On this week’s episode, Israel Policy Forum Policy Advisor and Tel Aviv-based journalist Neri Zilber hosts Chief Policy Officer Michael Koplow and The Diane and Guilford Glazer Foundation Senior Fellow and Research Director Shira Efron. The trio discuss the launch of Israel’s new offensive in Gaza, growing international pressure on Israel to end the war, concerns over the grim humanitarian situation inside the strip, what President Trump actually wants, and more.  

This podcast was recorded before the terrorist attack at the Capital Jewish Museum. Read Israel Policy Forum's statement below: 

Israel Policy Forum mourns the senseless killing of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim in the terrorist attack at the American Jewish Committee Young Diplomats reception in Washington, D.C. Our hearts go out to their families and to their Israeli Embassy colleagues, and their killer must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

This was an antisemitic terrorist attack targeting a Jewish event ostensibly carried out in the name of Palestinian solidarity, and there can be no space for this in the United States. Support for Palestinians confers no legitimacy to attack Jews, Israeli or otherwise, and the terrorist who gunned down two innocents last night has only damaged whatever cause he was allegedly trying to advance. Neither the October 7 attacks nor the war in Gaza provide any justification for political violence, and language used in anti-Israel protests that often glorifies such violence must stop. Jews in this country should not have to live in fear because of fighting taking place six thousand miles away, and we reject any attempted connection between these two arenas.

We also reject the immediate rush to map terrorism on American shores to domestic Israeli partisan politics. The political point scoring already taking place, as if the terrorist was motivated by statements from politicians on either side of the spectrum rather than by events on the ground and his own twisted antisemitic hatred, is unseemly and must stop.

Our thoughts and condolences are with the victims’ families.

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