News Roundup for September 15, 2022

September 15, 2022
Receive the roundup in your inbox every morning!

J Street News Roundup

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 In the News

Hawkish Group Won’t Share Questions for Its Dubious Iran Deal Poll, Responsible Statecraft
“Opponents of diplomacy armed with UANI talking points spent tens of millions of dollars trying to convince Democratic members of Congress that there would be a political cost to supporting the deal,” J Street Senior Vice President Dylan Williams told Responsible Statecraft. “In the end, not one lawmaker who backed the deal lost their seat to someone who opposed it in the 2016 election the year following the vote in Congress. The deal is not only sound policy, it’s smart politics in an American electorate with little appetite for more costly wars of choice.”

Top News and Analysis

Israeli Military Officer Killed in West Bank Shooting Laid to Rest, Haaretz
The IDF officer killed late Tuesday night in a gunfight with two Palestinian militants, Major Bar Falach, is being laid to rest in the military cemetery in his hometown city of Netanya. 30-year-old Falach was the deputy commander of the Nahal Brigade. He was killed when his troops came under attack near Jalameh checkpoint in the northern West Bank on Wednesday.

Palestinians: Israeli Troops Kill Teen in West Bank Raid, AP
Israeli forces killed a 17-year-old Palestinian in the occupied West Bank Thursday, Palestinian officials said, as troops operated in the area a day after an attack killed a military officer. The Israeli military said it opened fire on suspects who threw explosives at troops. The Palestinian Health Ministry said Odai Salah, 17, was shot in the head, although it did not specify the exact circumstances behind his death.

News

EU Envoy Says He’s Being Snubbed by Israeli Leaders, Axios
Sven Koopmans, the European Union special envoy for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, officially complained to the Israeli Foreign Ministry that he has not recently gotten high-level meetings in Israel, according to a summary of the meeting. The EU envoy for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process is appointed by the 27 member states of the European Union and reports to representatives in Brussels.

Iran Says IAEA Statement Won’t Produce Results, Al-Monitor
Iran criticized the UN nuclear watchdog’s board for a statement being prepared by Western countries during their week-long meeting. During a phone conversation with his Omani counterpart, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said, “Issuing an unconstructive statement at the IAEA’s meeting will not bear fruit.”

Israel Shuts Two W. Bank Checkpoints; Shin Bet Mulls Punitive Steps Against Attackers’ Towns, Haaretz
Israel’s Defense Ministry announced on Wednesday that it will completely shut the north West Bank checkpoints of Jalameh and Salem until further notice and bar residents of a Palestinian village from entering Israel, in light of a gunfight the previous night which left an Israeli army officer and two Palestinian militants dead.

UN: Israeli Hit on Damascus Airport Stopped Aid Deliveries, AP
An Israeli airstrike on the airport of the Syrian capital Damascus in June that forced it to close for two weeks led to the suspension of humanitarian activities during that period, the commission of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria said Wednesday.

Senior Biden Official: US Aiming To Boost Israel-Pa Security Ties Amid Violence Wave, The Times of Israel
The Biden administration is working to ensure the continuation of security cooperation between Israel and the Palestinian Authority amid the ongoing spike in West Bank violence, a senior US official said Wednesday.

Opinion and Analysis

Israeli Youth Are Out of Step With the West, Haaretz
Anat Kamm writes, “The rightward movement of Israeli teens is an anomaly in the West, where young people are generally becoming more leftist or identifying with values that are seen as being affiliated with the left.”