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J Street Raises Over $6 Million for Harris-Walz Campaign, Consolidating Status as Largest Jewish Organizational Fundraiser for Kamala Harris, J Street
J Street, the pro-Israel, pro-peace, pro-democracy movement, announced yesterday that it has passed the $6 million mark in funds raised for the Harris-Walz campaign. JStreetPAC, our political fundraising arm, is now the largest Jewish organizational source of funds in the country for the Harris campaign this cycle. JStreetPAC has also raised over $8.5 million for more than 180 challengers and incumbents.
Biden Envoy Told Aid Groups Israel Too Close an Ally for US to Suspend Arms, Politico
“She was saying that the rules don’t apply to Israel,” one person who attended the meeting said. Multiple attendees described Grande’s words as alarmingly blunt and forthcoming, surprising many in the room.
Israeli Siege Plan for Gaza Under Scrutiny as US Demands Urgent Change, The Washington Post
For the first two weeks of October, no food reached the 400,000 people in war-battered northern Gaza. Rescue workers said Israeli forces fired at families as they tried to heed evacuation orders; hospitals ran desperately short on supplies as they struggled to treat the wounded and evacuate the critically ill. What has played out in this stretch of the enclave mirrors, at least in part, a controversial siege plan conceived by a former Israeli general to gain full control of northern Gaza and then larger swaths of the enclave.
Elon Musk Is Backing the Shadiest GOP Dark Money Group This Election, The New Republic
The tech billionaire is funding a super PAC, Future Coalition PAC, that is running digital ads that tout Kamala Harris’s support for Israel in Michigan, in areas heavily populated with Muslim and Arab voters. At the same time, the super PAC is running ads aimed at Jewish voters in Pennsylvania attacking Harris as promoting anti-Israel policies, HuffPost reports.
US Says Israel Must Show No Gaza ‘Policy of Starvation’, Reuters
“The Government of Israel has said that this is not their policy, that food and other essential supplies will not be cut off, and we will be watching to see that Israel’s actions on the ground match this statement,” Thomas-Greenfield said, in a ratcheting up of the U.S. posture toward its longtime ally.
Gazans Describe Fresh Horror in North as Israel Renews Offensive, BBC
Ramez Abu Nasr was digging for hours. His mother, father and brothers were entombed by falling masonry. Ramez managed to save his youngest brother. The boy told him that he had heard his parents nearby, reciting the Shehada, the Muslim prayer of faith. Soon after they were silent.
Israel Allows Some Aid Into Northern Gaza After U.S. Warning, The New York Times
On Wednesday, it said that it had inspected and permitted 50 aid trucks to enter northern Gaza from Jordan — carrying food, water, medical and other supplies — “in accordance with international law.” That is a small fraction of what aid agencies say is needed to offset a severe hunger crisis in Gaza, especially in the north, where Israel “has tightened a siege” this month, the United Nations has said, as it steps up military operations against Hamas.
Hezbollah Signals Lebanon Truce Depends on Gaza, Says It Aims to Cause Israel Pain, Times of Israel
Hezbollah’s deputy chief Naim Qassem said on Tuesday his group has adopted “a new calculation” to inflict pain on Israel, even as he called for a ceasefire and seemed to relink cessation of hostilities in Lebanon with a truce in Gaza, after an official in the terror group recently said it could give up its longstanding linkage between the two fronts.
Netanyahu’s Likud Party Issues Invitation to Event Titled ‘Preparing to Settle Gaza’, Haaretz
The event, scheduled for next week, is part of an initiative by the Nachala movement, which is known for establishing illegal outposts in the West Bank. Several ministers and MKs from Likud and Otzma Yehudit are expected to attend.
UNIFIL Says Israeli Tank Fired at Peacekeepers Watchtower in Lebanon, The Jerusalem Post
The UN mission in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said its peacekeepers at a position near southern Lebanon’s Kfar Kela observed an Israeli Merkava tank firing at their watchtower on Wednesday morning.
David Cameron: I Had Plans to Sanction Israeli Ministers, BBC
David Cameron has urged the UK to consider sanctioning two Israeli ministers as a way of “putting pressure” on the country to act within international law. Speaking to the BBC’s Today programme, the former Conservative foreign secretary said before the election he had been “working up” plans to put sanctions on Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Columbia Suspends Shai Davidai’s Campus Access After He Allegedly ‘Harassed and Intimidated’ University Employees, The Columbia Spectator
“Columbia has consistently and continually respected Assistant Professor Davidai’s right to free speech and to express his views. His freedom of speech has not been limited and is not being limited now,” University spokesperson Millie Wert wrote. “Columbia, however, does not tolerate threats of intimidation, harassment, or other threatening behavior by its employees.”
US Long-Range B-2 Stealth Bombers Target Underground Bunkers of Yemen’s Houthi Rebels, AP
U.S. long-range B-2 stealth bombers launched airstrikes early Thursday morning targeting underground bunkers used by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, officials said.
How Israel’s Army Uses Palestinians as Human Shields in Gaza, The New York Times
Natan Odenheimer, Bilal Shbair and Patrick Kingsley from The New York Times interviewed 16 Israeli soldiers and officials who knew about the practice, as well as three Palestinians, on the record, who were forced to take part in it.
The ‘Pact of Silence’ Between Israelis and Their Media, +972
Edo Konrad interviews veteran Israeli journalist Oren Persico, “What we have seen over the last year is the result of a decades-long process of educating both journalists and viewers that there are things we simply don’t talk about and don’t show on the news. Most of the journalists working at these mainstream outlets know what is happening, but they don’t want to alienate their viewers for fear of losing ratings. It could take decades to reverse this kind of indoctrination.”
The Israel-Hamas War Has Wiped Out Most of Gaza’s Farm Land. The Environmental Costs Are Adding Up, CBC News
Kevin Maimann shares, “As the conflict expands across the region, some fear Israel could target oil infrastructure in Iran, which Weir says could cause massive fires and significant harm to the air, soil and water that would extend to neighbouring countries.”
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