the destruction in the territory. But the scale of the devastation and the number of civilian deaths caused great concern, the Foreign Office said. |
| read more |
Analysis | As Gaza Cease-fire and Hostage Deal on Brink of Collapse, One Unlikely Step Could Bring It to Fruition
|
 |
| Sources involved in the negotiations estimated that even if the plan fails, the U.S. would attempt to renew talks later, in an attempt to promote a new agreement. They agreed that such a move would take a lot of time, and that its chances were unclear. Along with the pessimism and the problems that are far from being solved, sources involved in the negotiations laid out the route that would allow Netanyahu to approve the deal despite his opposition. “The chances for a deal stand at 10 percent, perhaps less, but it is still possible,” estimated a foreign diplomat. Defining the new American proposal as a “take it or leave it” option would force Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar to decide whether they’ll back off, swallow their pride and compromise. In such a scenario, the prime minister, who publicly opposes such a plan, could be forced to bring it for the approval of the government. |
| read more |
Explainer | Dozens of Hostages Remain in Gaza: What We Know
|
 |
| More than 60 living hostages, and the bodies of about 35 others taken captive on Oct. 7 but believed to be dead, are still in Gaza, according to the Israeli authorities. In all, about 250 people were abducted on Oct. 7, according to Israeli officials, who include in that number 37 people who were murdered in the initial attack and whose bodies were taken back to Gaza. Those taken were mainly civilians but also included military and security personnel. They were men, women and children, Israeli citizens as well as people who were citizens of the United States, Britain, France, Russia, Germany, Mexico, Thailand and other countries. In all, 12 people with U.S. citizenship were abducted to Gaza on Oct. 7, according to the Israeli government. Two of them, Judith Raanan and her daughter, Natalie Raanan, were freed on Oct. 20 after pressure on Hamas by the United States and Qatar. Two others were released during a cease-fire in November. |
| read more |
Opinion | How Netanyahu Is Trying to Save Himself, Elect Trump and Defeat Harris
|
 |
| “But the Biden Doctrine ran directly into the Bibi Doctrine, which centers on doing everything possible to avoid any political process with the Palestinians that may require a territorial compromise in the West Bank that would break Netanyahu’s political alliance with the Israeli far right. To that end, Bibi has made sure for years that Palestinians remain divided and unable to have a unified position. He ensured that Hamas remained a viable governing entity in Gaza by, among other things, arranging for Qatar to send Hamas more than $1 billion for humanitarian aid, fuel and government salaries from 2012 to 2018. At the same time, Netanyahu did everything he could to discredit and humiliate the Palestinian Authority and its president, Mahmoud Abbas, who has recognized Israel, embraced the Oslo peace process and partnered with Israel’s security services to try to keep the peace in the West Bank for nearly three decades.” |
| read more |
|
