J Street works to promote an open, honest and rigorous conversation about Israel. The opinions reflected in articles posted in the News Roundup do not necessarily reflect J Street’s positions, and their posting does not constitute an endorsement from J Street.
Note: There will be no J Street News Roundup on July 4 or 5.
Politicized Supreme Court Fractures US Democracy, Reinforces Need to Defeat Trump, J Street
“We share the fears of millions of Americans that by obstructing the prosecution’s case against Donald Trump for inciting an insurrection, yesterday’s decision makes a second Trump presidency not only more likely, but more terrifying. If attempts to tamper with election results and incite a coup now lie beyond accountability, there is no telling how unbound, untethered and undemocratic a second Trump administration would be.”
Israel Wants Local Clans to Run Gaza After the War. But the Candidates Are Refusing, The Times of Israel
A major pillar of (Israel’s post-war) plan, according to public statements from leading Israeli officials, was to shape an alternative civil administration involving local Palestinian actors who are not part of the existing structures of power, don’t have ties to any terror organizations, and are willing to work alongside Israel. However, the only plausible candidates in Gaza for this role – the heads of powerful local families – are unwilling to get involved, according to Reuters’ conversations with five members of major families in Gaza, including the head of one grouping.
Hezbollah’s Deputy Leader Says Group Would Stop Fighting with Israel after Gaza Cease-Fire, AP
Hezbollah’s participation in the Israel-Hamas war has been as a “support front” for its ally, Hamas, Kassem said, and “if the war stops, this military support will no longer exist.” But, he said, if Israel scales back its military operations without a formal cease-fire agreement and full withdrawal from Gaza, the implications for the Lebanon-Israel border conflict are less clear.
Israel Advances Over 6,000 Housing Units in West Bank Settlements, Haaretz
Peace Now said, “It seems that from every direction, from cabinet resolutions to the work of the Planning Council, destruction of a diplomatic solution is the main endeavor of the current government. Since the start of the war, the Israeli government has been building, developing and investing every effort in construction across the West Bank, compared with the opposite attitude of investing inside the wounded and bleeding Israel since October 7.”
One Person Killed in Stabbing Attack in Israeli Mall, Reuters
One person was killed and another wounded in a stabbing attack in an Israeli mall on Wednesday, in which the assailant was shot dead, Israeli police and medics said. Police said it was a suspected terror attack.
Mother of Israeli Hostage Noa Argamani Dies Weeks After Daughter’s Rescue, NBC News
Standing beside her father Yaakov at the funeral, the former hostage said she was grateful she got to see her mother before she died. “I’m standing here today and still trying to digest everything that happened recently,” Argamani said. “Against all odds I was privileged to be with you in your last moments, talk with you, laugh with you.”
This Israeli Hostage Mother Supported Netanyahu. Now She Wants Him Gone, The Washington Post
After months of failed diplomacy aimed at freeing the more than 100 captives still held by Hamas — “dozens” are still alive, Israeli officials say, though no one knows exactly how many — Zangauker has been at the forefront of swelling anti-government protests, uniting disillusioned hostage families and their supporters. They believe Netanyahu is torpedoing a deal to return their loved ones and end the war in Gaza — and must be driven from power.
Strike Kills Family as Israeli Evacuation Order Sparks Panicked Flight from Southern Gaza City, AP
The Hamdan family — around a dozen people from three generations — fled their home in the middle of the night after the Israeli military ordered an evacuation from the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis. They found refuge with extended relatives in a building further north, inside an Israeli-declared safe zone. But hours after they arrived, an Israeli airstrike on Tuesday afternoon hit their building in the town of Deir al-Balah, killing nine members of the family and three others.
US Has ‘Undeniable Complicity’ in Gaza War Killings, Say Former US Officials, Reuters
A dozen former U.S. government officials who quit over U.S. support for Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday accused President Joe Biden’s administration of “undeniable complicity” in the killing of Palestinians in the enclave. In a joint statement, the 12 former government officials said the administration was violating U.S. laws through its support for Israel and finding loopholes to continue shipping weapons to its ally.
Scoop: Israel and UN Negotiate Deploying Musk’s Starlink in Gaza, Axios
The UN said it needs the satellite internet system to allow better radio and mobile phone communications for its staff in Gaza, the officials said. Israel raised concerns about the UN request and said Hamas had stolen sophisticated and sensitive communications equipment in the past and could try to take the Starlink system, officials said.
Top US Official to Hold Talks in Paris on Defusing Israel-Hezbollah Conflict, The New York Times
A senior White House official plans to meet with French officials in Paris on Wednesday to discuss ways to defuse the escalating border fire between Israel and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, a conflict that Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said this week had caused Israel to lose sovereignty in its north.
Israeli Police Clash with Settlers in West Bank, Reuters
Israeli police clashed with Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank as they dismantled an illegal settler outpost early on Wednesday, according to video footage of the police operation seen by Reuters. The video showed police excavators destroying makeshift structures at the outpost. Settlers sat down across a small road to block access for the police, but officers dragged them out of the way, the video showed.
Biden Told Netanyahu ‘I’m Out’ if Israel Retaliated for Iran Missile Attack – Report, The Times of Israel
US President Joe Biden refused to support a significant Israeli response to Iran’s massive missile and drone attack in April, telling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the time, “If you launch a big attack on Iran, you’re on your own,” according to a Tuesday report.
Under a Daily Barrage of Scandals, Netanyahu and His Ministers Divert Attention From Israel’s Spiraling Crisis, Haaretz
Amos Harel argues, “What do these scandals-of-the-day – which will be forgotten tomorrow, when we move on to the next storm – aim to achieve? Simply put, they help the government divert the public’s attention from our dire situation – that young men are falling in battle day after day in a war that is moving further and further away from achieving its original goals; that almost nine months after the October 7 massacre, the government is having difficulty achieving much of anything for the evacuees on the Gaza and Lebanese borders.”
A Holocaust Scholar Meets With Israeli Reservists, The New Yorker
Isaac Chotiner interviews Holocaust scholar Omer Bartov about his interactions with right-wing students returning from war as well as “how he thinks Israeli society is refusing to face up to what’s happening in Gaza, and what he learned talking to former soldiers in the German Army after the Second World War.”
What Would a Better Israeli Prime Minister Do?, The New York Times
Bret Stephens shares, “A better Israeli prime minister than Benjamin Netanyahu would immediately hold an election. Israelis deserve a government they believe can bring them out of crisis, not one that got them into this crisis. If that government is still led by Netanyahu, at least he would have an honest mandate, and dissenting Israelis would have fewer reasons to protest him. It would also give the prime minister more authority over a military that seems to think that it can openly oppose the views of its civilian masters.”