Washington, DC – Israel’s general election results are
a disappointment for pro-Israel, pro-peace Americans. They will undoubtedly make our objective even harder to
attain.
Pre-election polls and the overall atmosphere in Israel preceding the
elections provided us with hope for a government that would embrace the policies and values that we support.
It now seems like Israel’s next government will provide us with more of the same, if
not worse.
Moments like this are not new to us. Yes, they disappoint us, but we do not succumb to the disappointment. We know
that our fight to secure peace for Israel and its neighbors is a long-term fight. We care too deeply about
Israel’s future as a democracy and a Jewish state to cede the struggle over Israel’s future character to the
bullies and the bigots, the racists and the ultra-nationalists. We know that the only way for Israel to be loyal to
the vision of its founders, to be both a secure, morally sound Jewish state and a democracy, is to end the
occupation and reach a peace settlement with the Palestinians and the Arab world. Together with our Israeli sister
organization, Peace Now, we will therefore redouble our efforts to advance this objective, serving as a bulwark
against the rejectionists and the zealots, true to our core values.