News Roundup for February 12, 2026
ICYMI: The End of the Israel Exception with Andrew Miller, Word on the Street
J Street Chief Policy Officer Ilan Goldenberg sat down with Andrew Miller to discuss Israel’s longstanding political and diplomatic cover in the US and the consequences this dynamic has for the region.
AIPAC Money Is a Toxic Badge for Democrats, The Contrarian
J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami joined Coffee with the Contrarians to unpack Trump’s recent talks with Iran and the volatility of the AIPAC brand after last week’s special election in New Jersey.
Israel Is Quietly Annexing the West Bank, Foreign Affairs
“This move is only the latest development that has brought the West Bank to the brink of outright crisis. The PA could become functionally insolvent within months, ending the provision of basic services to millions of Palestinians and aborting a security-cooperation effort with Israel that, until now, has prevented widespread unrest. ”
Trump Says ‘Nothing Definitive’ Came Out of Meeting With Netanyahu on Iran, New York Times
“Mr. Trump and Mr. Netanyahu have met repeatedly met since Mr. Trump began his second term, reflecting the extent to which cascading crises in Gaza, Israel and Iran have commanded the president’s attention.”
IDF Orders Soldiers to Prevent Palestinians From Plowing Their Land in West Bank, Haaretz
“Alongside efforts by Israeli settlers to prevent Palestinians from working their land, often at the start of the winter, soldiers were at times deployed to block Palestinian agricultural activity following requests by settlers.”
UN Agency Begins Clearing Huge Gaza City Waste Dump as Health Risks Mount, Reuters
“(The head of the UNDP Gaza Office) put the volume of the dump at more than 300,000 cubic metres (390,000 cubic yards) and 13 metres (14 yards) high.”
With 5 Arab Israelis Shot Dead in 12 Hours, Police Chief Warns of ‘National Emergency’, Times of Israel
“In a situational assessment with senior officers on Thursday morning, Levy said police were underequipped to deal with the issue. Law enforcement cannot do its job when ‘our hands are tied, our ears are muffled, and our eyes are blindfolded,’ he said.”
Most American Jews Aren’t ‘Zionist’ – So What Are They?, The Forward
Arno Rosenfeld writes, “The standard explanation was that there wasn’t a common enough understanding of the term to ask the question and that, therefore, it was better to rely on ostensible proxies for ‘Zionism’ like whether Jews believed Israel had a ‘right to exist.'”
