Itamar Ben-Gvir Is Coming to America, With Stops at Yale and in New York City Already Set, The Jewish Telegraphic Agency
A coalition of liberal Jewish organizations – including J Street – signed a public letter mobilizing against far-right Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s upcoming US visit. The letter condemns his extremist views, stating that “He is not welcome in our country. He does not represent us as Jews or as Israelis. We steadfastly oppose his dark vision for Judaism, Israel and for the Middle East.”
My ‘Mixed Multitude’ Passover Seder Was a Ringing, Singing Celebration of Diversity, The Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Rabbi Sarah Reines from J Street’s Rabbinic and Cantorial Cabinet writes: ” [At the Passover seder] We leaned into the healing power of inclusion and empathy. I began by quoting Rachel Goldberg-Polin, whose son Hersh was captured, tortured and murdered by Hamas. She emphatically reminded us that there is something perverse about celebrating liberation when there are still souls and bodies being held in the dark tunnels of Gaza. […] We ended the seder with lyrics of a folk song by Shaul Tchernichovsky that my Israeli friend Nadav Tamir, executive director of J Street Israel, believes should be the anthem of today.”
Hamas Rejects Ceasefire Offer As Far-Right Israeli Lawmakers Call for Escalation in Gaza, CNN
“The rejection prompted far-right Israeli lawmakers to issue calls for an immediate escalation in Gaza, urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to unleash ‘hell’ and pursue ‘complete victory.’ The Israeli ceasefire proposal did not guarantee an end to the war and called for the disarmament of Gaza, both of which have been red lines for Hamas. The militant organization refuses to give up its weapons and demands that any proposal includes a permanent end to the war. ‘We want a comprehensive package,’ the official said. The Israeli plan called for a 45-day truce, during which the two sides would aim to negotiate a permanent ceasefire.”
U.S. Envoy Boehler Says Gaza Fighting to Stop With Return of All Hostages, Haaretz
“‘I can tell you that the fighting would end immediately, immediately if hostages are released,’ Boehler told Al Jazeera on Wednesday, in his first interview since his infamous media blitz last month, where he dismissed Israeli concerns over his direct talks with Hamas. ‘The day that those hostages are released, the fighting will end.’ Senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya responded to Boehler’s interview, saying Hamas welcomed the U.S. envoy’s supposed linkage of the hostages and the end of fighting as aligning with the organization’s position.”
Trump Envoy Quietly Met Israeli Officials Ahead of Iran Nuclear Talks, Axios
“Ron Dermer and David Barnea, Israel’s strategic affairs minister and the director of the Mossad intelligence agency, slipped into Paris for the low-profile meeting with Witkoff to try to influence the U.S. position ahead of the second round of talks in Rome on Saturday, the officials said. […] During those meetings, Witkoff stressed that the Trump administration’s goal on Iran is to resolve the nuclear crisis through diplomatic means and ensure Iran will no longer enrich uranium.”
Hamas Calls for Pressure To End Israel’s Aid Block on Gaza, Al-Monitor
“Hamas on Friday urged the international community to exert immediate pressure to end Israel’s complete blockade of the Gaza Strip that has been in place since March 2. The appeal from the militants comes after the United Nations warned of worsening conditions and shortages of medicine and other essentials. […] Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday said the country would keep preventing humanitarian aid from entering the Gaza Strip. ‘Blocking this aid is one of the main pressure levers preventing Hamas from using it as a tool with the population,’ Katz said in a statement.”
Gaza-based Photo Journalist, Subject of Anticipated Cannes Documentary, Killed in Israeli Strike, Haaretz
“Fatma Hassona, a 25-year-old Palestinian photojournalist with a large online following, was killed on Wednesday in an Israeli airstrike with at least nine other members of her family. Hassona is the subject of an upcoming documentary, ‘Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk,’ which will screen at the Cannes Film Festival in May. Her death has sparked widespread condemnation and an outpouring of grief from Gaza and around the world.”
Israel Just Threw Another Wrench in the Peace Process — and Possibly Doomed the Last Hostages, The Forward
Dan Perry writes: “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come up with a new seemingly reasonable but actually impractical demand engineered to prolong the war in Gaza: that Hamas fully disarm before any new ceasefire can be reached. […] This new demand is laughable on that front: Every day brings more dangers to the remaining hostages in Gaza, 24 of whom are believed to still be alive. And many days will pass before Hamas will agree to a demand this extreme. Here’s the proof: No Islamist militia in the Middle East has ever voluntarily disarmed. A government well aware of this fact, that also cared about the return of all 59 hostages, living and dead, would not bet their fate on the idea that Hamas will be the first.”
‘We’re Champions at Repression’: Israel Air Force Pilots Open Up About the Moral Dilemmas of the Gaza War, Haaretz
“From the conversations, it emerges that the air strike apparatus works in a way that easily obscures the full picture – including the consequences of a bombing – from those involved in the various stages of an operation. ‘I don’t want to insult the guys in the cockpits, but a pilot today can’t know what he’s bombing,’ says a retired pilot who served in the current war as an air support officer in one of the brigades deployed in Gaza. ‘It’s unpleasant to say, but pilots today are porters. No one lets them know about innocent civilians.’”