J Street works to promote an open, honest and rigorous conversation about Israel. The opinions reflected in articles posted in the News Roundup do not necessarily reflect J Street’s positions, and their posting does not constitute an endorsement from J Street.
Pro-Israel Group Attacks Lee as Bad Democrat Without Mentioning Israel, or Its Own Support for GOP, WESA
“A pro-Israeli political committee has taken to Pittsburgh’s airwaves by attacking Congressional candidate Summer Lee. But while its advertisements — which don’t mention Israel at all — blast Lee for not being a loyal Democrat, the organization behind it also backs hardline Republicans who fought to overturn Joe Biden’s election. The bare-knuckles approach has concerned some local Jewish political leaders. “They don’t use AIPAC’s name on the super PAC, but it’s AIPAC’s money, and this is an organization that supports a lot of Republicans, including those who voted to overturn the results of the election,” said Ritchie Tabachnick. Tabachnick is the local political director of J Street, which urges a less hardline approach to Israel’s conflict with Palestinians. Tabachnick said the group has backed Lee, along with fellow candidate Jerry Dickinson, because “she’s aligned with us on our core issues.” “We’ve interviewed her twice locally, and the national organization has interviewed her,” Tabachnick said. “I just don’t see Summer Lee as someone who isn’t a friend of Israel. [And] there’s no credibility to the statement that she isn’t a true Democrat.””
Israeli Police and Palestinians Clash at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, The Guardian
Israeli police have fired rubber bullets and stun grenades towards Palestinian youths throwing rocks in the latest outbreak of violence at Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque, a site revered by Muslims and Jews. At least 42 Palestinians were injured in the early morning clashes on Friday at Islam’s third-holiest site, the Palestine Red Crescent said.
Chaos as American Family Brings Unexploded Shell to Israel Airport, CNN
An American family caused havoc at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv on Thursday when they tried to transport an unexploded shell through airport security. The tourists found the shell while traveling in the Golan Heights, explained Israel Airport Authorities in a press statement.
New Jewish Settlement in Hebron Gets Green Light From Israel’s Top Court, Haaretz
The Supreme Court rejected on Thursday an appeal against the construction of a new Jewish neighborhood in Hebron’s Old City, removing the final legal hurdle for the project. The decision may affect the approval of another proposed Jewish neighborhood in Hebron, a major Palestinian city in the southern West Bank, despite violations of municipal planning regulations.
British UK Labour Party Hosts Israeli Delegation in Latest Sign of Mending Ties, The Times of Israel
UK Labour leader Keir Starmer and senior members of his party have recently hosted members of Israel’s Labor party, taking them door-to-door to meet with residents as part of the local elections campaign in north London.
Israelis From ISIS-linked Shooters’ Hometown Charged With Knowledge of Terror Attack, Haaretz
Prosecutors charged on Friday two residents of the Arab-Israeli city of Umm al-Fahm for failing to prevent a terror attack in the Israeli city of Hadera last month.
Altercation: AIPAC Goes Full Trump, The American Prospect
Eric Alterman writes, “[W]hat AIPAC shamelessly calls its “United Democracy Project” is clearly not only undermining its bona fides as a supporter of American democracy; it is also renouncing whatever claim it had to represent the values, and interests, of American Jewry. Then again, it’s not as if AIPAC, its allies in Congress, and the rest of the world of establishment Jewish organizations can claim to care about democracy inside Israel, either. After all, there can be no argument that the laws under which the Palestinians are forced to live in the West Bank are even remotely subject to democratic rule.”
IRGC Terror Designation Should Not Prevent Iran Nuclear Deal – Opinion, The Jerusalem Post
Former Israeli Deputy National Security Advisor Chuck Freilich and former IDF General Yair Golan argue, ” A nuclear deal with Iran is critical to Israel’s national security. A lifting of the US designation of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist group, the primary outstanding obstacle to a renewed deal, is a symbolic issue that should not be allowed to get in the way.”