NEW FROM FMEP
Supremacy over Democracy: The Shame of the American Jewish Establishment (New podcast episode)
FMEP Fellow Ahmed Moor interviews FMEP Fellow Peter Beinart about Peter’s recent Jewish Currents essay, “The Shame of the American Jewish Establishment,” which offers a political and historical look at American Jewish institutions, known broadly as the American Jewish establishment. They discuss Peter’s analysis of how the trajectory of American Jewish institutions & their leadership, looking at how they once saw American Jewish wellbeing as tied to the growth and expansion of American liberal democracy and thus supported civil rights, women’s rights, and LGBT+ rights in the mid-20th century, and where they are now, which is abandoning the fight for American democracy in favor of support for the state of Israel.
FMEP Legislative Round-Up August 14, 2026 (Lara Friedman)
- Bills, Resolutions; 2. Letters & Reports; 3. Hearings & Markups; 4. Selected Members on the Record; 5. Selected Media & Press releases/Statements
Settlement & Annexation Report: August 14, 2026 (Kristin McCarthy)
WEST BANK: Jenin Area Fragmentation Continues, Atara Petition, Tenders for Kochav Yaakov, More; STATE-BACKED SETTLER TERRORISM: State Data Shows 63% Raise in Settler Attacks, Katz Wants Israel Police to Take Over West Bank Civilian Matters, Settlers Lay Siege to Qusra, IDF Is Issuing Closed Military Zone Orders on Entire Villages, More; BONUS READS
The Future of US Aid to Israel: From Military Assistance to Integration (Al Shabaka Policy Lab)
Al-Shabaka’s Tariq Kenney-Shawa spoke with FMEP’s Lara Friedman and investigative journalist and writer Antony Loewenstein about the proposed integration of Israel into the U.S. military-industrial complex.
GLOBAL/REGION
Netanyahu Rejects Trump’s Plan for Disarming Hamas (NYT 8/9/26)
“The Israeli government has rejected a 15-point plan backed by the Trump administration aimed at disarming the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday. It appeared to be an unusually public break with President Trump…Mr. Trump announced the agreement between his Board of Peace and Hamas late last month, lauding it as a major breakthrough…On Sunday, Mr. Netanyahu openly dismissed the plan, saying that Israeli forces “would not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is disarmed.” He said that meant “heavy weapons, lighter weapons, all weapons,” adding, “We are talking about real disarmament.” At a cabinet meeting of government ministers, Mr. Netanyahu said: “I want to be clear here — Israel is ruling out the 15-point document.”’ See also Netanyahu Walks ‘Political Tightrope’ on Trump’s Gaza Disarmament Deal (NYT 8/10/26); Kushner set to visit Israel, Egypt next week for Gaza talks (Axios 8/13/26); Netanyahu rejects US-led 15-point Gaza peace plan in rare public break with Trump (The Guardian 8/9/26);
Israel defies Trump on Lebanon as Netanyahu, Katz prioritize elections (Ben Caspit//Al Monitor 8/14/26)
“During a tour of Israeli positions in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, Defense Minister Israel Katz rejected any suggestion of an Israeli withdrawal. “I have instructed the military to take all the necessary steps for a long-term presence in the area,” he said, insisting that Israeli forces remaining there were vital to defending Israel’s northern border communities against Hezbollah attacks. The statement earned him a US rebuke. A State Department official told i24NEWS, “The United States expects all parties to act in a manner consistent with the framework they agreed to.”…Following the American rebuke, Katz qualified his statement, saying Israeli troops would remain in place until Hezbollah is disarmed.”
Benjamin Netanyahu describes UK as ‘first Islamic republic to get a nuclear weapon’ (Guardian 8/14/26)
“The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, called the UK “the Islamic republic of Britain” in a podcast interview, where he also described the country as the “first Islamic republic to get a nuclear weapon”. His comments, made during an interview for Israel’s army radio, played into a common far-right Islamophobic trope about Britain’s small Muslim population.”
Israel deliberately starting wildfires in southern Lebanon, firefighters say (The Guardian 8/12/26)
“Firefighters and residents of south Lebanon have accused the Israeli military of lighting wildfires in the region, as forested areas burned down in blazes sparked by Israeli bombing. Environmental groups said the fires in recent weeks were part of a longstanding Israeli practice of targeting Lebanon’s natural environment. On Tuesday, the Israeli military dropped flares in a wooded area outside Khiam, in south Lebanon, sparking blazes. When firefighters attempted to extinguish the flames, a drone struck close by, forcing them to withdraw, said the head of the civil defence in the Nabatieh region, Hussein Fakih…The Israeli military has caused fires across south Lebanon, in particular in olive groves and on agricultural land, according to videos and testimony from emergency services, in the nearly two-months since the 17 June ceasefire that mostly ended fighting between Hezbollah and Israel.”
Human rights groups sue Trump administration over ‘crippling’ ICC sanctions (The Guardian 8/11/26)
“Four prominent US human rights organizations have accused the Trump administration of using its “crippling” sanctions regime against the international criminal court (ICC) to undermine global efforts to prosecute war crimes and crimes against humanity. In a lawsuit filed in federal court on Tuesday, the groups – the American Friends Service Committee, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Human Rights Watch and the Open Society Institute – argued that the administration’s targeting of the ICC, as well as of groups and individuals affiliated with it or assisting its work, amounts to a “blatantly illegal attack on international justice”, the groups said. The suit challenges Trump’s February 2025 executive order, which authorized sanctions on ICC officials, judges and others working to support its investigation of Israeli crimes in Palestine – one of 18 investigations into war crimes and crimes against humanity the Netherlands-based tribunal is overseeing.”
In Latin America, the Road to Trump’s Heart Goes Through Israel (Blaise Malley//Responsible Statecraft 8/14/26)
“But just two years later, across the region, governments that had distanced themselves from Israel are now moving quickly to repair ties. Not surprisingly they are the same leaders who have rushed to ingratiate themselves with the Donald Trump administration in Washington. Venezuela’s foreign minister announced Monday that it would restore consular services with Israel for the first time since 2009, marking a sharp foreign policy shift in the wake of Trump’s military ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January. Colombia’s new right-wing president, Abelardo de la Espriella, declared just days after his inauguration that the country would recognize Israel’s claim of sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights. Colombia is one of two nations in the world to offer such a recognition, following the United States, which did so during President Trump’s first term. Then, earlier this month, Chile and Honduras restored their ambassadors to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, respectively, for the first time since November 2023. Latin America analysts tell Responsible Statecraft that while there may be ideological, economic, or security motivations peculiar to each nation, this pivot functions primarily as a way for regional leaders to curry favor with the Trump administration.” See also Israel’s Leaders Find Allies Among the Global Far Right (Ishaan Tharoor//New Yorker 8/13/26)
GAZA
Gaza’s sick wait for treatment that may never come (Ahmed Dremly//+972 Magazine 8/14/26)
“Across Gaza, people whose survival depends on sustained medical care are finding that even routine treatment can no longer be counted on. Amid Israel’s tight blockade, regular dialysis has been disrupted by shortages of medication, equipment, clean water, and adequate food. Cancer patients are struggling to access chemotherapy and other essential treatment. Hospitals have been destroyed, families repeatedly displaced, and drugs and medical supplies depleted. Simply reaching one of the few functioning facilities can be an ordeal. Conditions once considered treatable or manageable have become increasingly dangerous.” See also Gaza cancer patients face rising death rate amid Israeli restrictions, doctors say (TOI 8/13/26)
Everyone is planning Gaza’s future. But the governance crisis is now (Mahmoud Mushtaha//+972 Magazine 8/11/26)
“For more than 2 million Palestinians, many still living in tents, there has been no clean transition from a genocidal war to recovery. Daily life remains organized around displacement, finding food, and staying alive. This is a society still being dismantled, brick by brick, institution by institution, habit by habit — just more slowly, and with less of an audience. And when I listen to what families in Gaza are asking for, food and water are only part of it. Increasingly, and in a lower voice, I hear another set of questions: Who is actually in control? Who can protect us if something happens? What if an armed group comes to the neighborhood? Who do we call if someone steals from us, threatens us, or takes advantage of us? When will there be a government we can actually turn to? Safety has become its own separate, unanswered need — distinct from hunger and shelter — but it is tangled up with something larger. People are not only afraid of what might happen to them, but of having nowhere to turn to when it does. That’s because part of what is dismantling Gaza right now isn’t visible from a donor conference at all: the disappearance of governance and the collapse of any functional authority.”
RIVER TO THE SEA
Trapped and cut off: Palestinian families under settler siege in the West Bank (CNN 8/14/26)
“Loui Ridi began building a home in his native town of Qusra, in the occupied West Bank, for his two daughters. The girls grew up in Ohio, but family trips made them fall in love with their father’s Palestinian roots…That dream is now on hold as a group of Israeli settlers lay siege to the hilltop where Ridi’s and two other homes sit in a bid to kick out the Palestinian residents. The settlers pitched a tent, cut off water and electricity lines and blocked roads, preventing anyone from reaching the residents. Trapped inside are Ridi’s brother, Qusai, and Qusai’s son, with only enough food to last two or three more days…Ridi watched in horror from Ohio on security cameras and began contacting the Israeli authorities, which are responsible for security in this part of the West Bank. And then, to his disbelief, Israeli soldiers arrived, warmly greeted the settlers and then joined them in prayer. Israeli soldiers and border police arrived at the hilltop on Wednesday, dismantled the settlers’ tent and began trying to remove the settlers from the area. But that effort failed. Dozens of additional settlers arrived, moving boulders into the road and throwing rocks at the security forces, who were seen firing sound grenades and spraying settlers with pepper spray before withdrawing…By Friday morning, videos shared with CNN showed settlers rebuilding their tent outside the besieged homes…Close to 100 human rights activists marched to Qusra in solidarity, bringing extra food and water for the Palestinian families. Photos sent to CNN by the activists showed soldiers blocking their way…” See also Occupation forces block access to Palestinian families besieged by colonists near Nablus (WAFA 8/14/26); Israeli troops force families from homes amid settler terror campaign in West Bank (The Guardian 8/13/26);
Settlers Return to West Bank Outpost Besieging Two Palestinian-owned Homes (Haaretz 8/14/26)
“Israeli settlers returned Friday morning to the West Bank village of Qusra, where they established an outpost on Sunday near two isolated Palestinian-owned homes, effectively besieging their inhabitants. IDF and Border Police forces have attempted several times this week to evacuate the settlers, but they have remained at the site. The group initially put up a shade canopy there, despite the presence of soldiers. Border Police forces arrived at the site and dismantled the canopy, yet the settlers remained at a nearby location, waiting for the forces to leave.” See also Israel Evicted Settlers Besieging Palestinian Homes. Hours Later, They Were Back. (NYT 8/13/26); West Bank Settlers Continue to Besiege Palestinian Families (NYT 8/14/26); Settler Siege of Palestinian Homes Highlights Growing West Bank Chaos (NYT 8/12/26);
Israeli settlers’ siege of Palestinian homes draws a sharp US rebuke (AP 8/13/26)
“On Thursday, U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee referred to the settlers as “terrorists” — a word American officials usually reserve for Palestinian militants. It was an unusually sharp rebuke from the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has given unprecedented support to Israeli settlement over the years.” See also Mike Huckabee says Israeli settlers attacking West Bank homes are ‘terrorists’ (NPR 8/14/26); Huckabee Condemned ‘Settler Terror’ but He Was Defending Trump, Not Palestinians (Amira Hass//Haaretz 8/14/26)
Settler terror attacks in West Bank said to surge by 63% in first half of 2026 (TOI 8/10/26)
“The number of serious incidents of “nationalistic crime” committed by extremist Jewish settlers in the West Bank surged by 63 percent during the first half of 2026 compared to the same period last year, the Kan public broadcaster reported Monday, citing security establishment figures…According to the report, 660 settler attacks were recorded in the first six months of 2026, up from 405 during the same period in 2025. Attacks targeting Israeli security forces also rose by 50%, with 45 such incidents recorded in the first half of 2026. Palestinian casualties from settler violence climbed sharply as well, with 140 Palestinians wounded and six killed during the first half of the year, compared with 82 wounded and none killed during the same period last year. The figures did not include July, when roughly 100 additional incidents of nationalist crime were recorded, according to Kan, apparently continuing the upward trend.” See also In West Bank Village, a New Israeli Order Enables Settler Attacks While Claiming to Prevent Them (Sharif Abdel Kouddous//Drop Site 8/12/26); Over 20 Palestinians Reported Wounded in West Bank Settler Attacks and IDF Raids Over the Weekend (Haaretz 8/8/26)
Israeli military plans to transfer law enforcement in occupied West Bank to police (The Guardian 8/14/26)
“Israel’s defence minister wants to transfer law enforcement powers for Israelis in the occupied West Bank over to the police, a plan that Palestine’s vice-president described as a “flagrant violation of international law” and step towards full Israeli annexation…The Palestinian vice-president, Hussein al-Sheikh, called for international intervention to enforce international law and stop a move that would “entrench the illegitimate annexation of Palestinian land”. Katz unveiled his plan as a settler siege in the Palestinian village of Qusra entered its sixth day. The Israeli army has proved unable or unwilling to remove the group of militants trying to drive out Palestinian residents through a campaign of terror. Michael Sfard, a leading Israeli human rights lawyer, said a transfer of law enforcement powers could constitute a major step towards formal annexation.”
Life in a laboratory of Israeli ethnic cleansing (Haroon Bshara//+972 Magazine 8/14/26)
“For most people, Al-Mughayyir is just another Palestinian village on a map. For us, it has long been on the front line against the relentless Israeli machine of annexation and dispossession in the West Bank. Home to fewer than 4,000 residents, the village sits 30 kilometers northeast of Ramallah, with agricultural lands stretching east toward the Jordan Valley. Between us and those lands runs the Allon Road, a north-south highway built by Israel through the occupied West Bank that links settlements across the Jordan Valley while largely bypassing Palestinian communities. For more than two decades, since the days of the Second Intifada, residents went out to try and prevent settlements from expanding beyond that corridor and swallowing the farmland that sustains the village. Yet since October 2023, we have found ourselves in an existential battle, alone with no protection against Israel’s merciless apparatus of erasure and displacement, aimed at turning our daily lives into an unbearable hell. Our stricken village has become a living laboratory for the ugliest policies of ethnic cleansing and deliberate economic strangulation.”
Israel’s roadblocks are choking emergency care in the West Bank (Shatha Yaish//+972 Magazine 8/13/26)
“Fuqaha’s death illustrates a recurring pattern of obstructed medical care across the occupied West Bank, where Israel has imposed an expanding system of roadblocks since October 2023. More than 930 gates, checkpoints and other movement restrictions now fragment roads and communities across the Israeli-occupied territory, limiting Palestinians’ access to major cities and essential services. According to Eid Dweikat, a spokesman for the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS), ambulances are increasingly being delayed or forced to take lengthy detours to respond to emergencies, “affecting the speed with which the PRCS can respond to people who need medical assistance.” In the first six months of this year alone, the World Health Organization documented 50 cases of delays in medical care to Palestinians in the West Bank.”
The Faces of Tuba: Testimonies from a settler assault on a West Bank village. (Maya Rosen//Jewish Currents)
“When I visited Tuba on Sunday, residents were still rattled. They told me how an 11-year-old boy had been asleep at home when settlers set it on fire and how his sister hid from the settlers in a bathroom, only barely managing to escape as smoke engulfed the house. They ticked off the items they had lost to the fires—children’s toys, school books, ID documents, eyeglasses. And they told me how the end of one attack only brings them closer to the next. “The next day, settlers were back harassing the family,” journalist and filmmaker Basel Adra, who lives in the nearby village of Tuwani and drove to Tuba while the attack was ongoing on Wednesday night to help, told me. “They burn the houses at night and they come in the morning to enjoy their actions.”’
U.S. SCENE
A Choice for Liberals in Michigan: Zionism or Fighting Trump? (Alex Kane//Jewish Currents 8/13/26)
“Abdul El-Sayed’s victory in the Michigan Senate Democratic primary last week is forcing liberal Jewish groups to choose between their dueling priorities of supporting Israel and supporting the Democratic Party. Their decision could have major implications for whether Democrats win control of the Senate this fall. El-Sayed, who has said he is opposed to all ethnostates, including the Jewish one, and who ran on ending all weapons sales to Israel, needs all the help he can get as he faces down Republican Mike Rogers in the general election. In addition to the support Rogers will almost certainly enjoy from President Trump, who endorsed him in the primaries, he is also likely to benefit from an avalanche of AIPAC spending —money that could swing the election and hand the GOP control of the Senate, eliminating Democrats’ ability to block President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda. But so far, the only Jewish groups to endorse El-Sayed—the first Muslim major-party nominee for Senate—are left-wing, non- or anti-Zionist organizations with limited resources, like Palestine-focused groups IfNotNow and Jewish Voice for Peace, which endorsed El-Sayed during the primary…While pro-Israel Jewish Democrats such as Michigan Senator Elissa Slotkin and Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer have gotten behind El-Sayed, Democratic-Party-aligned Jewish political groups have not followed their lead. Pushed to decide between accommodating themselves to El Sayed’s anti-Zionism and abetting Rogers’s MAGA radicalism, liberal Jewish groups have either hesitated to embrace the Democrat or have denounced him outright. The Michigan Democratic Jewish Caucus and the Jewish Democratic Council of America have been harshly critical of the Michigan doctor.”
Judge dismisses Trump administration lawsuit alleging antisemitism at Harvard University (NPR 8/14/26)
“A federal judge in Boston on Thursday dismissed a Trump administration lawsuit that accused Harvard University of turning a blind eye to harassment of Jewish students. The decision from U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns said that President Donald Trump’s administration failed to prove an ongoing violation of federal civil rights laws. The judge said the lawsuit, filed in March, mostly focuses on incidents that took place in the 2023-24 academic year, with a few from March 2025. The cases were “too isolated and episodic” to prove a persistent civil rights violation at the Ivy League campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the judge said.”
Palestinian Americans File Discrimination Lawsuit Against Columbia (NYT 8/11/26)
“Five Palestinian Americans, who include a professor, a former professor, a student and two former students at Columbia University, filed a lawsuit against the school on Monday, claiming it helped to foster a hostile and discriminatory environment on campus after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack against Israel. The complaint, filed in New York State Supreme Court, is the latest lawsuit in a series of ongoing legal battles over Columbia’s handling of campus speech, safety and discipline after the attack and during the subsequent war in Gaza. The lawsuit comes a little more than a year after the university agreed to pay a $200 million fine to settle federal allegations claiming it had not done enough to protect Jewish students from antisemitism. “Columbia has discriminated against its students, faculty and staff who are of Palestinian origin through its failure to adequately protect its community members from harassment by others, and indeed, actively encouraged such harassment,” the complaint reads…The plaintiffs argue that the office routinely investigated Palestinian students and staff members based on a definition of antisemitism promoted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, which lawyers for the plaintiffs argue conflates antisemitism with criticism of Israel. As a result, the lawsuit says, the office investigated students and university employees for participating in pro-Palestinian demonstrations or wearing kaffiyehs to class. At the same time, according to the complaint, the office did not adequately look into complaints of harassment against Palestinian students and faculty members.” See also Cornell to Pro-Palestine Students Targeted by ICE: Come Back to the U.S. or Lose Funding (The Intercept 8/14/26)
PERSPECTIVES//LONG READS
Amid genocide, Palestinian participation in Israel’s elections must be reimagined (Areej Sabbagh-Khoury//+972 Magazine 8/12/26)
“The central question is how Palestinian politics in Israel should be reimagined in the face of an ongoing genocide, and what role political participation can play in defending Palestinian society under these radically transformed conditions. What has unfolded since October 7 is not simply another war, nor merely another turn toward a more extreme right-wing government. The genocide in Gaza has exposed structural transformations within the Israeli system: an unprecedented acceleration in the fusion of the settler-colonial project with political fascism, alongside a contraction of the public sphere so severe that Palestinian existence itself has come under threat…Traditionally, Palestinians in Israel have asked what this citizenship can grant them. Today, the more urgent question may be how to use the limited possibilities that settler colonial citizenship affords to protect Palestinian society — and perhaps the Palestinian people as a whole — while strengthening its sumud (steadfastness), organizing its political power, and confronting a regime that is becoming ever more colonial and ever more fascist.”
Hamas Has No More Cards to Play (Muhammad Shehada//NYT 8/13/26)
“One sign Hamas might be serious about giving up its weapons is that, aside from an alleged incident of a sole projectile being fired and landing inside Gaza itself, it and other armed groups have apparently not fired a rocket at Israel since the original cease-fire took effect in October. They have shown this restraint despite the fact that Israel has killed over 1,000 Palestinians in Gaza in that time, including Hamas’s top military leaders. This unusual holding back could very well indicate that Hamas has no better cards left to play. Armed resistance in Gaza has reached its limit and has exhausted the rationales that sustained it…Palestinian factions such as Hamas, which defined themselves for decades by the ideology of armed resistance, have been looking for a face-saving way out, figures close to Hamas have told me. Hamas leaders like Khaled Meshaal have been sending the message that Gazans have done their part in contributing to the Palestinian cause and paid the heaviest price, and should now be allowed to recover and heal.”
International Media Is Failing Palestinian Journalists in Gaza (Taghreed El-Khodary//Haaretz 8/10/26)
“In every piece of media coverage on Gaza, the public should be reminded that Israel has barred independent international media from entering the region for almost three years now. Media outlets have a responsibility to analyze why Israel is keeping them out…we need to stop covering Gaza solely as a humanitarian story. It’s a much larger geopolitical, legal, environmental and technological story, alongside a humanitarian one. It’s the story of a man-made disaster, and also of a place that has become the deadliest in modern history for journalists. The most important media outlets in the world have all called on Israel to allow journalists into Gaza as early as the summer of 2024. Israel refused to do so. So far, the international media is not applying real pressure on Israel to change course…The call for Israel to let international journalists into Gaza should be on the homepage of every news app, on the front page of every newspaper, and mentioned in every news segment on television.”
Israeli Settlers Are Out of Control. Could an Election Change That? (Nicholas Kristof//NYT 8/12/26)
“Even if a new government wanted to rein in violent settlers, it would be difficult,” said Sari Bashi, the executive director of the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel. “Settlers have been given weapons and vehicles by the government, they’re emboldened, and the Israeli Zionist left and center has never rushed to use violence or other strong measures against Israeli Jews. This genie might not fit neatly back into its bottle.”
Animal Welfare and Hierarchies of Suffering in Gaza (Asmaa Abu Mezeid//Al Shabaka 8/11/26)
“On November 14, 2025, German media described four donkeys transported from Gaza by the Israeli organization Starting Over Sanctuary as having been “rescued,” before they were relocated to a zoo in Oppenheim. The animals were given German names and described as having “left behind hunger and misery, beatings and hardship.” Missing from the coverage was any mention of children in Gaza denied evacuation or of the Israeli genocide and continued attacks on Palestinians following the October 2025 “ceasefire.” This disjuncture—between the visibility and mobility granted to animal suffering and the persistent erasure of Palestinian human life—lies at the heart of a “theater of care.” This commentary examines theater of care as a performance of humanitarian concern shaped by racialized hierarchies of grievability, in which some lives are treated as urgent while others are rendered politically suspect. It advances two arguments: First, animal rescue in Gaza operates within a colonial politics of care that privileges the apolitical innocence attributed to animals while rendering Palestinians less grievable. Second, animal welfare interventions are materially entangled with the dispossession of Palestinian survival infrastructure, particularly when animals essential to daily survival are removed under the guise of protection. It consequently reveals how humanitarian systems channel compassion in ways that manage suffering without demanding structural accountability, turning care into a tool of dispossession.”
Israel Justified Its Wars by Calling Enemies “Crazy.” Now, the Warning Signs All Apply to Israel. (Eli Clifton & Ian Lustick//The Intercept 8/13/26)
“Benjamin Netanyahu shocked the world with violence in Gaza — then took an unhinged Israel to the mainstream.”