[ ]J Street [ ]
Friends,

Over the course of the last three and a half weeks, all of us at J Street
have experienced a wide range of emotions, starting with horror and
anguish for our family and friends in Israel after Hamas inflicted the
worst calamity on the Jewish people since World War II.

Our pain has grown as we watch incomprehensible reactions around the world
that glorify and excuse terror and place blame for the attacks not on the
terrorists who committed them but on Israelis themselves.

And now, as Israel’s government seeks to hold those who perpetrated this
horror accountable, we are witnessing a humanitarian disaster unfold –
brought on by the unprecedented scale of Israel’s military campaign,
decisions made by the Netanyahu government and the depraved placement by
Hamas of their bases of operations, communications and arsenals under
hospitals, schools and refugee camps.

While J Street supports the Israeli government’s right to defend its
citizens against the terrorists who planned and carried out the attack on
October 7 and the goal of removing Hamas from operational control of Gaza,
we are deeply disturbed by the scope of the humanitarian catastrophe in
Gaza and believe much more can and must be done to minimize the death and
deprivation being suffered by the civilian population.

At the end of this week, Secretary of State Blinken will be visiting
Israel and making other stops in the region. We are deeply grateful to the
secretary for his leadership in this difficult time. His calls for
humanitarian relief, including in his Washington Post op-ed and testimony
before Congress yesterday, were very welcome. We also thank the
administration for its veto threat of the cynical legislation put forward
by the new Speaker of the House that - among its many problematic aspects
- removed all humanitarian funding from the president’s supplemental
appropriations request.

As the secretary heads to the region, here are ten things we ask him to do
to ensure the full weight of the United States is behind the effort to
address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza:

* Press his call on the Israeli government to take a humanitarian pause
in its offensive to permit more robust arrangements to be made to
assure the safety of Gaza’s civilians, restore the basic necessities
of life and negotiate the safety and urgent release of hostages. A
pause is not a conclusion of hostilities – it is a time-honored and
oft-used tactic that facilitates non-military goals including
negotiations over hostage releases, civilian movement and provision of
humanitarian aid.
* Impress upon Israeli defense officials the deep concern of the United
States that the military steps taken by Israel must be as tightly
targeted as possible to comply with international law and to minimize
civilian harm. For the United States, it should be made clear, this is
a moral imperative, a legal requirement and also strategically
important to maintain support globally and in the US for Israel’s
response to October 7.
* Press Israel to restore full water and electricity supply to Gaza. The
reports of promises made to open up water pipes do not appear to have
been fulfilled. Stories of families unable to provide potable water
for their children are chilling, and the decision to deny water to
civilians is unlawful and unacceptable.
* Ensure that the Israeli government allows for an exponential increase
of aid to flow into Gaza and ceases all air strikes on the Rafah
crossing. Reports that agreements have been reached to raise the daily
total of trucks to 100 are encouraging, but evidence at the Rafah
crossing is that this number – still insufficient to meet the needs of
civilians in Gaza – is nowhere near being achieved.
* Actively support the efforts of international actors to operate a
verified process to import and deliver fuel to key facilities in Gaza
– such as desalination plants, hospitals and schools acting as
shelters – without it being diverted to Hamas. Fuel supplies are
essential for the humanitarian response and are running out for many
hospitals, some of which will no longer be able to provide
life-sustaining care, including to pregnant women and newborns.
* Establish clearly demarcated safe zones in Gaza for civilians and
humanitarian corridors with safety of transit for civilians to those
safe zones, while guaranteeing the ability of these civilians to
return when the fighting is over.
* Restore and sustain – to the extent that the capacity is within
Israel’s control – consistent and reliable communications service to
the Gaza Strip, which continues to be cut off. This is another service
– like water and electricity – which is essential for humanitarian
efforts and for which residents of the Strip are dependent on Israel.
* Push regional actors including Qatar, which is the primary contact
with Hamas, and Egypt even harder to ensure that foreign nationals,
including US citizens, and severely injured Gazans are able to transit
out of Gaza through Egypt with appropriate security precautions.
* Demand that Israel prevent further settler violence in the West Bank
and specifically the displacement of Palestinians from their homes and
communities in Area C. Reports of IDF involvement and acquiescence in
the precipitous rise in settler attacks before and especially since
the October 7 terror attack are extremely disturbing. The secretary
must make clear US demands that Israel not only arrest and punish
those carrying out the attacks, but also facilitate the return of
Palestinian communities already forced to move so they can return to
their lands, homes and fields. The IDF must protect their safe return
under international law.
* The secretary should drive home the point to all he meets with that
the United States is intent on assuring that there must be a political
resolution to the underlying Israeli-Palestinian conflict that will
lead to self-determination for Palestinians in a state of their own,
integration of Israel into the region and security and peace for
Israelis and Palestinians so that we never experience anything like
this again.

As the US prepares to provide Israel with a massive new package of
military assistance, the secretary should insist that as part of their
receipt and use of this aid, [ [link removed] ]Israeli authorities must acknowledge,
respect and adhere to the asks and guardrails set by the US government for
its conduct in Gaza and the West Bank, and for post-war moves toward
lasting conflict resolution.

Again, we thank President Biden, the secretary and the full administration
team for its work in these past three and a half weeks. The days and weeks
ahead will be even tougher, as will trying to chart a course out of the
fighting toward a better future through diplomacy.

Ensuring that the humanitarian needs of the people of Gaza are addressed
and further calamity averted must be of the highest priority right now if
there is to be any road forward in the longer run.

Yours,

Jeremy Ben-Ami
President, J Street


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J Street is the political home for pro-Israel, pro-peace, pro-democracy
Americans who want Israel to be secure, democratic and the national home of the
Jewish people. Working in American politics and the Jewish community, we
advocate policies that advance shared US and Israeli interests as well as Jewish
and democratic values, leading to a two-state solution to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.



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