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.
J Street Urges American Action To Prevent New Israeli Ban on UNRWA From Going Into Effect Amid Worsening Humanitarian Situation, J Street
“Blocking aid and effectively criminalizing aid agencies at this acutely grave moment is inexplicable – morally and strategically,” said J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami. “This ban threatens to drastically intensify suffering, to do incalculable further damage to Israel’s global standing and to harm Israeli security in the long run.”
One Week Left to Fight for Our Future, J Street
J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami writes, “For me, the best antidote to anxiety is ACTION. To paraphrase Vice President Harris: Rather than focus on a list of grievances, we must focus on a to-do list for the next seven days. Let’s mobilize and activate like our lives depend on it – because, frankly, our future and our children’s future is on the line. So join me in making a promise: Do at least one thing a day between now and Election Day to help elect the Harris-Walz ticket and pro-democracy majorities in the Senate and House.”
ADL Takes Flak for Failing to Tie Bigotry at Madison Square Garden Rally to Trump, The Forward
“This was a Trump rally. This violent, bigoted rhetoric is part and parcel of his MAGA movement and must be called out directly,” tweeted J Street, the liberal, pro-Israel lobby. “Organizations that claim to represent Jews and combat antisemitism *must* be willing to name and condemn the leaders of this hate-fueled movement.”
AIPAC Has Paid for Hundreds of Lawmakers To Visit Israel — To Grow Support for Its Far-Right Government, Politico
“Edwards (D-Md.), who served in Congress from 2008 to 2017, refused to travel with AIPAC while in office and instead visited Israel, the occupied West Bank and Gaza with more liberal organizations, including the pro-Israel advocacy group J Street. She said traveling with J Street, she saw firsthand how the spread of Israeli settlements throughout the West Bank have become a serious obstacle to a two-state solution.”
In Closing, Harris Casts Herself as the Unifier and Trump as a ‘Petty Tyrant’, The New York Times
Vice President Kamala Harris used the last major speech of her campaign to unleash a fiery broadside against former President Donald J. Trump, calling her rival “consumed with grievance and out for unchecked power” and presenting herself as a fighter who would usher in a new generation of leadership.
Gaza Aid Falls to Lowest Level Since Start of War Despite US Warning to Israel, Financial Times
Humanitarian officials say conditions have deteriorated still further since the leaked letter was sent two weeks ago, with aid entering Gaza at a lower rate in October than in any month since the start of the war a year ago.
US Inundated With Claims That American Arms Killed Gaza Civilians, The Washington Post
The Biden administration has received nearly 500 reports alleging Israel used U.S.-supplied weapons for attacks that caused unnecessary harm to civilians in the Gaza Strip, but it has failed to comply with its own policies requiring swift investigations of such claims, according to people familiar with the matter […] The reports are received from across the U.S. government, international aid organizations, nonprofits, media reports and other eyewitnesses. Dozens include photo documentation of U.S.-made bomb fragments at sites where scores of children were killed, according to human rights advocates briefed on the process.
Israel’s Defense Chiefs Say Fighting in Gaza and Lebanon Has Run Its Course. Does Netanyahu Agree?, Haaretz
The defense establishment agrees that, given Israel’s achievement and to avoid getting embroiled, Israel should seek to end the fighting on both fronts and secure the release of the hostages. The state of the Jabalya operation highlights the gaps between Israel’s resolute rhetoric and facts on the ground.
Arab American Voters Struggle to Back Harris Over U.S. Support for Israel’s War in Gaza, AP
Community members who normally back Democrats said they face an impossible decision. Either they punish Harris for what they view as complicity in the deaths of at least 43,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, or they endure Donald Trump ‘s return to the White House, which they fear would revive discrimination toward their community.
Sanders Pledges Shift in US Policy on Israel-Gaza Conflict if Kamala Harris Wins, The Jerusalem Post
“I promise you, after Kamala wins, we will together do everything that we can to change US policy toward Netanyahu,” Sanders said, expressing his confidence that Harris would approach the region with greater humanitarian priorities than her opponent.
Biden Advisers To Visit Israel To Try To Seal a Deal To End War in Lebanon, Axios
The deal being considered envisions an announcement of a ceasefire that is followed by a 60-day transition period, the officials said. During this transition period, Hezbollah would move its heavy weapons north of the Litani River and away from the Israeli border. The Lebanese army would deploy about 8,000 troops along the border with Israel who would join UNIFIL peacekeepers there and the IDF forces would gradually withdraw to the Israeli side of the border.
Israeli Strikes in Northern Gaza Kill at Least 88, Officials Say, AP
Two Israeli airstrikes in the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday killed at least 88 people, including dozens of women and children, health officials said, and the director of a hospital said life-threatening injuries were going untreated because a weekend raid by Israeli forces led to the detention of dozens of medics.
Hezbollah’s New Leader Naim Kassem May Adopt a More Cautious Approach, as Israel Warns He Won’t Last Long, Sky News
Hamas has hailed Naim Kassem’s appointment as Hezbollah’s new leader as proof of the group’s recovery. In reality, though, it’s a reflection of their lack of options. Kassem is pretty much the only senior figure left.
As Israel Hammers North Gaza, Palestinians Dig for the Dead in Multi-Storey Ruins, Reuters
After another of Israel’s relentless airstrikes in its north Gaza offensive, Palestinians rushed to a bombed-out four-storey house of neighbours on Tuesday and plucked body parts off its walls and floors in a desperate search for any survivors. The missile strike left a house of horror, with at least 93 dead or missing among mainly members of the extended Abu Naser family, the owners, as well as displaced men, women and children crammed into every available space, Gaza’s health ministry said.
Israel Orders Residents of City in Eastern Lebanon to Evacuate, The New York Times
The evacuation warning comes two days after Israeli airstrikes killed at least 60 people in the Bekaa district, which includes the city and its rural hinterland, Lebanese officials said. Lebanon’s health ministry said at least 58 others were injured in the attacks.
Israel Bans the Last Lifeline of Aid to Palestinians, Responsible Statescraft
Aaron Sobczak reports, “For its part, UNRWA is a vital aid service for Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan. The organization estimates that there are over 1.7 million Palestinian refugees across its areas of service. It provides social safety net assistance, maintaining Palestinian records, and seeking refugee empowerment. The organization says that 233 of its personnel have been killed in Gaza since the recent war with Hamas began.”
I Ran Israel’s Largest Company. Here’s Why I Support Kamala Harris, The Forward
Jeremy Levin shares, “I appeal to my fellow Israeli-Americans to support Harris in the upcoming election. On the one hand we have a rational, balanced, thoughtful leader who has carefully laid out her policies and demonstrated clear actions to counter antisemitism, support Israel, promote women’s rights and remain committed to democratic principles. On the other hand we have a candidate who has demonstrated profoundly erratic and egotistical behavior, supports and enacts misogynistic policies, is supported by extremist, antisemitic groups, and demonstrates a willingness to abandon allies and embrace dictators such as Vladimir Putin, who supports Israel’s existential enemy, Iran.”
Gaza Is the Horror That Can’t Be Denied. But Israelis Will Try, Haaretz
Dahlia Scheindlin writes, “Headlines have shifted to Iran, but Israel is still starving, bombing and expelling the population of northern Gaza. While Israeli society as a whole has activated its denial mode, the horrifying images – and the policy, statements and reality behind them – are causing some Israelis to protest war crimes, or even utter the word genocide.”
Israel Soldiers Killed a Palestinian Girl, 13, at Home in Qaryut After Entering the Village Following a Settler Attack, B’Tselem
B’Tselem reports, “Settler attacks on Palestinian communities – some of them endangering property and even lives – have become commonplace. Yet the military not only fails to prevent them, but even escorts the assailants without intervening to stop them in the act. The police complete the cover-up by deliberately not investigating such incidents. To add insult to injury, soldiers often go on to finish what the settlers started – as in the incident reported here. Not only did the soldiers fail to arrest the assailants, but they continued the raid started by the settlers, manufactured a confrontation with village residents and killed an innocent girl.”
The Great Fear of American Jews, JCall
Sebastien Levi writes, “In the event of a Trump victory, Jews would be exposed in an even more direct way, and not only in terms of security. Like all Americans attached to the rule of law, they would have to live in a country moving towards autocracy, which has always endangered the security of Jews in their history, which explains why the defense of democracy is their first criterion of choice in 2024.”