J Street is deeply concerned by the latest escalation between extremist militants in Gaza and Israel, in which the terrorist group Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) has launched a barrage of rocket attacks against Israel following an IDF operation that killed a senior PIJ leader. We strongly condemn these rocket attacks on Israeli civilians. At this time, our thoughts are with the residents of southern and central Israel, with the IDF forces working to keep them safe and with all civilians on both sides of the divide.
We support Israel’s right to defend itself against acts of terror. We also urge Israeli and Palestinian leaders and the international community to take all possible steps to prevent a further escalation of armed conflict. Time and again, we have seen such escalations fail to resolve this conflict in any way, and instead lead to greater suffering and instability both for Israelis and for the people of Gaza.
Particularly at an extremely sensitive and significant period in Israel’s ongoing governmental formation process, we urge the interim Israeli government to engage leaders across the Israeli political spectrum to ensure that the decisions made in this critical juncture are based entirely on security considerations.