Washington DC – Following continued, escalating violence on the occupied West Bank and in Gaza, J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami released the following statement:
“J Street is devastated by the ever-worsening situation in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, and by the fact that so little of the public comment following the meeting of President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu addressed the need to end the violence, bring hostages home and protect and aid families caught in the crossfire.
We’re appalled that just a day after a fourteen-year-old Palestinian-American was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers on the West Bank and another 15-year-old American citizen was rushed to hospital, the US President made no apparent mention of the incident. The families deserve answers. We support calls for an independent investigation.
In Gaza too, we’re deeply distressed by recent footage of a clearly marked, clearly lit ambulance convoy being fired upon by Israeli forces as they sought to help missing colleagues, contrary to initial reports by the IDF which suggested suspicious activity. This cannot keep happening.
It is true that the IDF faces major challenges operating against an enemy like Hamas in Gaza. It is also true that the public, and the families of those killed, deserve real answers. Only full transparency and accountability can hope to prevent these horrors from repeating, as they do far too often.
It is deeply disturbing that this administration continues to turn a blind eye to such horrors, and to the pleas of hostage families and Jewish Americans who want President Trump to press Prime Minister Netanyahu back into the ceasefire and hostage release deal.
President Trump may say he wants the war to end, yet he continues to give Netanyahu a blank check for an increasingly brutal war. He has given him a free hand to block all humanitarian aid, ignore international law and kill unfathomable numbers of civilians, medics, aid workers and journalists. This doesn’t make Israel safer. Instead, it fuels anti-Israel terror recruitment, alienates the next generation of the Jewish diaspora and pushes Israel into pariah status.
Meanwhile, Trump’s grotesque vision of taking over Gaza and pushing out millions of Palestinians is a notion Netanyahu is happy to exploit as he presses toward full re-occupation of Gaza. If Trump truly wants a hostage deal and an end to the war, he will have to stand up to Netanyahu and empower dealmakers in his administration to press both sides into resealing a deal.”