Annexation in the West Bank Should be Stopped, The Times of Israel
J Street Israel Executive Director Nadav Tamir writes, “Trump must be feeling that he had a successful tour in the Middle East. Right from the start of the visit, in his hour-long speech in Riyadh, he made clear what he was trying to achieve: a dramatic announcement about lifting sanctions on Syria, a deal to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, a halt to the fighting between India and Pakistan, negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, and further progress and stability in Lebanon. However, there was minimal mention of Israelis and Palestinians. They merely expressed a broad and ambiguous hope for the war’s conclusion and the liberation of the hostages.”
Netanyahu’s Gaza Escalation Risks Catastrophic, Endless War, J Street
“J Street is gravely concerned by the Netanyahu government’s decision to launch a major new ground operation in Gaza and Prime Minister Netanyahu’s refusal to entertain any serious proposal to end the war. This push to fully occupy the entire Gaza Strip comes after over two and half months of a blockade, with the entire population grappling with acute food insecurity, and amid rising fears that Israel’s far-right government is pursuing a long-term plan of full re-occupation, displacement and annexation rather than prioritizing hostage releases and a safe end to this war.”
Israel Is Letting a Trickle of Aid Into Gaza for the First Time in 2 1/2 Months. Here’s What to Know, The Associated Press
“Israel has begun allowing a trickle of food and medicine into the Gaza Strip after sealing the territory’s 2 million Palestinians off from all imports for more than 2 1/2 months. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he eased the blockade under pressure from unnamed allies to shore up support for Israel’s latest major offensive against Hamas. Israeli strikes have killed hundreds of Palestinians in recent days, and the humanitarian crisis is the worst it’s been in 19 months of war.”
UK, France, Canada Threaten Response to Israel’s ‘Disproportionate’ Gaza Offensive, Haaretz
“The leaders of the UK, France, and Canada issued a rare joint rebuke of Israel on Monday, warning that its ‘disproportionate’ military campaign in Gaza and obstruction of humanitarian aid may violate international law and threatening concrete actions unless the offensive ends and aid flows resume.”
The Group Behind Project 2025 Has a Plan to Crush the Pro-Palestinian Movement, The New York Times
“Drafted in the wake of Hamas’s attack on Israel in 2023 and the mounting protests against the war in Gaza, Project Esther outlined an ambitious plan to fight antisemitism by branding a broad range of critics of Israel as ‘effectively a terrorist support network,’ so that they could be deported, defunded, sued, fired, expelled, ostracized and otherwise excluded from what it considered ‘open society.’”
Strikes on Gaza Kill at Least 60 People, Local Officials Say, as Criticism Against Israel Mounts, The Associated Press
“Israeli strikes pounded Gaza overnight and into Tuesday, hitting a family home and a school-turned-shelter, and killing at least 60 people, Palestinian health officials said, as Israel pressed its war against Hamas despite mounting international condemnation. Israel launched another major offensive in the territory in recent days, saying it aims to return dozens of hostages held by Hamas and destroy the militant group. More than 300 people have been killed in Gaza since the start of the latest onslaught, according to local health officials.”
Court Extends Arrest of Standing Together Director, Six Others Over Anti-war Protest, Haaretz
“An Israeli court on Monday decided to extend the detention of seven out of nine Israelis who were arrested during an anti-war protest march from Sderot to the Gaza border on Sunday, after the IDF announced a large-scale ground offensive across the Strip. During the march, the protesters attempted to block a road, and nine of them were arrested, including Alon-Lee Green, the national co-director of the Standing Together movement, a Jewish-Arab movement that fights for social justice, equality and peace, which organized the demonstration.”
Us Closes Office of Palestinian Affairs, Dedicated Channel to Washington, The Guardian
“The United States has officially closed its Office of Palestinian Affairs in Jerusalem, according to an internal state department memo seen by the Guardian, in effect eliminating the Palestinians’ dedicated diplomatic channel to Washington. The closure, which took effect on Friday, follows through on the secretary of state Marco Rubio’s announcement earlier this month that the office would be merged into the US embassy in Jerusalem.”
Opposition Leader Warns: Israel Risks Pariah Status, ‘Sane State Doesn’t Kill Babies as Hobby’, Haaretz
“Government ministers and opposition leaders have condemned remarks by opposition party leader Yair Golan, of The Democrats, after he warned that Israel’s conduct in Gaza risks putting it on a path to become a ‘pariah state,’ and called for replacing Netanyahu’s ‘vengeful, unintelligent, and immoral’ government. Earlier on Tuesday, in an interview with Kan public radio, Golan said Israel was ‘on the path to becoming a pariah state, like South Africa once was, if it does not return to acting like a sane country.’ He added that a ‘sane state does not wage war against civilians, does not kill babies as a hobby, and does not set goals for itself like the expulsion of a population.’”
The Trump-Supporting Christians Accusing Jews of Antisemitism, The New York Times
Michelle Goldberg writes, “The campaign Baker wrote about is called Project Esther, and it aims to destroy the pro-Palestinian movement in the United States. Heritage defines this movement broadly, in a way that includes virtually all attempts to shift American foreign policy in a less pro-Israel direction, including those by progressive Jews. Here we see the perversity that can come from conflating antisemitism with opposition to an increasingly brutal and authoritarian Israeli state.”
Van Hollen: The US Is ‘Complicit’ in Starving the People of Gaza, Rolling Stone
“The vast majority of people in Gaza — 93 percent — are facing crisis levels of food insecurity, and Sen. Chris Van Hollen said that the United States is ‘complicit’ in their hunger. When asked on CBS’s Face the Nation about photographs of starving children in Gaza, Van Hollen said, ‘It’s very hard to look at those pictures. And the United States has been complicit. President Trump was in the region and really did nothing, said virtually nothing about what’s happening in Gaza, which is on fire.’”
Gaza, Israel and the World Are Crying Out for Opposition to Netanyahu – Now There Are Rays of Hope, The Guardian
Editor-In-Chief of Haaretz Aluf Benn writes, “In his successful quest to become Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu has leveraged his most valuable asset: the country’s ineffective opposition. He has been playing his opponents off against each other, staying afloat while they are left powerless and irrelevant.”
Gaza’s Children Don’t Deserve to Starve, Financial Times
Arabella Duffield writes, “The latest reports from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a UN-backed programme, found that one in five Gazans was facing starvation. […] Some people don’t believe these figures, which are also denied by the Israeli government. But malnutrition is not rocket science. If there is no food going into a place, and if there is no food being grown in a place, then what do people eat? And if people don’t eat, then they become malnourished. We don’t yet know how much aid will be allowed to enter Gaza. But if news reports are correct, supplies will be limited, difficult to distribute and specialist food needed by those already suffering from malnutrition might not reach them.”