In Gaza and the West Bank Things Go from Bad to Worse, Substack
J Street Chief Policy Officer and Senior Vice President Ilan Goldenberg writes, “Only 8% of Democrats and 25% of Independents support Israel’s policies in Gaza. Israel is as isolated internationally as it has ever been. Yet you wouldn’t know this from talking to the Israeli government or the IDF. During our visit, the Netanyahu government doubled down on plans to occupy nearly all of Gaza.”
Israeli Settlement Plans Will ‘Bury’ Idea of Palestinian State, Minister Says, BBC
“Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has said plans to build more than 3,000 homes in a controversial settlement project in the occupied West Bank will ‘bury the idea of a Palestinian state’. The so-called E1 project between Jerusalem and the Maale Adumim settlement has been frozen for decades amid fierce opposition internationally.”
Israeli Forces Step Up Gaza City Bombardment as Egypt Hosts Hamas, Reuters
“Israeli forces demolished houses in eastern areas of Gaza City overnight, killing at least 11 people in aerial and tank fire, local health authorities said, as the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas told mediators it was ready to resume ceasefire talks.”
Hundreds of Retired Air Force Officers Protest Israel’s War in Gaza, NPR
“On Tuesday, a different kind of demonstration took place: hundreds of retired Israeli Air Force pilots rallied against the war outside the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv. It was the first time the group, which calls itself ‘555,’ had gathered in person to oppose the Israeli cabinet’s latest decision — to launch an operation to capture Gaza City and expand the nearly two-year war.”
New Israeli Rules Stopping Critical Aid Getting Into Gaza, Charities Say, BBC
“Humanitarian groups, including Oxfam and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), say they are increasingly being told they are ‘not authorised’ to deliver aid, unless they comply with the stricter Israeli regulations. Groups risk being banned if they ‘delegitimise’ the state of Israel or do not provide detailed information about Palestinian staff, the letter says.”
With Arson and Land Grabs, Israeli Settler Attacks in West Bank Hit Record High, The New York Times
“With the world’s attention on Gaza, extremist settlers in the West Bank are carrying out one of the most violent and effective campaigns of intimidation and land grabbing since Israel occupied the territory during the Arab-Israeli war of 1967.”
Why Arab Rulers Aren’t More Vocal About Gaza as Global Outcry Grows, NBC
“As deaths from starvation and Israeli bombardment have mounted, Palestinians, their supporters and some analysts have directed their anger toward Arab rulers in the region whom they perceive as being too passive and quiet. They point to countries outside the Middle East who have publicly criticized Israel and tried to stop it from expanding its military operations in Gaza.”
[Audio] When Is It Genocide?, The Ezra Klein Show
Ezra Klein writes, “One reason I have stayed away from the word genocide is that there is an imprecision at its heart. When people use the word genocide, I think they imagine something like the Holocaust: the attempted extermination of an entire people. But the legal definition of genocide encompasses much more than that. So what is a genocide? And is this one?”
Why, Despite Gaza’s Carnage, I Still Have Hope for Israel and Palestine, Haaretz
Vera Weidenbach writes, “Hopelessness is a political tool, because it gives the powerful more power. Netanyahu wants people to believe that he will never go away and that it cannot get better. He wants people to believe that there is no alternative to war and that thinking about true Arab-Israeli peace is but naivety. This is how hope against all odds becomes resistance.”
The Latest Pro-Israel Talking Point on Gaza Is Guaranteed to Backfire, The Forward
Nadav Ziv writes, “In framing horrified onlookers’ concerns as the latest example of a foolish public getting duped by propaganda, Netanyahu and other apologists are embracing an alarming rhetorical strategy, and drawing directly from the playbooks of those who deny the crimes of Oct. 7 and the Holocaust. By ‘just asking questions’ to create doubt, and suggesting that concerns about the veracity of individual anecdotes should outweigh a mountain of evidence, they’re adopting tactics similar to those long used to dispute the facts of antisemitic atrocities.”