News Roundup for February 26, 2026
U.S. Will Offer Embassy Services in a West Bank Settlement for the First Time, New York Times
“‘The Trump people are so focused on Gaza that they completely miss what’s happening to the West Bank,’ said Nadav Tamir, executive director of the Israel office of J Street, the liberal pro-Israel lobby. ‘Huckabee is supposed to be their representative in Israel, but he has a completely different worldview.'”
AIPAC’s Cash Complicates Crowded Illinois Primaries, Politico
“Biss is Jewish, as is Fine. That fact, Schoenberg said, complicates any effort to consolidate opposition around identity because the race is drawing interest wider than AIPAC, including from J Street, the more liberal pro-Israel lobbying group.”
How to Combine the New and Old World Orders, Times of Israel
J Street Israel Executive Director Nadav Tamir writes, “The Board of Peace’s weaknesses and the UN’s inability to act raise the question of how to integrate the two, not whether the Board will replace the UN. The Board of Peace and the bodies operating under it can create regional momentum, but only the UN can grant these moves global validity, stability, and broad legitimacy.”
Israel’s Parliament Moves Toward Ban on Mixed-Gender Prayer at Jerusalem’s Western Wall, AP
“The bill, if approved, threatens to further strain relations between Israel and the Reform movement, the largest stream of Judaism in the United States.”
How Israelis Feel About Another Potential War With Iran, New York Times
“Mr. Trump first began threatening to attack Iran last month after Iran’s leaders began a bloody crackdown on mass protests calling for an end to the country’s authoritarian clerical rule. He has ordered a buildup of American military power in the region unparalleled since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.”
59 Homicides in 2026: Man Fatally Shot in Arab Israeli Town Reineh, Haaretz
“Since the beginning of 2026, 59 people have been killed in Israel, 53 of them from Arab Israeli communities.”
Israel Responsible for Two-Thirds of Record 129 Press Killings in 2025, Says CPJ, The Guardian
“It was the second consecutive year in which killings of members of the press reached unprecedented levels, and the second year running in which Israel was responsible for roughly two-thirds of the total, the New York-based independent organisation, which documents attacks on journalists worldwide, said in its annual report published on Wednesday.”
Israel Can’t Hide Behind an Iran War to Avoid a Strategy in Lebanon and Syria, Haaretz
“It is also not unreasonable to wonder how permanent Israeli control of buffer zones in Lebanon and Syria fits with the United States’ aim of helping Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa impose control over his entire country, or solve the problem of disarming Hezbollah and stabilizing a functional Lebanese government.”
A Two-Hour State of the Union With Zero Vision for Gaza or Iran, The Forward
“When the president finally touched on foreign policy, after he had already been speaking for nearly an hour and a half, he credited himself with ending eight wars — a figure that’s worth questioning. ‘The war in Gaza, which proceeds at a very low level, it’s just about there,’ he said.”
