News Roundup for February 18, 2026
J Street’s Aidan Jelinek Brings West Bank Report to Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle
“As violence continues in the West Bank and prospects for a traditional two-state solution appear increasingly remote, Aidan Jelinek argues it’s time to widen the lens. Speaking in Pittsburgh, the J Street activist said he supports a ’23-state solution’ — a regional framework he believes could normalize Israel’s relationship with the Arab world while laying groundwork for Palestinian statehood.”
Trump Moves Closer to a Major War With Iran, Axios
“A U.S. military operation in Iran would likely be a massive, weeks-long campaign that would look more like full-fledged war than last month’s pinpoint operation in Venezuela, sources say. The sources noted it would likely be a joint U.S.-Israeli campaign that’s much broader in scope — and more existential for the regime — than the Israeli-led 12-day war last June, which the U.S. eventually joined to take out Iran’s underground nuclear facilities.”
Satellite Images Show Iran Repairing and Fortifying Sites Amid US Tensions, Reuters
“Satellite images show that Iran has recently built a concrete shield over a new facility at a sensitive military site and covered it in soil, experts say, advancing work at a location reportedly bombed by Israel in 2024 amid tensions with the U.S.”
Smotrich: Next Government Should ‘Encourage Migration’ of West Bank Palestinians, Times of Israel
“The idea, which critics say amounts to ethnic cleansing, has been pushed repeatedly by far-right leaders, including Smotrich, in the aftermath of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack, but until now has largely focused on Gaza. Smotrich’s declaration represents a relatively rare instance of a senior Israeli politician explicitly expressing a desire to expand the controversial goal to the West Bank.”
AIPAC Accused of Covert Campaigning as Democratic Support Falters, Washington Post
“The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a powerful pro-Israel organization, is masking its involvement in competitive Illinois Democratic primaries, according to candidates in those races, who accuse the interest group of trying to quietly maintain its influence as Democrats reexamine their stance on Israel.”
Netanyahu Plays Trump and American Jews for Fools — Again, New York Times
Thomas L. Friedman writes, “I believe that this messianically driven endeavor will make today’s Israel permanently indistinguishable from apartheid South Africa and will have seriously detrimental implications for both American interests and the interests and security of Jews all over the world. If Netanyahu’s government stays on this course, it will rip apart Jewish institutions everywhere as members of the Jewish diaspora are forced to decide whether to stand with or against an apartheidlike Israel.”
From Hamas to Iran, Israel’s Disarmament Demands Reveal a Strategy of Perpetual Threat, Haaretz
Zvi Bar’el writes, “Let us say that a miracle does occur, and Hamas’ fighters do turn over their weapons to a Palestinian police force or to the international stabilization force (if it is ever formed), or even to the Israel Defense Forces. Would Israel then agree to begin talks with the Palestinian Authority, regional actors and the U.S. government on a diplomatic solution to the Palestinian problem? Would it adopt the two-state solution, announce plans to end the occupation, which is, after all, the source of the Palestinian threat, or at least work to collect the weapons of the Jewish terrorist gangs?”
When Judea and Samaria Become Israel, Democracy Pays the Price – Opinion, Jerusalem Post
J Street leader Sebastien Levi writes, “Israel’s democracy has been under attack for three years now, with the government’s relentless attacks on the judiciary and the media. The final erasure of the Green Line would be another key element of this attack on democracy, with the end of the principle of ‘one man, one vote’ that has defined Israeli democracy inside the Green Line since its creation, despite what its accusers are saying in the world.”
