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.
Avoidance is Not the Answer, JMore
J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami argues that Israel and the world’s Jewish community can no longer ignore the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As a path to peace grows harder to see, Ben-Ami believes that collective failure to act puts Israel’s very foundations at risk.
In New York, Israel’s Far-right Government Hands a Big Win to Its U.S. Jewish Opponents, Haaretz
“Our Zionism, while firmly in line with the Israeli consensus, has not always been welcomed within traditional, right-wing dominated mainstream Jewish institutions. For too long, progressive pro-Israel organizations like Ameinu, J Street, Americans for Peace Now and New York Jewish Agenda have fought to remain part of the American Jewish conversation. We jumped at the opportunity to demonstrate solidarity with Israelis living in the United States and with the wider American Jewish community, many of whom share our outlook.”
Palestinian Toddler Shot by Israeli Troops in West Bank Dies of Wounds, ABC News
A Palestinian toddler who was shot by Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank last week died of his wounds on Monday, Israeli hospital officials said. Mohammed al-Tamimi was shot in the head last Thursday near his village of Nebi Saleh while riding in a car with his father who was also wounded. He was airlifted to Israel’s Sheba Hospital, which announced the 2-year-old boy’s death.
Blinken Slams Settlements, Says Ties with Arab World Can’t Replace Peace with Palestinians, The Times of Israel
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says that the expansion of Israeli settlements and ongoing demolitions of Palestinian homes in the West Bank are taking Israel further away from peace with the Palestinians. Yet, he stressed that the US-Israel relationship remains “ironclad,” lauded American security commitments to the Jewish state and said the Biden administration will continue to promote normalization between Israel and its Arab neighbors, particularly with Saudi Arabia.
Israeli Cabinet Advances Plans to ‘Judaize’ Galilee, Expand West Bank Settlements, Haaretz
The Israeli government is advancing a number of steps to encourage Jewish families to move to communities in northern Israel, a region with a large Arab population. As part of the plan, which cabinet members describe as an attempt “to save Jewish settlement in the Galilee,” the government will expand a controversial law that allows small residential communities to choose who is allowed to join them.
Israel Returns Body of Egyptian Policeman who Killed Israeli Soldiers, BBC
Israel has returned to Egypt the body of an Egyptian policeman who shot dead three Israeli soldiers on Saturday. Egypt said that the policeman crossed into Israel while chasing drug smugglers, leading to an exchange of fire with the Israeli soldiers.
Israeli-Arab Lawmakers to Meet with PM Netanyahu, Call for Plan Against Crime, i24
Lawmakers from the Arab-majority parties of Israel’s parliament are expected to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and present to him a plan to fight the rising crime rates in Israeli-Arab communities. Arab lawmakers rejected the participation of Itamar Ben-Gvir, who said he would appoint a czar to oversee the fight against crime in Arab communities.
Netanyahu Adviser who Peddled Trump Election Lies and Said Biden is ‘Ruining America’: ‘I Don’t Hold Those Views Today’, JTA
Gilad Zwick, who just started a new job as a media adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, no longer believes President Joe Biden is “ruining America” or that Donald Trump should rightfully be in Biden’s place. “I was a private citizen when I wrote the tweets about President Biden,” Zwick, who most recently was employed in Israel by right-wing pro-Netanyahu media outlets, said Monday on Twitter. “I don’t hold those views today and I will act in a completely professional manner in the Prime Minister’s Office.”
Is Saudi-Israeli Normalization Worth It?, Foreign Policy
Steven Simon, former National Security Council senior director for the Middle East and North Africa, and Aaron David Miller, former State Department Middle East analyst and negotiator, write, “Full normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia would be a dramatic accomplishment, but not nearly as transformational as many may think. And Washington should be extremely careful about what kind of assurances and other enticements it provides to a repressive would-be Saudi king who’s recent outreach to China and Russia suggests he’s obviously not in thrall to the Biden administration.”
A Love Supreme: How Queer Israelis Became the Driving Force of the Protests, Haaretz
Haaretz reporter Bar Peleg writes, “Israel’s LGBTQ community has become a key pillar of the protest movement against the planned judicial overhaul, spurred in part by fears of civil rights being curtailed and violated. With the planned judicial overhaul paving the way for legislators to ignore the Supreme Court, activists warn that it will remove legal protections provided by the court’s rulings. But while the community has become prominent it was by no means obvious that it would take such a significant role when the demonstrations began five months ago.”
Israel-Egypt Security Cooperation Rattled But Steady After Border Attack, Al-Monitor
After three Israeli soldiers were killed by an Egyptian policeman at the Egypt-Israel border, Israeli journalist Rina Bassist writes that “Israeli security experts believe that the strategic cooperation with Egypt will not be harmed by a deadly incident on Saturday morning when an Egyptian policeman crossed the border fence and killed three Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers on Israeli territory.”