J Street: My Pro-Israel Political Home, The Times of Israel
Rabbi Susan Talve writes, “Being pro-Israel doesn’t need to be as elementary as approving aid to Israel without being able to have nuanced conversations and critiques. If we narrow the definition of pro-Israel, if we attack those who both support Israel’s right to exist and choose to publicly air their criticisms of its government with charges of antisemitism or incitement, we diminish the truly horrific antisemitic acts of violence. And, sooner than later, we will look back at the bygone era of bipartisan support for Israel and ask ourselves where we went wrong.”
Without the UN, Israel’s Approach to Gaza Aid Is Doomed, Haaretz
J Street Policy Center Fellow Larry Garber writes, “Humanitarian assistance is much more than just providing food handouts. It is a sensitive process that requires the formation of bona fide trust relationships between assistance providers and beneficiaries, who even when most desperate still seek to retain their dignity. An organization that is seen as a political tool of Israel, like the GHF, must scale a high wall to gain the trust of Gaza’s population. Relying on armed security personnel to maintain law and order within the hub further compromises the potential for trust.”
Israeli Gunfire Kills 17 People Near Gaza Aid Site, Health Officials Say, Reuters
“‘This incident happened several hours before we began operations outside of our distribution site,’ the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said in a statement, referring further questions to the Israeli military. The GHF earlier said that aid was handed out on Tuesday from three sites in southern and central Gaza without incident. Last week the army warned Palestinians not to approach routes leading to sites of the GHF between 6pm and 6am local time, describing these roads as closed military zones.”
Inside the MAGA Vs. Hawk Battle to Sway Trump on Bombing Iran, Politico
Rachael Bade and Felicia Schwartz write, “An influential group of GOP hawks has launched a behind-the-scenes lobbying offensive pressing President Donald Trump to not only back off his administration’s quest for a nuclear deal with Iran, but greenlight an attack on Tehran by Israel. The campaign is raising alarms among Trump and his allies, who have launched a counteroffensive to keep the president’s diplomacy on track.”
Netanyahu’s Government Could Collapse Over Israel’s Ultra-Orthodox Military Draft Law, AP
“The threats coming from the ultra-Orthodox could be posturing, and many expect Netanyahu to pull off a last-minute deal. But Wednesday’s vote is the most serious challenge to Netanyahu’s government since the war began, and the coalition’s collapse could have major implications for Israel and the ongoing war.”
US Ambassador to Israel Says US No Longer Pursuing Goal of Independent Palestinian State, The Guardian
“Asked during an interview with Bloomberg News if a Palestinian state remains a goal of US policy, he replied: ‘I don’t think so.’ The former Arkansas governor chosen by Donald Trump as his envoy to Israel went further by suggesting that any future Palestinian entity could be carved out of ‘a Muslim country’ rather than requiring Israel to cede territory.”
France Says Palestinian Authority Makes ‘Unprecedented Commitments’ to Reform Ahead of Conference on Statehood, CNN
“The letter, which France said was signed by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, includes condemnation of the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, a call on Hamas to immediately release all hostages, and pledges to hold elections and reform the authority, according to excerpts shared with CNN.”
US Imposes Sanctions on a Palestinian NGO and Other Charities, Accusing Them of Ties to Militant Groups, AP
“Those sanctioned include Addameer, a nongovernmental organization that was founded in 1991 and is based in the city of Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The Palestinian group provides free legal services to Palestinian political prisoners and detainees in Israeli custody and monitors the conditions of their confinement.”
This Israeli Government Is a Danger to Jews Everywhere, The New York Times
Thomas Friedman writes, “Israelis, diaspora Jewry and friends of Israel everywhere need to understand that the way Israel is fighting the war in Gaza today is laying the groundwork for a fundamental recasting of how Israel and Jews will be seen the world over. It won’t be good. Police cars and private security at synagogues and Jewish institutions will increasingly become the norm; Israel, instead of being seen by Jews as a safe haven from antisemitism, will be seen as a new engine generating it; sane Israelis will line up to immigrate to Australia and America rather than beckon their fellow Jews to come Israel’s way. That dystopian future is not here yet, but if you don’t see its outlines gathering, you are deluding yourself.”
No Rational Aid-Distribution System Should Work This Way, The Atlantic
Juliette Kayyem writes, “In all cases, an organization delivering goods must optimize distribution routes that align with the community it’s delivering to. Israel’s lack of trust for experienced relief groups doesn’t justify ignoring what those operations learned about moving supplies. […] The GHF has provided only four distribution centers, presumably for security reasons, in all of Gaza, down from the 400 that the UN once managed; many Palestinians must now walk hours to have any hope of picking up a food package. No rational system of distribution, under any circumstances, would work this way. GHF increased the security risk by having fewer, not more, distribution sites.”
A Former Israeli Hostage: ‘It’s Not Our Job to Take Revenge on Our Enemies’, The New York Times
Former hostage Liat Beinin Atzili says, “I do have empathy toward people who were suffering, and the fact that I was wronged, that something happened to me, doesn’t give me the right to do that to other people. I mean, I don’t believe in revenge. In Judaism, when a person dies violently or in war, we say: Hashem yikom damo — meaning, ‘God will take revenge in his name.’ I think that’s a pretty good translation. I think that what that means, or my take on that, is that it’s not our job to take revenge on our enemies. It’s God’s job.”
Normalized Antisemitism, Danger: US Jews Now Face What French Jews Did 25 Years Ago, The Jerusalem Post
Sebastien Levi writes, “Another similarity between the antisemitism faced by French and US Jews is – adding insult to injury – the weaponization of their suffering and pain agenda by the illiberal far-right in France, supported by the Israeli government, and a US president who could not care less about the Jews’ well-being, using it to implement his policies against universities or immigrants. As they enter a period of uncertainty, Jews in the US and France remain the scapegoats and political pawns, as they have always been throughout history, further complicating the urgent fight against antisemitism.”