NEW FROM FMEP
FMEP Legislative Round-Up June 19, 2026 (Lara Friedman)
- Bills, Resolutions; 2. Letters & Reports; 3. Hearings & Markups; 4. Selected Members on the Record; 5. Selected Media & Press releases/Statements Note from Lara Friedman: “Section 1 of this Round-Up looks at three key pieces of must-pass legislation now moving through the Congress…A clear through-line connecting all of these bills and lists of amendments is the effort in Congress to use every available legislative vehicle as an engine to expand/deepen US-Israeli military cooperation, coordination, operations, inter-operability/inter-dependence, procurements, and integration — in a manner that will be very difficult for any future Congress or president to unwind. Together these measures seek to codify the transformation of Israel from a foreign state that enjoys US support & aid, into an actor whose interests, prerogatives, and entitlements are enmeshed, by law, with those of the US, such that Israel is legally woven into the fabric of U.S. national security apparatus functions — where its position will not only be less vulnerable to changing political tides (compared to today), but also even less transparent and accountable. Whether you love or hate this effort, the fact is: vital US national security equities are in play & are being decided not via rigorous, transparent, informed deliberation/debate, but via text slipped into must-pass bills & defended, disingenuously, as non-consequential.”
Settlement & Annexation Report: June 12, 2026 (Kristin McCarthy)
WEST BANK: Israel Expediting NIS 1 Billion to 61 Outposts; Israel Allocates Land to Outpost in Beit Sahour; Israel Building Permanent Military Base in Jenin; News on New Outposts; Amnesty Report Alleges Ethnic Cleansing; STATE BACKED SETTLER VIOLENCE: European Countries Announce New; United Nations Says State is Complicit in Settler Terror; BONUS READS
GLOBAL/REGION
JD Vance tells Iran deal critics in Israel: Trump is your only ally left in the world (The Guardian 6/18/26)
“US vice-president JD Vance has lashed out at Israeli critics of the Iran deal, saying Donald Trump is Israel’s only ally left in the world, in a sharp rebuke that referenced the billions in defence aid the country receives from America…Vance, asked at a White House news briefing about a report that Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was fuming over the agreement, said he had not heard such comments from Netanyahu but criticised members of the Israeli leader’s cabinet, who he said have attacked the deal and personally attacked Trump. “My message to them would be twofold. No 1: Donald J Trump is the only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time,” Vance told reporters. “If I was in the cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world.“ He said he would also remind those cabinet members that two-thirds of the defensive weapons that have protected Israel “have been built by American hands and paid for by American tax dollars”…Vance criticised Ben-Gvir and finance minister Bezalel Smotrich in a New York Times interview released earlier on Thursday. “What is your exact proposal? You’re a country of 9 million people. You can’t just kill your way out of solving every single national security problem that you have,” Vance said.” See also Vance Lashes Out at Israeli Critics of U.S.-Iran Agreement to End the War (NYT 6/18/26); Netanyahu fumes, allies rage over Trump’s Iran deal (Axios 6/18/26);
US-Iran talks abruptly called off after Israel and Hezbollah trade deadly attacks (The Guardian 6/19/26)
“Talks due to take place on Friday between the US and Iran in Switzerland to implement a peace deal were cancelled as Hezbollah killed four Israeli soldiers and Israel carried out a wave of retaliatory airstrikes in south Lebanon and the Bekaa valley that killed at least 18 people.” See also Israel kills dozens in Lebanon as minister calls to ‘open the gates of hell’ (MEE 6/19/26);
U.S. claims Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire back on (Axios 6/19/26)
“Two U.S. officials told Axios on Friday that Israel and Hezbollah had agreed to a renewed ceasefire in Lebanon, but clashes continued even after it was supposed to be in effect. Hezbollah sources told Reuters the group would observe the ceasefire, but a spokesperson for Israel’s military declined to confirm its participation.” See also How the U.S.-Iran Deal Came Down to the Wire (NYT 6/17/26); The world may not like Trump’s Gaza plan — but there is no alternative (Hillary Clinton//FT 6/18/26); Trump: ‘We expect a complete ceasefire’ between Hezbollah and Israel (TOI 6/19/26);
How Netanyahu used Lebanon strikes to push back on Trump’s Iran deal (Ben Caspit//Al Monitor 6/19/26)
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had signaled to Washington that he would not bow to President Donald Trump’s pressure to halt military operations in southern Lebanon, but by Friday afternoon Washington announced that a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah had taken effect. Netanyahu’s silence following the announcement underscored the difficult position he now faces — squeezed between mounting pressure from the United States and growing political pressure at home, a senior Israeli political source told Al-Monitor. Earlier Friday, Netanyahu vowed that the Israeli military would exact a heavy price from Hezbollah after four Israeli soldiers were killed in southern Lebanon shortly after midnight. Israel’s military carried out more than 80 airstrikes across southern Lebanon on Friday, killing at least 18 people and injuring 33 others, according to Lebanese health officials. The retaliatory strikes were intended not only to deter Hezbollah, but also to send a message to Trump that Israel would not relinquish what it sees as its right — and obligation — to protect residents of the north, the senior political source said.”
Trump signs Iran peace plan, claiming deal averts ‘worldwide depression’ (The Guardian 6/17/26)
“Donald Trump has signed a 14-point agreement with Iran, claiming it delivered a “major win” for the United States – even as it made significant political and financial concessions to Iran to reopen the strait of Hormuz and prevent a “worldwide depression”. In extraordinary remarks on Wednesday, Donald Trump went from threatening Iran with a new wave of attacks to suggesting the country had basic rights to enrich uranium for civilian use, that he would not pressure Tehran to abandon its ballistic missiles programme and the US was “going to have to give back” billions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets…Iran’s chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said: “The agreement is a record of US failure. People will see it and judge.”’ See also Donald Trump’s Iran deal met with anger, relief and incredulity (The Guardian 6/18/26); Trump to Axios: Netanyahu has “no fucking judgment” but Iran deal still on (Axios 6/14/26); Trump faults Israel’s Beirut strike, urges stand-down as Iran threatens deal (Axios 6/14/26); Israel Strikes Beirut Outskirts as Fighting With Hezbollah Escalates (NYT 6/14/26);
Iran Warned Trump: If You Do Not End War on Lebanon, We May Strike Israel Without Warning (Jeremy Scahill//Drop Site 6/19/26)
“If President Donald Trump does not force Israel to halt its escalating attacks on Lebanon, Iran told mediators it is prepared to suspend the agreement signed this week and launch retaliatory strikes against Israel, a senior Iranian official told Drop Site…On June 14, as Iran and the U.S. were finalizing the terms of the memorandum of understanding, Israel bombed the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh. Iran came within hours of striking Israel in response, but officials said Tehran ultimately agreed to hold its fire after securing last minute concessions from Trump. Iran had previously called attacks on Beirut an escalation that would not go unanswered.” See also ‘Let Syria take care of Hezbollah’: Trump criticizes Israel, leans on Sharaa to help in Lebanon (Al Monitor 6/16/26);
Israel, Stunned by Trump’s Iran Deal, Sees It as a ‘Catastrophic Capitulation’ (NYT 6/18/26)
“Israel awoke to a frightening new reality on Thursday as it absorbed, with disbelief and largely in silence, the terms of President Trump’s preliminary agreement to end the war with Iran. It accomplishes none of Israel’s war aims, analysts and officials said, and arguably leaves the country in worse shape on each of them…The [Israeli] prime minister said Israel would stick to its ultimate goal: “Iran will not have nuclear weapons.” He also vowed that Israel would restore security in the north, near its border with Lebanon. “That requires maintaining the security zone in southern Lebanon, and it requires that we not withdraw from it as long as Israel’s security needs demand it,” he said.” See also Netanyahu Says Israel Will Keep Forces in Lebanon, Despite U.S.-Iran Deal (NYT 6/15/26); Israel Asked Facebook to Censor Iran War Content, Internal Documents Show (The Intercept 6/18/26); The Israeli Ultra-Hawks Who Feel Betrayed by Trump’s Iran Deal (Isaac Chotiner interviews Israel’s Channel 14 anchor Shimon Riklin//New Yorker 6/17/26); Israel Counts the Ways That Netanyahu’s Iran Strategy Failed (NYT 6/15/26); 9 Meltdowns From Top Israeli Figures Over Trump’s Iran Deal (Zeteo 6/15/26); Ministers say Israel won’t be bound by Iran deal, as opposition castigates Netanyahu’s ‘absolute failure’ (TOI 6/16/26); Netanyahu declares victory over Iran – and rules out withdrawal from Lebanon (The Guardian 6/15/26);
They Weren’t Convicted of Terrorism, But These Palestine Activists Got Sentenced as Terrorists Anyway (Natasha Lennard//The Intercept 6/13/26)
“Four UK-based Palestine solidarity activists were sentenced as terrorists on Friday for damaging military drones and other equipment at an Elbit Systems U.K. factory in 2024. Elbit, Israel’s largest arms manufacturer, has provided the vast majority of drones used in the Israeli military’s genocidal bombardment of Gaza, among other horrors. The terrorism sentences, handed down by Justice Jeremy Johnson, set a frightening precedent. This is the first time in Britain that anyone has faced terrorism enhancements at sentencing without actually being convicted of terrorist offenses. It is also the first time that “criminal damage” convictions have been classified as terrorism…As a point of comparison: The convicted activists, who are affiliated with the Palestine Action network, will spend significantly more time in prison than the majority of people arrested and convicted for participating in brutal white supremacist riots across the U.K. in 2024, 2025, and again in recent weeks in Belfast, Northern Ireland — riots in which migrant shelters have been set on fire and Black and brown people have been beaten in the streets.” See also Palestine Action activists jailed over factory raid (BBC 6/12/26); Hind Rajab Foundation calls on US to arrest Israeli soldier attending World Cup (The Cradle 6/16/26);
6 Countries Announce Sanctions Targeting Israeli Settler Networks (NYT 6/9/26)
“Six countries are imposing coordinated sanctions on networks that they say have financed and supported violence carried out against Palestinians by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, Britain’s foreign office said on Tuesday. Britain said it was joining Canada, France and Norway in imposing new sanctions on six entities and one individual “involved in financing, enabling and carrying out settler violence.” Australia and New Zealand announced related sanctions last week…The new sanctions will target a range of organizations that provide support for Israeli settler farms and outposts, as well as groups that raise funds for settlers, Britain’s foreign office said. The sanctions also target a construction company, Eyal Hari Yehuda, and its owner, Itamar Yehuda Levi, accusing them of involvement in attacks on Palestinians. In 2024, under President Joseph R. Biden Jr., the United States blocked transactions with Mr. Levi over violence in the West Bank. In 2025, President Trump signed an executive order revoking the sanctions.” See also Construction equipment multinationals may be aiding Israeli war crimes, experts say (The Guardian 6/17/26); Smotrich banned from France as 4 countries introduce new sanctions against settler violence (TOI 6/9/26); Charities in England and Wales ‘donate millions to illegal Israeli settlements’ (The Guardian 6/10/26); Exclusive: Illegal settlements promoted in London at Great Israeli Real Estate Event (MEE 6/15/26);
“They Stole Our Home and Our Life”: Israel Permanently Displaces Syrians in Quneitra (Drop Site 6/15/26)
“The Israeli military has taken over land in southwest Syria, expelled residents, demolished homes, built new military bases, and conducted arrest sweeps.” See also Israel Searches for a Red Sea Foothold in Somaliland (Drop Site 6/13/26)
GAZA
In Campaign to Seize More of Gaza, Israel Expands Attacks on Palestinians Near “Yellow Line” (Abdel Qader Sabbah//Drop Site 6/17/26)
“Israel has been steadily encroaching further into Gaza, moving the “yellow line” that demarcates its area of control from 53% of the enclave since the start of the so-called ceasefire in October to well over 60%, in violation of the agreement. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently ordered the army to take 70%…Along certain parts of Gaza, Israeli troops have placed yellow concrete blocks to delineate the new border. Their placement of the blocks further west into the Al-Tuffah neighborhood on Friday accompanied by gunfire, tanks, and quadcopter attacks caused dozens of Palestinians in the area to pack up their belongings and flee later that day. Families crammed their scant belongings into open cardboard boxes and plastic bags. Trucks were piled up with thin mattresses, furniture, cookware and plastic bins waiting to be carried away. “The yellow line has destroyed us,” one resident yelled as he walked by…Before the genocide began over two and a half years ago, the Gaza Strip was already one of the most densely populated places on earth. Since the “ceasefire” in October, Israel has steadily seized more land, corralling the nearly two million Palestinians in Gaza into an ever shrinking area. Every inhabitable structure is crammed full of people while hundreds of thousands are living in tents and flimsy tarp shacks pitched close together wherever there is room—on the streets and public squares, in stadiums, and on the coastline. “No one is paying attention to us,” Mohammed Khalil told Drop Site as he gathered up his belongings along the side of a building in Al-Tuffah. “Every day we wish for death,” he said, his voice trembling as he spoke. “Every day we wish to die, to be done with this life.”’ See also Growing risk that thousands buried in Gaza’s rubble may never be identified, says Red Cross (The Guardian 6/14/26)
Militants and police executed and maimed dozens of Palestinians in Gaza, UN report says (AP 6/9/26)
“Hamas militants and police units in Gaza beat, maimed and publicly executed dozens of Palestinians during its war with Israel in acts amounting to war crimes, according to a United Nations report released Tuesday. The U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights’ report documented hundreds of cases of extrajudicial punishment in the war-ravaged territory, which it said were often publicized during and afterward to instill fear in the populace.”
Killed & Wounded (Drop Site 6/17/26)
“Since October 11, the first full day of the so-called ceasefire, Israel has killed at least 1,005 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 3,157, while 784 bodies have been recovered from under the rubble, according to the Ministry. The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023 has risen to 73,016 killed, with 173,265 injured.”
The Cost of Survival in Gaza (NYT 6/8/26)
“Months after the cease-fire, Gaza’s economy remains strangled for Palestinians like Saleh’s family — in large part because of restrictions imposed by Israel…Merchants trying to import food have to navigate a process full of brokers, fee-charging middlemen and black-market profiteers, some of whom are in or have connections to the Israeli security services…The opaque wartime economy has had dire consequences for ordinary Gazans, according to documents and interviews with more than 80 truckers, merchants, brokers, business leaders, aid executives and former government officials. One kilogram of flour, enough to bake a couple of loaves of bread, used to cost about 50 cents in Gaza. During the war, it rose at least as high as $27. One kilo of eggs, once about $2.50, went up to $130. Cooking gas that had been $2 per kilogram climbed to $190. “Israel has used its control to create scarcity,” said Tania Hary, executive director of the Israeli human rights organization Gisha. “I see that as a concerted strategy to keep the population dependent.”
‘They used dogs’: New Al Jazeera film exposes Israel’s use of rape in jails (Al Jazeera 6/9/26)
“It was April 10, 2024, during the Eid al-Fitr holiday, at the end of the holy month of Ramadan. The Gaza civil servant had been beaten, tortured, bound and forced to soil himself since his arrest by Israeli soldiers a month earlier…Al-Bakri said he was held with seven other prisoners. They were all stripped, blindfolded and handcuffed. “We were raped after being stripped of our clothes,” he said. “We were shouting, ‘Oh Lord, oh God’, but they were just laughing and filming us.” Al-Bakri then echoed what several rights agencies have also reported – that guards also used dogs during the sexual abuse of prisoners. “The dogs were following commands from the officers to [attack] us,” he said…Al-Bakri is among multiple former prisoners who have given detailed testimonies to Al Jazeera for Bodies of Evidence: Israel’s Darkest Weapon, a documentary investigation into what International Criminal Court (ICC) judges, the United Nations and its special rapporteur on the occupied territories, Francesca Albanese, say amounts to the widespread and systematic use of rape and sexual torture by the Israeli army against Palestinians. Rights groups such as the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) and Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor have also documented testimonies of prisoners recounting how Israeli soldiers used dogs to rape them. Allegations of the sexual abuse of Palestinians in Israeli prisons are not new – they date back decades. But launching its genocidal war on Gaza following the Hamas-led attack of October 2023, Israel appears to have increased the use of rape as a weapon of war, according to the Al Jazeera investigation and various reports by the UN and leading rights groups.”
RIVER TO THE SEA
Israel Is Conducting a Systematic Campaign of Ethnic Cleansing and Crimes Against Humanity in the West Bank (Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert//Haaretz 6/18/26)
“Today, it must be said that the State of Israel is conducting an organized, systematic, state-funded campaign of ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. Not in the Gaza Strip, not in southern Lebanon, not in Syria, but in areas of the West Bank that are under the exclusive security control of the state and its security and law enforcement apparatus. At the forefront of this campaign are the prime minister, Defense Minister Israel Katz and the rest of the cabinet, of course. The drive behind these acts is reflected in the statements and actions of senior ministers who seek the full annexation of the West Bank without their Palestinian inhabitants remaining there…These are harsh words. Never before have such serious accusations been leveled against an Israeli government and the entire defense establishment, certainly not by someone who once held ultimate responsibility for Israel’s security. But after a long and painful period of restraint, there is no choice but to say these things plainly and in full.” See also The Israeli State Armed Settlers With Thousands of Guns. Now It Can’t Control Them (Haaretz 6/16/26); Disabled Palestinian Shot, Wounded by Israeli Settlers in West Bank, Officials Say (Haaretz 6/13/26); Israel Fast-tracks 1 Billion Shekels for 69 Illegal West Bank Outposts (Haaretz 6/9/26); Amnesty International accuses Israel of state-led ethnic cleansing in West Bank (Al Monitor 6/10/26);
Israel’s former defence minister compares settler ideology to Nazism (Middle East Eye 6/16/26)
“Israel‘s former defence minister has compared settler ideology to Nazism, and accused authorities of failing to investigate Israelis responsible for killing Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank. In a wide-ranging interview with the Israeli news site Ynet on Sunday, Moshe Ya’alon said that factions within the religious Zionist movement, which is closely aligned with Israeli settlers, hold a “Jewish supremacy ideology”. “What is Jewish supremacy? Eighty years after the Holocaust, it’s Mein Kampf in reverse. The superior race is us,” said Ya’alon, who served as defence under Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu between 2013 to 2016. Ya’alon, who also recently visited Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank amid attacks by the Israeli army and settlers, described what is happening in the territory as a “disgrace for generations”. See also Smotrich claims he ‘abolished Hebron agreement,’ gave Israel more authority in flashpoint city (TOI 6/16/26)
The Jewish Ku Klux Klan Has a Calculated Plan for the Palestinians (Amira Hass//Haaretz 6/15/26)
“Be aware that for every news report that you read about an act of settler terror, the Jewish Ku Klux Klan is carrying out dozens more acts of assault, harassment and bullying, while the army attacks and abuses Palestinians in dozens of neighborhoods and checkpoints to protect the KKK and its missions. Be aware as well that these so-called rampages are part of a calculated, multi-pronged plan. Their ultimate goal is a land “cleansed” of Palestinians (in German, that already sounds clichéd)…Remember that behind every man with a mask, weapon and tzitzit stands a normative society, warm and loving…Do not forget that behind every attack, act of destruction and theft of sheep, there are police officers who do not bother to answer calls for help, and soldiers who rush to the scene to arrest those under attack and join in the beatings, if not killing. And behind everything, there is a glorious legal system – prosecutors and judges – who never knew, saw or heard what was happening around them, while legalizing the abomination called settlements. They sit at home and mourn (or not) for Israeli democracy, and are content with its Jewish part, with their grandchildren, the promotions and pensions…No country has issued the appropriate ultimatum to Israel: Stop the pogroms and arrest the perpetrators, now, or we will ban Israelis from our countries and halt all trade and scientific collaboration.” See also Israel Is Turning the West Bank Into Gaza. There’s Only One Way to Stop It (Haaretz 6/15/26); Why Does the Jewish State Keep Deporting Diaspora Jews? (Haaretz 6/11/26)
A 10-year-old Palestinian Child Was Arrested, Breaking Even IDF Practices (Amira Hass//Haaretz 6/8/26)
“”Your son threw a stone at me,” the officer claimed. How? the father, 46, protested. “He’s 10-years-old. He just went to buy something at the convenience store. And look, he’s just standing by the store door, crying.”…When they arrived at the camp and were taken out of the jeep, according to what the father understood, a female soldier asked someone in Hebrew if it was allowed to handcuff a 10-year-old child and cover his eyes. She received positive confirmation, and that’s what the soldiers did: They also handcuffed the 10-year-old child and wrapped a plastic bag around his eyes.”
Video shows family’s car slowing before Israeli troops shot dead Palestinian baby (Guardian 6/10/26)
“Footage has emerged that appears to contradict the Israeli military’s account of the shooting that killed seven-month-old Sam Abu Haikal in his mother’s arms, showing the family’s car slowing near a military post before soldiers opened fire. On Friday, the killing of the infant by Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank caused outrage, after soldiers opened fire on the family’s vehicle despite it having complied with an order to stop. Sam was killed and his mother, Daniyah Abu Haikal, and father, Fahed Abu Haikal, were both injured. The Israel Defense Forces said its troops had “perceived a vehicle accelerating toward them” and that one of the soldiers had “responded with single shots toward the vehicle”. However, footage obtained by the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights, B’Tselem, contradicts IDF claims that the car in which the Abu Haikal family was travelling was accelerating towards them when they shot.”
Palestinian American woman held without charge by Israeli military (The Guardian 6/13/26)
“A 20-year-old Palestinian American woman has been held in Israeli military detention for nearly two weeks after Israeli soldiers stormed her family home in a pre-dawn raid on 2 June. Sama Safi, a psychology student at Birzeit University in the occupied West Bank, has not been charged with any crimes. A spokesperson for the Israeli military said she and three other women detained around the same time were arrested “after promoting hostile terrorist activity and additional terrorist-related activities”. Several US legislators have called for Safi’s release and her family has warned that she has a chronic medical condition that requires regular treatment.”
Israel puts Palestinian doctor in solitary confinement after 17 months held without charge (Guardian 6/9/26)
“Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza, was detained at work on 27 December 2024. Physicians for Human Rights Israel said last week it had received information indicating that the 53-year-old had been transferred from Ketziot prison to Ramon prison, part of the Ganot prison complex, where he had been put in solitary confinement…During a visit by a PHRI lawyer last month, Abu Safiya described harsh detention conditions, untreated medical problems and severe food shortages.” See also Israel’s Top Court Rejects Appeal to Release Gaza Hospital Head From Solitary Confinement (Haaretz 6/16/26)
U.S. SCENE
The End of Aid to Israel Isn’t a Win For the Pro-Palestine Left (Josh Nathan-Kazis//Jewish Currents 6/16/26)
“Pro-Palestine groups in the United States have spent decades pushing to halt American military aid to Israel. Over the past three weeks, they’ve found they may suddenly be pushing against an open door. After months of hints and teases, the Israeli government and its allies in Congress rolled out a new strategy—consisting of a package of related measures in the House and the Senate—to slowly swap out the nearly $4 billion the US has been spending on direct military aid to Israel each year for a new paradigm of deep technological and supply-chain integration. The legislation currently under consideration, which Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred to in a June 1 letter as “my plan,” would empower senior Pentagon officials to spend billions of dollars developing weapons systems in tandem with Israel, “synchronizing” research efforts and intertwining an extraordinary range of technologies. The resultant interdependencies, Foundation for Middle East Peace president Lara Friedman wrote last week, would effectively give Netanyahu “a seat in the US situation room.”Opposition to military aid to Israel is a winning issue for progressive Democrats, embraced by candidates in House primaries across the country this spring. The new strategy of defense integration is hard to grasp and so novel that the politics and messaging around it have yet to develop. It’s a politically astute switcheroo from the Israelis and their allies, snatching away from pro-Palestine groups what has become their most potent political device while replacing it with a far more slippery target. For the pro-Palestine left, it creates a serious strategic challenge.”
Trump: ‘There would be no Israel’ without me (The Hill 6/16/26)
‘“Without the US, there would be no Israel. Without me, there would be no Israel because no other president was willing to do what I did. I have had a great relationship with Bibi. Now Bibi has to be more responsible with respect to Lebanon,” Trump said, speaking at the G7 in Évian-les-Bains, France.” See also U.S.-Iran deal largely met with skepticism by Jewish groups (JI 6/15/26); American Jewish leaders across the political spectrum express alarm at Trump’s Iran deal (JTA 6/16/26);
Once a Target of TrackAIPAC, Ro Khanna Gains Its Endorsement (The Intercept 6/17/26)
“After a resounding primary victory and ahead of a potential presidential run in 2028, progressive California lawmaker Ro Khanna has received the endorsement of the influential advocacy and watchdog group TrackAIPAC, known for posting red cards of lawmakers and candidates who receive money from the pro-Israel lobby. Khanna, a Democrat representing parts of San Francisco’s Bay Area, is the first member of Congress to go from a target of TrackAIPAC’s online fury to the winner of its endorsement. Though Khanna never took money from the pro-Israel lobby giant, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, he received a red anti-endorsement card from TrackAIPAC in 2024 largely due to his legislative record. Khanna has taken money from the liberal Zionist group, J Street, which opposed Gaza ceasefire attempts in 2023 but has since pushed for conditions on military aid to Israel. Khanna’s TrackAIPAC endorsement, first reported by The Intercept, came after the lawmaker on June 10 became the initial signatory of a new pledge from TrackAIPAC called PEACE to enforce American law, counter foreign influence, and end war crimes. Among other commitments, candidates who sign the pledge swear off money from AIPAC and aligned groups, acknowledge Israel’s genocide in Gaza, oppose military aid to any country that commits human rights violations, and agree to stand against efforts in Congress to enmesh the U.S. and Israeli militaries.”
AIPAC Wants Democrats to Back Israel. Instead, They’re Turning on AIPAC. (Jonathan Mahler//NYT 6/12/26)
“It wasn’t so long ago that AIPAC was bipartisan and untouchable, the guardian of America’s close relationship with a key moral and geopolitical ally. For decades after its founding in 1948, most Americans saw Israel as the best of post-World War II liberalism, a democratic Jewish state born out of the ashes of the Holocaust. And AIPAC was its proud American ambassador. Now, this perception of Israel is unraveling, and AIPAC is under attack from both political sides. On the right, it is drawing fire from “America First” pundits like Tucker Carlson, who argue that Israel wields too much power in politics. On the left, its position is even more precarious. In a party that is undergoing a tectonic generational shift, AIPAC has become a symbol of the old guard. “It’s about protecting the old, conservative Democratic establishment against the young, progressive upstarts,” says Matt Duss, executive vice president at the Center for International Policy and a former foreign policy adviser for Senator Bernie Sanders. “We are in an anti-system moment, and AIPAC is saying: We are here to defend the system against you crazy progressives.”…But at a time when Democrats increasingly question unconditional military aid to Israel, here is an organization using the power of big donors and dark money (already liberal boogeymen) to defend it. Once an unassailable voice of quiet influence in American politics, AIPAC is now both a victim and a cause of the unraveling consensus on Israel.” See also A Jewish Democrat’s Support of Israel May Cost Him His N.Y.C. House Seat (NYT 6/17/26); Goldman criticizes AIPAC despite endorsement in debate with Lander (JI 6/16/26); Israel has become a toxic brand in the US – so its advocates are shifting tactics (Mitchell Plitnick//MEE 6/15/26); Pro-Israel Donors Power Last-Minute Surge of Espaillat Spending (Drop Site 6/15/26); Auto union votes to divest from Israel at annual convention (JI 6/19/26); Did Kamala Harris’s Silence on Gaza Cost Her the White House? (Ta-Nehisi Coates//Vanity Fair 6/15/26)
Pro-Palestinian activists accused of intimidation campaign against University of Michigan officials (The Guardian 6/10/26)
“Federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment on Wednesday against eight pro-Palestinian activists who are accused of conspiring to run a criminal intimidation campaign against University of Michigan officials while trying to force the school to cut financial ties to Israel. The indictment also describes vandalism against some companies that operate in Michigan and against the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit.”
PERSPECTIVES//LONG READS
Trump ended his idiotic Iran war. Good. (Trita Parsi//Responsible Statecraft 6/18/26)
“Given the circumstances, President Trump’s decision to strike a deal with Tehran and bring this costly, unnecessary war to an end is the right one. It deserves support, not partisan second-guessing…To examine the Memorandum of Understanding and ask “Was the war worth it?” is nonsensical. Of course it wasn’t. How could it have been? The premise itself is deeply flawed: that a failed war of choice would somehow strengthen Washington’s hand at the negotiating table and produce more favorable terms. History offers little support for such a proposition. The question is also flawed in another, more consequential way. It implies that a war should not be brought to an end until it has produced better terms — even when the war itself is failing…This is how endless wars are born…Rather than attacking the terms of the MOU, Democrats should pressure the administration to protect it from those who are determined to see it fail. The main external threat is the Israeli government and Benjamin Netanyahu’s obsession with sabotaging any opportunity for Iran and the United States to bury the hatchet. Instead of relying solely on angry phone calls and public rebukes of Netanyahu, supporters of ending the war should press Trump to act now: suspend military aid to Israel and curtail military and intelligence cooperation.”
Israeli Expansionism Is Shaking the Middle East (Megan Stack//NYT 6/8/26)
“Israeli troops have taken over a broad swath of southern Lebanon, driving out more than one million residents and demolishing centuries-old villages. Israeli officials call it a “buffer zone” to protect residents of northern Israel from Hezbollah rockets. But some Israeli officials have threatened to flatten the territory, annex it and fill it with settlers. In Iran, Israel eagerly tried to induce regime collapse, apparently unconcerned with creating a dangerous power vacuum in a country containing 11 tons of enriched uranium. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has bragged that his government helped cause the downfall of Bashar al-Assad, the former president of Syria. As the Damascus government fell, Israel invaded and occupied an area in Syria’s southwest, adjoining the land later seized in Lebanon. In Gaza, the Israeli army will enlarge its control to 70 percent of the enclave, Mr. Netanyahu said, and the expansion is likely to continue. Defense Minister Israel Katz has suggested the entire Palestinian population of Gaza should eventually be concentrated into a dystopian “humanitarian city,” built on the ruins of Rafah…Meanwhile, a terror-fueled campaign of ethnic cleansing in the West Bank continues to push Palestinians off the land and expand Jewish settlements…Oddly, the spate of expansionist gambits comes together with an Israeli push to normalize diplomatic relations with Arab states…Both Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Trump consider the Abraham Accords a roaring success. But to Palestinians who felt that Arab neighbors ignored their plight to make deals with Israel, the accords suggested the futility of politics. It’s worth remembering that the Oct. 7 attack was launched just as Saudi Arabia, the kingpin of Arab states, was on the brink of normalizing ties with Israel. It’s hard not to wonder whether the subtext is: Throw the Palestinians under the bus and make peace with us, or you risk becoming the next target.”
“The War to Bring Democracy to Iran” (Zachary Jablow//Jewish Currents 6/15/26)
“A glance around the major American news media will confirm that the war against Iran, now under a new ceasefire agreement, has not been popular…Still, mainstream outlets have largely limited themselves to criticizing Trump’s failure to achieve stated American objectives rather than contesting the basic premises and motives behind the war—a posture media scholar Daniel Hallin has referred to as the “technical angle.” “The tendency to frame and analyze events in terms of strategy and tactics, success and failure, is characteristic of modern US journalism,” Hallin wrote in 1994. In keeping with this approach, leading commentators have, even while denouncing Trump, maintained the idea that it is Iran—and not the US and Israel—that is the expansionist threat to regional stability.”
This New Party Wants to Write a New Future for Israel (Mairav Zonszein//NYT 6/16/26)
“A Place for Us All was born out of joint Jewish-Palestinian activism and organizing focused on the daily realities on the ground, not grandiose policies…The activists from Standing Together came into public view particularly after the attacks of Oct. 7. Their firm stance against the war in Gaza from the very start and their provocative protest actions — such as storming a live broadcast of “Big Brother” wearing T-shirts that said, “Get out of Gaza,” and organizing to protect aid trucks into Gaza that were being sabotaged by right-wing Israelis during the height of what the organization I work for has identified as a campaign of starvation by Israel in Gaza — put them on the radar of mainstream Israelis…Standing Together has also worked to embolden Palestinian citizens politically. An estimated 75 percent of Palestinian citizens of Israel ages 18 to 25, as well as about 60 percent of Palestinian women overall, said they did not plan to vote, according to a 2025 survey by the pollster Yousef Makladeh. Sally Abed, a Palestinian leader of Standing Together who is also on the City Council in the Israeli city of Haifa, says one of the goals of the new party is to reach those Palestinian citizens…Mr. Green says Israel needs a new political party that sets out a clear path to offset the right’s explicit policies of — as he described it — “destruction, ethnic cleansing in Gaza and the West Bank and even territorial expansion in Syria and Lebanon.”’