JJP lobbies American Embassy again on Gaza
On 9 June 2025, JJP wrote to the American Embassy to advocate for the professional diplomats in the State Department to persuade President Trump to exercise wisdom by insisting that Israel cease its war on Gaza and its increasing violence in the West Bank.
Letter to the US Embassy
Ahmed Shama 9 June 2025
Middle East/NEA Watcher
Embassy of the United States of America
Dear Mr. Shama,
We are now writing to update the data which we estimated in our letter of 27 May to various embassies, copied to you, on the rate at which Palestinians in Gaza have been killed since Canada, the UK and France issued their joint statement on 19 May. In fact, the rate is considerably higher than we estimated.
United Nations OCHA hadn’t published data for that period when we wrote to the embassies, so we used Guardian data covering the period 18 March – 25 May as a guide. We said “In fact, since 19 May the Israeli attacks on Gaza have continued unabated, continuing to kill an average of more than 50 Palestinians every day.”
Two OCHA “Humanitarian Situation Updates for the Gaza Strip” have since been published, #292, and #294, providing specific data. From Israel breaking the ceasefire on 18 March up to 21 May, there was an average of 53 deaths and 153 injuries per day. From 22 May up to 4 June, there was an average of 61 deaths and 242 injuries per day. Those are increases of 15% and 61%.1
However, the full situation is even worse. There was no data at all for Northern Gaza from 23 to 31 May, because officials were unable to get access there. Therefore, the increases in rates of deaths and injuries are certainly higher than the available data shows, and possibly much higher.
In addition to the increased rate of assault in Gaza, on 29 May the Israeli Defence Ministry announced the approval of 22 new West Bank settlements. The Ministry said “The new settlements are all placed within a long-term strategic vision, whose goal is to strengthen the Israeli hold on the territory, to avoid the establishment of a Palestinian state, and to create the basis for future development of settlement in the coming decades,” In fact, 11 will be new settlements, and 11 are existing settlement outposts to be regularised under Israeli law, which will allow them to expand. The announcement is significant.2
We believe both the increased assaults and the announcement are what hard-line Israeli nationalists call “suitable Zionist responses”. The three governments criticised Israel in very strong terms, so the Israeli government responded by doubling down on what they dared to criticise. The “price tag” operations by violent settlers are similar. On the very rare occasions when an Israeli government took down an unauthorised outpost to placate an American Administration, settlers attacked a nearby Palestinian village, torching cars, breaking windows and sometimes setting fire to a house. A whole family died in one attack.
To reiterate some of what we said in our letter to you of 5th March:
We are in a dangerous moment in which right-wing Israel thinks it has a ready enabler in President Trump for its expansionism, its disregard for Palestinians’ political or human rights, and its willingness to apply unlimited lethal force to achieve its ends. The only way to prevent these policies from taking their course is for willing countries to tell this Israeli government there will be severe diplomatic and economic consequences if it does not desist. The United States should be part of that.
Action is urgently needed. This Israeli government must be prevented from continuing its attacks, which would kill hundreds if not thousands more people, and from ethnically cleansing Gaza and the refugee camps of the West Bank.
If this Israeli government is not stopped, the Palestinians of Gaza may well actually be destroyed “in whole or in part” as “a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such”.3 If the United States continues supplying Israel with weapons and ammunition, it will be indelibly stained as complicit in genocide.
President Trump has shown he understands the importance of preventing Israel from starting a war with Iran, which could have incalculable consequences for the Middle East and possibly beyond. He has therefore opened negotiations with Iran, against Prime Minister Netanyahu’s wishes, in order to agree an end to Iran’s ability to build a nuclear weapon.
We are sure the senior professional diplomats in the State Department want the President to also act wisely with respect to Israel’s assault on Gaza and the West Bank. They should try to persuade him to stop supplying weapons and ammunition to Israel, stop vetoing Security Council resolutions criticising Israel, and suspend Israel’s most favoured nation status in trade until Israel ceases its assault on Gaza and the West Bank.
Yours sincerely,
Arthur Goodman
Parliamentary and Diplomatic Officer
1. Our spreadsheet making these calculations based on the OCHA data is also attached to our email.
2. https://peacenow.org.il/en/cabinet-decision-22-settlements
3. https://jfjfp.com/voices/paper-on-legal-characterisation-of-israeli-assault-on-gaza/