Dear A.,

On Monday, Palestinian terrorists shot and killed 27-year-old Elan Ganeles z”l.

A dual American and Israeli citizen and recent Columbia University graduate, Elan hailed from West Hartford, Connecticut, and was in Israel for a friend’s wedding.

This attack, the latest in a wave of Palestinian terrorism, serves as a potent reminder of the real threats that Israel faces and the importance of our work to ensure America always stands by Israel’s side.

Fourteen Israelis have been murdered by Palestinian terrorists in just the past month. A number of these attacks have been carried out by young Palestinians, often radicalized by Palestinian Authority schools and unaffiliated with established terrorist groups, as reported by The Washington Post.

This terrorism doesn't occur in a vacuum. America must press the Palestinian leadership to end their deadly policies that directly incentivize terrorism.

As we once again join Israelis and Americans mourning this tragic death, we also must redouble our efforts to keep Israel safe and hold Palestinian leaders accountable for the bloodshed their policies provoke.

This week, a bipartisan group of 47 members of the House Armed Services Committee urged the Defense Department to deepen U.S.-Israel defense collaboration, particularly in emerging technologies.

• From the letter: "We believe it is imperative that the U.S. and Israel – two of the world’s advanced technology juggernauts – work together to ensure we prevail over our adversaries in critically important high-tech security sectors."

In recent months, America and Israel have continued to demonstrate their shared commitment to strengthening this vital partnership, including through a series of significant joint military exercises. 

• This morning, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff landed in Israel for talks with senior Israeli security officials.
   
• Earlier this week, the U.S. and Israel signed an agreement to provide one another with critical defense supplies necessary to face emerging and mutual threats.
   
• Also this week, U.S. Marines and Israeli troops concluded a joint training exercise designed to deepen the U.S.-Israel partnership and improve regional security.

This week, a bipartisan group in Congress called for ending the anti-Israel "Commission of Inquiry" (COI) and removing a U.N. official with a documented history of antisemitism and anti-Israel bias.

Led by Reps. Brad Schneider (D-IL) and Ann Wagner (R-MO), the letter states:

• U.N. Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese's actions “patently demonstrate her strong bias against Israel" and complete "lack of impartiality," and her "biased behaviors should have no place at the United Nations."
   
• "The COI is an unprecedented, open-ended, and unfairly slanted investigation, which completely ignores the role of terrorist groups such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. From its inception, [the COI] has been a clear attempt by the United Nations Human Rights Council to target Israel." 

Hundreds of Iranian schoolgirls have recently been hospitalized in over 10 cities with similar respiratory, cardiac and neurological symptoms.
 

• The poisonings are thought to be "revenge" for the role that young women have played in the ongoing protests.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price called the poisonings “very disturbing” and “abhorrent,” and called for accountability for the perpetrators. 

Context: For over five months, thousands of Iranians — led by young women — have risked their lives to fight for basic human rights and protest the oppressive regime.
 

• "These appear to be serious coordinated attacks to create fear among the girls and their families in the context of girls’ partaking in the protests," an Iranian human rights expert said.

U.S. Marines and IDF soldiers in Israel participating in the latest joint U.S.-Israel military exercise, Intrepid Maven. Photo credit: U.S. MARCENT.