[ ]J Street [ ]
J STREET WELCOMES HOSTAGE RELEASE AND PAUSE IN FIGHTING; URGES US TO SET RED
LINES FOR NETANYAHU

November 22, 2023

[ [link removed] ]Read the statement on our website here

J Street welcomes the agreement, approved last night by the Israeli
government, that when implemented in full will include the release of at
least 50 women and children held hostage by Hamas and an exchange of 150
Palestinian prisoners from Israel, over the course of a temporary
ceasefire set to last at least four days.

The plight of the hostages and their families is one of the most
heartrending parts of the calamity that has unfolded since Hamas’ horrific
terror attacks against Israel on October 7. These hostages’ reunification
with their families is a cause for great celebration and relief – even as
we continue to fear for the safety of the many Israelis and foreign
nationals still held in Gaza. Efforts to secure their release must
continue to be a top priority.

A sustained pause in the fighting is also desperately needed for the
millions of Palestinian civilians in Gaza who are facing an ongoing
humanitarian disaster, and for the Israelis continuing to face barrages of
rocket fire. The agreement will reportedly allow for hundreds of aid
trucks to enter Gaza each day, and in particular for an increase in fuel
deliveries, which are desperately needed to operate desalination plants,
hospitals and other vital infrastructure.

It is a critical opportunity to surge increased aid deliveries into Gaza –
which aid agencies on the ground have warned is nearly impossible while
heavy fighting is underway. Yet these relief organizations have also made
clear that a pause of this length is far from what would be needed to
truly address the deteriorating crisis.

Like the Biden Administration, J Street has been urging a sustained
humanitarian pause in the fighting for weeks, and we greatly appreciate
the US diplomatic efforts that helped to achieve it. We hope it will be
extended well beyond four days, and that it will ultimately result in the
release of even more hostages, and the delivery of more aid.

At the same time, we remain deeply concerned about the state of the war –
and what could take place when the fighting resumes.

In the wake of the heinous Hamas attacks, in which over 1,200 Israelis
were brutally killed, J Street has been clear that we support Israel’s
right to take military action, within the bounds of international law, to
bring Hamas to justice and protect Israeli citizens from further attack.

We support the US government doing everything in its power to uphold
Israeli security, help prevent terror, and ultimately advance a safe, free
and peaceful future for Israelis, Palestinians and the wider region.

Over six weeks in, we are extremely concerned that the Netanyahu
government’s conduct of the ongoing war in Gaza is imperiling the
long-term goals of peace, security and preventing terror. We fear that
they have not yet put forward any acceptable vision for the stable
post-war future of Gaza or the ultimate resolution of the conflict. We are
shocked by the devastating toll that the war is taking on over two million
Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

That is why we believe it is absolutely critical – for the sake of US,
Israeli and Palestinian interests and for the goal of defeating Hamas –
that the Biden Administration set clear red lines and insist on a
significant change in the conduct of this military operation.

President Biden has rightly demonstrated that US support for Israel’s
security is ironclad. He should also make clear that the US will not
provide unbounded support for a war with no limits and no exit strategy.
[ [link removed] ]Our ongoing backing and aid to Israel is not a blank check for Prime
Minister Netanyahu.

We agree with congressional voices like [ [link removed] ]Sen. Jon Ossoff, who has said,
“An unmitigated humanitarian disaster in Gaza is not just a moral failure.
It undermines American national security…It sews the seeds of hate and
dims the prospects for a long-term, sustainable peace between Israelis and
Palestinians.” We agree with [ [link removed] ]Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who expressed
concern that the US had not set clear red lines for the Israeli conduct of
this war, saying “that cannot be consistent with American interests and
American values.”

As Hamas appallingly embeds itself within and beneath the civilian
population, intensive Israeli airstrikes and shelling throughout Gaza have
reportedly left over 13,000 people dead, the large majority of them
civilians, including 5,500 children, with thousands more injured.

Military operations must make every possible effort to protect civilians
from harm, to target Hamas as surgically as possible and to prevent any
permanent displacement of civilians. This is crucial in and of itself –
and also the only way that the operation could ever hope to successfully
deter terror, ensure Israel’s security and receive international
legitimacy.

As much of northern Gaza has been devastated, nearly 1.7 million people
have been displaced, with most fleeing south, as the Israeli government
called for. Most are cut off from food, clean water and medical care – and
face spreading hunger and disease. Now, as Israeli forces prepare a major
operation targeting Hamas leaders in the south of Gaza, calls for
evacuations from some southern neighborhoods have already begun. Yet with
their borders sealed, families in Gaza have nowhere left to flee – and
fear permanent displacement.

US Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer said this week the US
believes that further Israeli military operations in the south “should not
go forward until those civilians have been accounted for in their military
planning.” We agree – and we believe that the Netanyahu government has so
far failed to effectively conduct this operation in a way that protects
civilians or prioritizes the release of all hostages.

The Biden Administration should immediately announce – and enforce – clear
red lines for the ongoing Israeli operation against Hamas. It must insist
that the Netanyahu government dramatically change its tactics; allow an
immediate surge in humanitarian aid; reject any future Israeli occupation,
annexation or blockade in Gaza; and commit ultimately to the negotiated
creation of an independent Palestinian state.

If Netanyahu cannot adopt this approach, then there is sadly no doubt this
war will lead only to more bloodshed, suffering and instability, without
breaking the cycle of conflict, truly defeating Hamas, or creating a
platform for a better future.

President Biden should be clear that the US cannot support an operation if
it endangers US and Israeli interests in that way. Hundreds of thousands
of lives, and the ultimate future of Israelis and Palestinians, are on the
line. Decisive leadership is needed.


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© 2023 J Street | [ [link removed] ]www.jstreet.org | [email protected]

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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