News Roundup for December 18, 2025
J Street Rejects Trump’s Blanket Bans Targeting Palestinians and Other Immigrants, J Street
J Street Vice President and Chief of Staff Adina Vogel-Ayalon said in a statement, “The administration selectively cites violence, instability and extremist activity to justify sweeping restrictions that treat entire communities as security threats, abandoning individualized, evidence-based vetting in favor of collective exclusion. Targeting people as a group erodes the values the United States claims to uphold.”
Travel Ban Pressures Trump’s Peace Ambition, Politico
J Street Vice President Adina Vogel-Ayalon said “the travel restriction policy ‘weakens the Palestinian Authority’ rather than helps it sideline Hamas.”
Amy Spitalnick on the Attack in Australia and Combating Antisemitism, Word on the Street
J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami and Chief Policy Officer Ilan Gloldenberg sat down with Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, for a conversation at an especially heavy and urgent moment – following a deadly antisemitic terror attack at a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney, Australia.
Israel Approves $37 Billion Deal to Deliver Gas to Egypt, New York Times
“Mr. Netanyahu trumpeted the agreement, saying it would bolster Israel’s regional position, generate about $18 billion in taxes and other revenue over time and help to ensure that energy prices remain affordable for Israeli consumers.”
Israel Launches Intense Airstrikes in Lebanon as Deadline Looms to Disarm Hezbollah, AP
“The strikes came a day before a meeting of the committee monitoring the enforcement of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire that halted the latest war between Israel and Hezbollah a year ago.”
‘So Beautiful, So Innocent’: 10-year-old Matilda Killed in Bondi Massacre Laid to Rest, Haaretz
“The emotional funeral came as Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese finally conceded his government could have done more to prevent the worst mass shooting attack in Australia in almost 30 years.”
Knesset Advances Netanyahu Coalition Legislative Blitz Weakening Judiciary, Forcing Judaism Into Public Sphere, Haaretz
“Other bills approved by lawmakers in a preliminary vote include proposed legislation to strip powers from the president of the Supreme Court, grant politicians authority to revoke the rank and benefits of former senior defense establishment figures, and remove restrictions on appointing political activists to boards and senior positions in government companies and other public bodies.”
Killing the ‘Brain Trust’: How Israel Targeted Iran’s Nuclear Scientists, Washington Post
Souad Mekhennet writes, “The massive, multipronged Israeli and U.S. attacks on Iran’s nuclear program convulsed the Middle East, sparked promises of Iranian revenge, and, for now, have tanked the possibility of a diplomatic agreement to curb Tehran’s nuclear work and place it under tight international controls.”
Turkey’s Omission From Gaza Talks Highlights Strain in the Fragile US–Israel Postwar Coalition, Haaretz
Liza Rozovsky writes, “The omission signaled that a decision has effectively been made in Washington – even if not formally declared – to accept Israel’s demand that Turkey be excluded from any international force, whether tasked with disarming Hamas or limited to non-enforcement ‘peacekeeping’ duties.”
